RSS

Sparkle Tree

Yesterdays color challenge was perfect for me! I love non-traditional holiday colors for cards, so Pretty in Pink and Wild Wasabi were right up my alley.


The photo corner was made by punching out a 1" square and then cutting it in half on the diagonal, so you have two triangles. Then you put the triangles together and trim off the tip. Here's the tutorial :) Photo Corner Tutorial

The PP is by Paper Salon. I was going through my ribbon stash and found the rickrack, and it just happened to match Wasabi PERFECTLY! Woo Hoo!!! LOVE when that happens!

You know you wanna!

Buy my cards that is :)

I was SO excited when I heard that SU changed their angel policy about selling cards from a fixed location and online! The change took place on my birthday, Nov. 15th, so I went ahead and created an Etsy shop. I think their fees are more reasonable than eBay and since it's for handmade items, I felt that my work would be appreciated more over there than on eBay. Anyway, if you're interested here's the link:

Scraptitude Shop


And here are a few of the cards that I have up there for sale!






Sets are selling for $15 and individual cards for $3. Shipping is always free! (in the US)

Fall Swap Card

Hi guys! I've been forever in updating this thing, but life is crazy!

Anyway here's one of the latest cards I've made. It's for a Fall Swap I'm in, and no I don't usually go this all out on swap cards, but I really like this group of gals and wanted to do something special!

The stamps are Autumn Harvest and A Muse. I just love them and I think they work really well together!



There are a ton of steps here, but none are really that hard. First I stamped the small gourd and then masked it, then the round pumpkin, masked it, then the tall pumpkin and then lastly the acorns. I did this on watercolor paper. I knew I was going to be getting the paper quite wet with the watercoloring, so I wanted it to be able to stand up under that torture ;)

I am forcing myself to use my WCC I bought them and I hardly use them! I do like the results, I just am more comfortable with the watercolor pencils I have. So anyway, I put down some Summer Sun on the small gourd, and both pumpkins, then I went around the pumpkins with Pumpkin Pie and then some Really Rust on the tall pumpkin only. THEN I used my aquapainter to color those areas in. I found that I got a nicer look by mixing the colors then rather than layering. After that I worked on the greens and browns. It's all a matter of working with your colors and moving then into the areas you want. You want to put down the darkest colors last.

At first I didn't have the pokey holes or the copper brads on the card, but it looked boring. So I played with an image of the card in Photoshop and add "brads" and "holes" in various places until I came up with the final result. I like playing on Photoshop rather than playing around with my actual card, in case I do something that I hate LOL. At least in Photoshop, it's just a click away to remove the ickiness :)

Are you Pink?

I guess by now you've noticed a change at Inky Dinky Doo, yup that's right I went PINK! I changed my blog to pink for October in order to help raise awareness for breast cancer.

Breast Cancer hits very close to home for me. Last year, the day before my birthday (Nov. 15th) my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at her yearly mammogram. Her tumor was smallish, but it was just at the borderline for chemo. She had a lumpectomy and they removed the mass and the lymph node closest to the lump. Luckily the cancer had not spread into the lymph system. She and my father travel in an RV for their retirement (you'll remember the Going Places series?) and they were in PA when she was diagnosed. Being the "free spirits" that they are, they did NOT want to winter in PA, so once Mom was healed from the initial surgery they went to Florida for the winter. She ended up going through both chemo and radiation. 6 months later and she was done with all that and they are back on the road. Mom beat this thing, but only because she was very vigilant about getting her yearly mammogram.


How can you help? Well if you're made of money (or even if you're not) you can donate directly to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Other ways you can help is to purchase things that you need/want that will donate a portion of the sale to the Susan G. Foundation. What things? Well let's see I've purchased M&M's for the Cure, my next set of checks will be Breast Cancer Awareness checks, how about a Pink Kitchen Aid Mixer? Don't forget the stamps! As rubber stampers we send a lot of mail to people, so spend the little bit extra and get the Breast Cancer Awareness postage stamps! There are SO many things out there that you can purchase to help fund a cure for Breast Cancer. I don't have a lot of money, but I do try to do the little things to help make a difference. It's all about awareness, the earlier the cancer is found the better a chance the person has to beat it! Let's get the word out!

And if you have a blog, Go Pink for October!

Sympathy Card

I HATE making sympathy cards. I never know if I should make them for the person I am sending them to, or make them to represent the person who passed. This time I went with the person I am sending it too. Then you add the whole religious aspect of the event, and I get even more confused. I am not religious, but I know many people find comfort in their religion, and at a time like this that's important. I just don't "do" religious anything. Luckily this time the recipient feels like I do so it was easier. But I still hate making sympathy cards. I was, however, happy to try out the technique that I used on here. It it by no means an original idea, but I think it looks so pretty.

I stamped the Lily in Stazon on vellum and then using an embossing stylus I embossed (from the back) the areas of the Lily that I wanted to remain white. I rubbed some wax paper over the surface of the vellum to help the stylus glide easier. After I got the back side pushed up, I turned it over and embossed it again from the front in the recessed areas. This helps stabilize the piece as well as make it "pop" more.


I added the color from the back of the vellum. First I just barely touched the shadow areas of the flower with Blush Blossom, and since it's vellum I was able to "smear" the color to lighten it a bit. Then I colored the background shadow areas with Blush, the stamen with Banana, and the leaves with Mellow Moss. I turned the piece over again and darkened the shadows with the same colors, but this time from the front. I mounted the vellum on a Blush Blossom piece. I'm really pleased with how this turned out.

The rest of the card is pretty self explanatory. The base is Blush Blossom stamped tone on tone with Fine Lace. The side panel is Mellow Moss again stamped tone on tone with French Script. I LOVE these micro brads I found. They are TINY. Then I added a little ribbon flag.

The inside says:

Sharing your sorrow,
Thinking of you and
wishing I could be there
to hold your hand.

With Deepest Sympathy

More Kitchen Re-Freshing

It's been a while since I posted and I'm sorry, but my life is crazy these days.

Here's the latest in my kitchen refresh :)

I finished the painting before my parents got here! Woo Hoo!! So all 4 chairs were done as well as the cabinets and the doors. Here are some pics!


I really need to find a new table cloth, but it's getting time to put my Halloween one on there so I won't worry about it just yet. These are the chairs I got from Freecycle. You have got to love that, 4 free chairs and a free table, a little time and a little paint and poof! New(to me) kitchen chairs and a new stamping table (for when I move out of here.)

Oh and don't ya just love the lamp? $4.99 at World Market, a $3 fixture and a $2 extension cord and a little wiring (yes, by me! I do know a little about electric work ;) ) and I have a brand new lamp for the kitchen.

Here's the finished cabinets with new hardware and finished trim as well. I chose the tangerine for the trim so it would be nice and bright. There are the new curtains too! Just finished those today. Talk about perfect! The lime green is exactly the same color as the cabinets and the lemons match the yellow chair perfectly! I couldn't believe it! You'd think I actually had a plan when I started all this huh?! LOL



Not sure if you can see the curtains or not, since this picture is pretty dark, but the fabric is really bright and fun with lemons all over. I love it! They brighten up the room even more!

All in all I'm really happy with the refresh. Now when I move I actually have some matching things to take with me to the new place. It'a amazing what you can do with a little time and some motivation!

Kitchen Re-fresh

Sorry for not posting in forever. My life has been turned upside down since my last post. Not sure if I really want to get into it on here, but let's just say that things are changing around here in a big way.

So with that change I decided to make some changes myself :) We bought an OLD farm house (built in 1897) and it has needed way more work than we could really handle. Looks like I'll only be here another year, but that's another story. I decided that I needed to do something that made me feel good! SO I decided to paint the nasty blue cabinets that we've lived with for the past 8 years. Now I say cabinets, but in reality they are nothing more than plywood with holes cut into it for a drawer and some drawers, but they are the focus of the kitchen.

Here's the before...


I bought a cheap sander and went to work sanding the old nasty paint. That took all of an hour or so. Then I wiped it all down. 5 minutes. Then the next day I prepped the counter top and I taped up the edges of the dishwasher and stove. 5 minutes. And then I painted! I applied the first coat with a brush. I needed to make sure I got into the nooks and crannies, since I couldn't take the doors off the hinges easily. That took maybe an hour and a half. Now the "fun" part... waiting for it to dry. LOL

Here's the after the 1st. coat...


So 4 hours later I did the second coat :) For it I used a roller, I like the way it leaves a nice smooth look to the painted surface. I did not sand in between coats, but I could have.

Here's the after the 2nd coat...


So after I was done, I realized that I had been waiting for 8 years to do a total of 4 - 5 hours of work! I could have refreshed my kitchen YEARS ago! But for whatever reason I didn't. Silly me!

I was going to add a couple more pics of what I'm going to work on in the next few days, but blogger won't let me :( Oh well, I'll add them when I'm done.

Halloween Quickie


For the A* Muse challenge today!

Super simple card! The ghosts were first colored with my glue pen and then glittered :) The house was colored with SU Markers. Sentiment is Purple Onion Designs!

Pick of the Patch

Last night was SO much fun! I love seeing all the new stamps I MUST have LOL. While I still love SU, I am really drawn to the simplicity of A*Muse. I'm not very good at using them yet, but I'm getting better :)

When I saw these new stamps last night, I knew I HAD to have them! I Love everything about Fall and pumpkin picking is very fun!



I used the new U-Pick sign, the Pumpkin cart and the "You're the Pick of the Patch" sentiment. The pumpkin patch is the SU stamp from Loads of Love accessories. It fits perfectly with these! I didn't have the A*Muse notecard that's green on one end and white on the other, so I used some of the Celery dotted paper from the Palette o' Prints. I think it's a pretty good substitution. The grass is stamped in Wild Wasabi :) I think I'm really going to like that color! Everything is colored with SU markers except the sign. That was one of my 4 Copic markers ;)

A*Muse*a*palooza

OMG we had a blast! The new stamps are AWESOME! We got to make 4 cards and we got a goodie bag and we got to purchase some of the new stamps before the "general public" ;) Seriously what could be better???

So, without further ado...



I'll start with the cards! The 1st 2 we made we're really easy, but SO cute! The first one is the same as the sneak peek on the A*Muse*a*palooza blog. The little snowman is really sweet and I don't usually care for the "squared" stamps. We colored him with markers (I wish we had a Copic for the background :( ) Then cut him out and put one of the clear scallop stickers over top! Then that was mounted on the scallop square (Mega size). The snowflakes were stamped in chalk ink as was the sentiment.

The other card is just darling! "To a deer friend" LOL The only thing "fancy" on this one was we used Sticky Stuff embossing powder (Heat-n-Stick) and then added the glitter to the pond. The pond is the large oval stamp. Everything else is colored with Prismacolors.

Next 2 cards...


These are my favorites! The Pumpkin stand is SO adorable, and we also used another new stamp, it's a bare tree with pumpkins hanging off the branches! Too CUTE. (I would have bought that one, but they sold out :( ) Anyway, lots of masking here, we stamped the 2 pumpkins first (they were from the tree) then masked them, stamped the Pumpkin Stand and masked it, then stamped the grass. It's supposed to have a crow sitting on top of the stand but I forgot.

Then we come to the Thanksgiving card. How funny is that car? We used the leafy tree and stamped it up in the right hand corner a bunch of times, then we punched out the 1" circle for the sun. The gray strip was put down and then the car was stamped. I had to "fix" mine, cuz I didn't get a good impression, oh well. The car was colored with colored pencils and we added the "wood" to the panels.

These cards went together so quickly. I'd never used the A*Muse notecards before, but combine them with the Pretty papers and you have a really fast and easy card!

Ok now for the freebies!


Can you believe it??? We each got an assortment pack of notecards, a sheet of the clear scallop stickers, some gift tags, a STAMP, and an ink pad!!! WOW! Seriously that was too cool! So I got to make 4 CUTE cards and got a great goodie bag and had a blast all for $18! Ok so the $18 was BEFORE I bought a bunch of new rubbah ;)

And here it is, my NEW A*Muse stamps! There were a few that sold out early that I'm just going to have to go back and get later (oh darn ;) ) but here are the ones that made their way into my bag tonight!

Yea, I know, these aren't all "new", but they are new to my collection! Since I already have the Tractor, I HAD to get the pumpkin cart and then since I was getting the cart, I couldn't leave the U-Pick sign or the "You're the PICK of the PATCH" sentiment there now could I? ;) The camper and the Marshmallow stick were in my "hold" bag from the last release, so I had to bring them home too! But my favorite is the Haunted House! It's so flippin' CUTE! I have this thing for Halloween stamps. I LOVE them! I don't really send too many Halloween cards, but I can't not buy the stamps, it's a sickness ;)

Ok some of the other stamps that were there...
There's a whole Nativity group of stamps, complete with Camel. A bunch of soccer stamps, some adorable new "shops" - a stamp store, a sporting goods shop, and another one, I can't remember. There's a winter house (it's on my list too) with an Irish proverb - May your house be too small to hold all your friends! Oh and a baby Penguin! Too cute! And, and, and
well there are a LOT! LOL I could have spent FAR more money, but I restrained myself (sort of ;) )

So that was A*Muse*a*palooza for this year! Is it too early to start thinking about next year? LOL

New Rubbah and COLORS!!!

Woo Hoo! I just got some new stamps and the In Colors paper and inks :D I'm so excited to play! Here' my solution to the no spot and no markers dilemma.



I bought the blank spots from Welburn Gourd Farm I went in with a few other peeps and shared the order. As I've said before, I really love having the spots in all the colors. I can take them with me and still be able to play. plus it gives me a better idea of exactly which full size pads I "need".

The Fantastix are new for me this year. Last year I bought some Tombow markers that were really close to the In Colors and just inked them up with the In Color re-inker. When I saw these at the Rubber Stamp Festival thingy Danita and I went to last weekend, I thought "Why not?" They Fantastx were .75 and the caps were .10 each, so for .85 each I have In Color Markers. Even if they don't work out like I plan, I'm not out a gazillion dollars!

Oh and if you're curious, I got Zoofari and Baroque Motifs. My demo didn't want them, so she let me have her discount for the Preview stuff :) I'm not sure about Baroque Motifs, it's really NOT my style at all, but I was willing to give it a shot for 40% off ;)

Huzzah it's Renn Faire time!!!

The Renaissance Faire in Bristol, WI starts TODAY! I really wish we could have gone opening weekend, but I'm pushing for next weekend!

My costume is almost done, just need a new (lighter weight) chemise. I'm still deciding if I should wear the rose skirt in the picture, or an olive green one I have. I might make an over skirt if I have the time. It's not too difficult to do, but if I want to go to the Faire this coming weekend, I don't think I'll have the time.

Rob needs a vest, new pants and boots. I hope I can convince him to spend the money to get a nice pair of boots he can wear year after year! I don't know if Rob is going to do the "Jack Sparrow" thing again or not. But the shirt will work for whatever he decides to be! Here are our basic costumes, this was taken last Halloween.


K picked her costume for this year, so I'm working on getting it done.


It's going to be Fuchsia/ Light Pink/ Celadon She wanted it all pink, but I told her that I can't work on an all pink costume (again! LOL)

So far I have the little under dress finished, it's Celadon. Now I'm working on the bodice/vest thingy. That's the Fuchsia, with light pink lining. The skirt will be light pink, then Fuchsia, then Celadon. It looks SO pretty together! I can't wait to do that part. I've never worked with tulle before, so that'll be an experience, but I'm sure I can do it!

The wings are going to be really neat! I found some Organza with little sparkly bits, it's really pretty. She's going to be the prettiest little fairy there (if I do say so myself :) )

My mom made our costumes almost every year (until we were old enough to do them ourselves) and I wanted to be able to do that for my kids too. So I learned to sew. I'm by no means a seamstress, but I can follow the directions and put together a decent looking costume.

Pre-VSN Challenge 1

What do I look forward too in the Fall? That was the challenge.

Well, all the "best" ones were already taken, Falling leaves, changing colors, Apple Picking Etc... So I chose something we as a family enjoy every September. It's the Apple and Pork Festival in Clinton, IL. Is it special, well, LOL No, not really ;) It's a HUGE Flea Market and tons of garage sales all in one place. There is LOTS of food, what kinds? Well... Pork and Apples mostly ;) LOL

Seriously you can get everything from Brats to Apple Cider to Pork BBQ to Apple Dumplings. Don't forget your standard festival fare... funnel cakes, kettle corn, Elephant Ears. OMG I'm making myself hungry just thinking about it LOL!

It's always a long day (or 2) but we enjoy it.

Anyway, here's my card LOL



Stamps: Basket of Fun, Walk this Way, MaVinci's alphabet stamps
Paper:Cranberry Crisp, True Thyme, So Saffron, Holiday Thyme DP
Ink:Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Black
Accessories:Prismacolors, Gamsol, stumps, Word Window Punch, antique brads

It's FINALLY here!

The new SU catty that is! LOL So, what do I think... hmmm I like some, I dislike others and still others I am trying to figure out what the people at SU were thinking???

My GOTTA have them NOW sets:

Haunting Halloween!!!! OMG It's SO flippin' cute! (But I collect Halloween stamps;) )

Boatloads of Love - too cute! I'm so glad I kept Loads of Love. I'm really hoping that we'll see more "things" to put in the boat once the mini gets here.

Bundled in Love - I LOVE the new animals! The Hippo and the Ducky are adorable!

Sweet Stars - Don't Miss this one! It's hidden in with the Christmas stamps, but it goes with Bundle of Joy and Bundled in Love!

Neighborhood (wheel) - LOVE this! We're getting new neighbors, so the timing is perfect!

Sanded and Polka Dots Backgrounds - Both will be added to my "collection" ;)

Short & Sweet - Very cute! One can never have too many sentiment stamps!

Absolutely Fabulous - OMG this is too perfect!

Photo Corners Punch - I have actually been debating getting one of these, but the one that's on the market now is sized for scrapbooks and not cards, so I was VERY happy to see this!

There are more that I really like, but those are my MUST HAVES!

Here are a couple of new catty inspired cards :)



Stamps: All in a Row, Unfrogettable
Paper: Cool Caribbean, Chocolate Chip, Palette o Prints - Rose Red
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Black, Celery
Accessories: Mat pack, piercer, Celery ribbon
Inspired by the card on page 55



Stamps: None
Paper: Cool Caribbean, Barely Banana, Palette o Prints
Ink: none
Accessories: Banana brads, Piercing Bug, Signo White gel pen, ribbon
Inspired by the card on page 26

Going Places - Meadow Road

Another one in my Going Places series for my parents! This time I used my brand new Stampscapes stamp. (I could really get into those!!!) Since I'm not a millionaire, I only bought 1 (man they get pricey!)

This place, isn't really representative of anywhere special, I just thought it was pretty!



So you want details huh? Here ya go ...

The Stampscapes stamp was stamped in Basic Black (stamped off once) twice right next to each other, (can YOU see the seam??? ;) ) LOL I can, but only because I know where to look! Then I colored it with my SU markers and I sponged the color on the grass and sky. (Oh btw: ripped paper towels make GREAT could templates!) I must have used every green SU makes to do the grass part, but I think it has a lot of depth. All the tree trunks are Chocolate Chip and the main trees are in Artichoke. Since the RV was WAY out of proportion, I needed a way to make it smaller. The gal at the stamp store yesterday suggested I stamp it on shrink plastic. Hmm ok, that's a thought!

So I stamped it on white shrink plastic and colored it (carefully) with Copic, Sharpies and SU markers. I say carefully, because the Copic will make the Stazon bleed and the SU will smear if you touch it before you shrink the plastic, once it's shrunk, it's ok :)

After I shrank the RV with heat gun, I ran it through my Xyron X, but I decided I wanted more holding power than the X could give me, so I put a strip of red liner tape on the back. Now that sucker is good and stuck!

The trickiest part was on the card itself. After I trimmed the focal piece and mounted it on Not Quite Navy CS, I wanted a simple yet effective way to display it on the card. I didn't want to distract from the focal piece (since I spent all morning making it LOL!). So I decided to stamp the Stampscapes image in Sahara Sand on the Sahara Sand card. Great idea, simple right?

WRONG! I had trimmed part of the focal piece before I mounted it, so it wasn't like I could just stamp the Stampscapes stamp and be done with it, nope, I had to stamp it on my imaging sheet for my Lego-ma-jig, then line it up with the focal piece BEFORE I adhered the focal piece, then remove the focal piece without disturbing the Lego-ma-jig, then stamp the Stampscapes stamp. And then do it all over again for the other side!!! Whew! But I LOVE the results!!!

Stamps: RV - Copper Leaf Creations, Stampscapes - Meadow Lg, Sentiment - Inky Antics
Paper: WW, Not Quite Navy, Sahara Sand
Ink: Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Going Gray, Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy, Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, Garden Green, Chocolate chip, So Saffron
Accessories - SU Markers, Copic Markers, Sharpies, Micron pen,

Going Places ... Wisconsin maybe?

LOL I crack myself up sometimes. I was looking through my stamps to see what else I had to make a scene for the RV to be driving through and I saw Very Punny and the cow just happened to be pretty close to the right proportion (it's a bit big, but that's ok). So here's the latest in the Going Places series.



I made this the same way I did the other 2, although there was a LOT more cutting and masking with all those fence pickets. Oy! That was tedious!

Oh and yes, there is one brown spotted cow! When we were kids we'd play a game while traveling, "Spot the Guernsey in the field of Holsteins" The dairy farmers would have a couple of Guernseys to help increase the fat content of the milk. So we made a game of trying to find them. OK so we were weird! Hey, cut me a break, this was before "Game Boys" and even "Sony Walkmen"! So that's the back story as to why I had to make one cow brown and white.

Hmm where will Mom and Dad go next? Stay tuned to find out ;)

Stamps: RV - Copper Leaf Creations, Fence - A*Muse, grass - Stampendous (Calendar Chick clear set), Trees - Lovely as a Tree, Sentiment - Inky Antics
Paper: WW, Not Quite Navy, Sahara Sand
Ink: Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel, Going Gray, Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy, Night of Navy, Brocade Blue, Bordering Blue, Garden Green, Close to Cocoa
Accessories - SU Markers, Sakura Glittler pen, Micron pen,

Another for my Parents

Ok I decided I liked that other card so much, that I needed to do a series of cards with the RV in different places :) So here's the 2nd card in the Going Places series! I hope you like it!



The techniques for this one are pretty much the same as the other card. Stamp the RV, mask it, stamp the cacti masking as you go, color in the RV, cacti, create the road and ground, then mask EVERYTHING again. For the sunset I sponged Apricot where I wanted the sun to go, then I masked it with a punched circle, sponged So Saffron around the sun and up to create the band of color, then sponge the Pumpkin Pie band close to the horizon. The sky is done with Brocade Blue and Ballet Blue. I used the same cloud template as I did on the other card. I've found that looking at actual pictures of sunsets helps to get the right colors and gradients.

I finished the focal piece by punching the corners with the step punch, then matted it on Really Rust. I snipped out 2 of the corners to tie the cord around. Then I mounted it on Sahara Sand (my Mom likes to be able to write on the inside of the cards and has asked for me to make the bases all with light colors). I have had the chevron stamp FOREVER! It's a PSX stamp and I think it was the perfect touch for the side and bottom.

Now for the specifics:

Stamps: RV - Copper Leaf Creations, Cactus & sentiment - A*Muse, Chevron - PSX, Sand - Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Paper: WW, Really Rust, Sahara Sand
Ink: Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel, Sahara Sand, Going Gray, Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy, Night of Navy, Brocade Blue, Bordering Blue, Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie, Ballet Blue
Accessories - SU Markers, Sakura Glittler pen, Micron pen, step corner punch, silver cord

Here's the link for Copper Leaf Creations and the RV stamp! They have an Airstream as well as a 5th Wheel!

One for my Parents



Mom and Dad bought me this stamp so I'd make cards for them to send to their friends. Last year I made a bunch. They were very simple, but looked really nice. Anyway, fast forward to today... I got a few new A*Muse stamps and this sentiment was one of them! I think it's perfect for anyone traveling. And that's just what my parents do! They travel! Actually they live in their RV and travel the country for their retirement. They had a pretty long pit stop in FL while Mom had her Chemo and radiation treatments for her breast cancer, but they should be on the move again very soon! I know they are excited to be on the road again!

There are so many different techniques used on here... 1st there's masking, I stamped the RV first, then masked it and stamped the line of trees, then I stamped the Spruce trees. I colored them with both ink from the ink pad lid and markers, I then made teh ground around the trees with the markers adn watercoloring with ink. After that I lined the edge of the "dirt" and masked the RV. I sponged the road using Sahara and Gray. The sky was done by cutting a cloud template from a post it note and sponging in the Bashful Blue. I just kept moving it around until I liked the clouds. Then I went over them again, so they weren't white-white. The sentiment is stamped in Not Quite Navy :)

Here are the specifics:
Stamps: RV - Copper Leaf Creations, Lovely as a Tree, A Muse sentiment
Ink - LOTS - Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, Going Gray, Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy, Night of Navy, Brocade Blue, Bordering Blue
Paper - WW, Not Quite Navy, Sahara Sand
Accessories - Copic Markers, SU Markers, Sakura Glittler pen, Micron pen, silver brads, 1/16" hole punch

Ink - Marker - Refill Holder

Don't ya just love it?!? I got it for my birthday last year from my FIL and step MIL :D They are so awesome!!!!



It's from Storage Units Ink, I got the Wall Unit Plus and I LOVE it! I really like having the inks right in front of me while I'm working. I can see what I have at a glance.

I'm a little over halfway to owning all the Classic SU inks! Slowly I'm getting them all. I do have all the spots and I mean ALL the spots! I have all the Classic, all the Craft, AND I have spots for the In Colors last year as well as blank spots just waiting for my order to get here!!!!! I *should* have them by Friday or Saturday!

I really like the spots, they are affordable and very useful. This way, I get to play with all the colors. I don't have to substitute because I don't have the full size pad, and I can even ink up background stamps with them. Yes, it takes a while, but it can be done :) Usually I ink up my brayer using the spot and then ink the background with the brayer.

Now I'm trying to buy 1 ink pad and refill with each order until I have them all. Only 15 more full sets and then a bunch of re-inkers to go LOL.

Oh and in case you're wondering about the labels on the ink pads, I did those with the Word Window punch (Thanks Danita ;) ). The font is Arial 12 pt Bold (except Tempting Turquoise and Purely Pomegranate, which are 11.5 pt, they don't fit at 12 pt) After I printed them and punched them out, I ran them through my Xyron X. I really like them!

Ribbon is going out TODAY!!!

So here's what my desk looked like yesterday before I started getting the ribbon packaged up and ready to ship...



I got it all cut, bundled and packaged! Loaded everything in my car and went to the PO only to find out the postal lady was OUT TO LUNCH! LOL So in about 15 minutes I will ship the ribbon out!

Thanks everyone for a great share! I look forward to doing another one in the future :)

Guess what I got???

RIBBON!!!! How's that for fast service! It was shipped YESTERDAY!

OMG I couldn't believe it when the UPS guy showed up. I had to think of what I had ordered... nothing from SU (yet), nothing from anyone else that comes UPS, so what on earth could it be??? OMG it's the ribbon!

Isn't it purdy???


*drool*
(Ok I promise, I won't drool over your ribbon.)
(Much ;) )

Still waiting on a few payments. Check the list to make sure I got your payment or not. Please PayPal me as soon as you can! I have a friend coming over this weekend (Hi Danita ;) ) to help cut and sort the bundles. So hopefully we can keep our minds on the job and get it all finished and I can get most of the ribbon shipped out early next week! I am still waiting on a few back ordered colors, but they should be in by Wednesday or Thursday! I'll get those measured and cut as soon as I can!!!

WT117 Fabulous Flourishes

Flourishes are all the rage right now, you see them everywhere from stamps to fabrics to clothing. Everyone is jumping on the flourish bandwagon and I was no exception, but I'll admit, they aren't my favorite thing to work with. I always seem to have trouble placing them just right, or using the right colors or something never seems right. So when I saw today's Ways to Use It challenge, my first thought was "Oh no, I can't do this :( "

Well I was getting K ready to go to the video store and I grabbed a new shirt I had bought her last Fall when my Mom was here. (I had meant to give it to her for her birthday, but I forgot *oops*) Anyway, I kept looking at the shirt going, hmm that's interesting. Why am I caring about this shirt now? Then it hit me! It has flourishes on it! And it's in SU colors! OMG I CAN do this! LOL

SO here's K in the forgotten shirt and the card that it inspired :) I'm actually happy with the way this turned out!



Here's the run-down on the supplies used, there are a bunch :)

CS: Only Orange, Apricot Appeal, Pixie Pink, Whisper White - Ink: Apricot Appeal, Pixie Pink, Whisper White, Pink Passion - Stamps: Rhonna Farrer flourishes v1, Simply Said, Delight in Life, Stampendous Calendar Chick clear stamp set (tiny flower), A*Muse sentiment - Accessories: Silk flowers (from stash), MM rhinestone brad, flower punch, Sakura Glitter pen

Yet another update!

OK I CAN get the Brilliant Blue! The gal just called me! Woo Hoo! So it looks like everything is going to work out just as planned! Sorry for any inconvenience.

The bulk of the order will be shipped today, and the 3 colors that were out of stock are coming in Monday or Tuesday of next week and they will send them as soon as they get them!

I will start cutting the ribbon a s soon as I get it! I'm so excited to have so many pretty colors to play with!

Ribbon Share update (again :) )

OK I have placed the order for the ribbon! Woo Hoo!

There is only one color that is back ordered and it's back ordered from the manufacturer :( They aren't sure how long it will take to get, so if you ordered Brilliant Blue ribbon, please let me know if you'd like to wait (it might be a couple of weeks until they get it in, meaning a few weeks until I can get it) or if you'd rather a refund.

I'm waiting on payment from a few people yet. Please check the list in the previous post, if your name is in green, then I have received your payment, if it's black, I haven't.

Ribbon Share Totals and Payment Instructions

Ok ladies, here are your totals :)

Please send PayPal to laura@a5.com Please put your name in the subject line! I will be shipping to the address attached to your PayPal account. If this is a problem, please let me know the right address in the comments section of your payment. I will highlight your name in green when I have received your payment and in red when I have shipped your package. Let me know if you have any questions!

Name yards
price
Kelly Smith 100
$26.67
Helen 40
$12.90
Sara Groth 65
$19.10
SandyHorvath-Dori 45
$12.10
Konra Burlon 55
$14.26
Patti Capt 195
$47.56
Sharon Romine 50
$13.18
Jessica Marks 190
$46.36
Debby A. Haring 50
$13.18
Alison Richardson 60
$12.60
Sheri Gilson 35
$9.94
Karen Phillips-Tait 190
$46.36
Sally Nihill 40
$11.02
Taylor B. Usry 35
$9.94
Jennifer Nellenback 65
$19.10
Ronee 50
$13.18
Eleanor 110
$28.84
Angi Rankin 45
$12.10
Danita Moberley 70
$20.19
Jenny Nesselrote 40
$11.02
Leslie Springer 45
$12.10
Jen 10
$4.35
Cathy Wilkerson 25
$7.78
Bobbie Lawrence 70
$20.19
Doreen 190
$46.36
Heather Leech 65
$19.10
Dawn Housenga 55
$14.26
Pat Martin 190
$46.36

Last Day for Ribbon

Ok ladies, today's the last to sign up.

Ribbon Share!


If you want to get in on this share, you must e-mail me today (6/08/07)! I will close this share tonight and I will post the totals as well as well as e-mail them. The sooner everyone pays the sooner I can get the ribbon on it's way! I know everyone's excited as I am! Who else can't wait for their pretty ribbon?? I know I can't!!!

Ribbon Share Update

Hi everyone, I just thought I'd update the Ribbon Share and let y'all know what's going on. Right now I am about 2 orders away from being able to get ALL the colors! Woo HOOOOO!!! So if you know anyone else interested, please send them on over! I'll keep the share open until next Friday.

There are just too many people to respond to individually. Once I close the share I will post everyone's total here. I will use the address from your paypal account so if it's not the address you want your ribbon shipped to, please let me know in the comment section of your payment.

A funny thing happened...

on the way to the stamp table :) Ok so that sounded funnier in my head LOL

I was working on today's challenge, the Featured Stamper one... oh if you haven't checked out ked's gallery, you should! It's really awesome! Oh yea, back to my post LOL I found the card I wanted to CASE and got working on it. I changed it around to suit my needs and I LOVE they way it turned out!

I turned the card to make it vertical, so I could use my giraffe from Bundle of Joy (LOVE that set!) The card base is Bashful Blue with the edges DTP with white craft ink. When I do this I don't really swipe the ink I kinda just push the piece into the foam of the ink pad, I seem to get a nicer look that way. Then I used my mat pack (LOVE it!) to poke the holes down the edge. The giraffe is colored with ink from the ink pad lids and a watercolor brush. I tried with my aquapainter, but it just got all runny and messy, the paint brush worked out much better this time!
My favorite part is the little MM clip do-hicky. It actually came with the Halloween set, but since it has a moon on it, I thought it would be perfect! I added a little piece of So Saffron under the moon so the moon is yellow :) Then I tied some ribbon around the edge. The focal piece was a bit too wide for the clip to be centered where I wanted it, so I trimmed away a tiny little piece of the Saffron mat to make it fit :)

I chose my sentiment, I really love using the Warm Words with EFP. I don't know why, but I think it's neat LOL! Then I realized I needed a strip behind the focal image. I found some large white rickrack and ran it through my Xyron X. I added 2 Bashful brads to finish that part off.

So now I'm done and need to take a picture of my card. No biggie, I do this all the time! I get my little area all set up; one piece of white paper on the desk and one piece upright supported by whatever I can find, then I get my OTT light down and aim it at the card. Usually this works perfectly and I get really nice shots. Well today the sun happened to be shining in the window and I kept getting a reflection ring on my picture. So ok I decided to turn the whole thing around so the sun was shining on the card. No biggie, it's easy to do. But taking the picture from that angle is a bit harder. So I get myself all situated and lean over on my desk and take the picture. GREAT shot!

An hour later my DH comes up to me and says "Hon, what's that on your arm?" Huh??? what are you talking about? "It looks like a tattoo!" So look at what happened when I was taking the picture! I had used my lego-ma-jig to get the giraffe placed just right on the paper and since the clear part I use is acrylic the ink didn't fully dry LOL SO now I have a Basic Black Bundle of Joy giraffe on my arm! LOL

Ribbon, Ribbon, Ribbon!!!!

Who wants some ribbon???? ME, ME, ME!

Here are the colors I can get:

Soft Subtles
Pale Plum (close)
Pretty in Pink
Barely Banana
Certainly Celery
Bashful Blue
Almost Amethyst (close)

Bold Brights

Glorious Green (close)
Green Galore
Gable Green
YoYo Yellow
Only Orange
Real Red
Pink Passion
Orchid Opulence(close)
Lovely Lilac
Brilliant Blue
Tempting Turquoise

Earth Elements

Chocolate Chip
Creamy Caramel
More Mustard
Really Rust
Ruby Red (close)
Cameo Coral
Summer Sun (close)

Rich Regals

Ballet Blue
Night of Navy
Taken with Teal
Handsome Hunter
So Saffron
Regal Rose
Bravo Burgundy (close)

Neutrals

Kraft
White
Black
Very Vanilla (close)
Going Gray

In Colors 2007
Buckaroo Blue
Caribbean
(NOTE: the ribbons are NOT SU ribbons, but match the colors very well!)

If it says (close) next to the color, it's because the ribbon doesn't match perfectly, but it's VERY close! I checked them under my OTT light :) I'm really picky about color matches and I'd use these colors!

These are all 1/4" grosgrain ribbons.

The cost is $1.05 for 5 yards. EDITED TO ADD: There has been some confusion about the amount of ribbon you can order. I'm selling the colors in 5 yard increments. So the smallest amount you can order is 5 yards of each color you'd like! PayPal only please, it's just easier for me. I can take Credit cards through my Paypal account! Shipping and a small Paypal fee will be added to your total once I know how many yards you'd like. Please e-mail with your choices (my e-mail is next to my name in the Copyright section to the right.) If you could put ribbon in the subject line, that would help a TON! Canadians welcome!

This is the first time I'm doing a ribbon share, so please bear with me :) I'll try to get it out as soon as I possibly can, but there might be delays that I cannot foresee.

Because this is my first share, I'll need to sell at least 30 - 35 yards per color in order to get the discounted price. If I don't get the 30 yards, I'll let you know before I order the ribbon. I don't see this being a problem, but I wanted to be upfront and honest with everyone :)

Once the share is filled, I will post the payment instructions, my paypal addy etc...

Pergamano attempt

Wow what a stunning craft! After I saw today's tutorial, I thought, "I can do that!"(I seem to think that a lot about crafts LOL) Anyway, I went searching online for any patterns I could find, and more instructions and such and then after being totally overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of this craft I decided to use the K.I.S.S method! (Keep it Simple Stupid!)I always want to make the fanciest, most perfect piece the first time out and that's never going to happen LOL

This is a case of needing the right tools for the job. And I did NOT have the right tools for this technique! I used your basic 2-sided embossing stylus and regular vellum CS.

My first thought was "Oh Parchment paper, like what I use for baking. I have that!" and I grabbed some from the kitchen to try and it was WAY too thin! I tore through it the first try and I was being VERY gentle! Then I actually READ the instructions and realized that I needed my Vellum. Ok ok, so I'm a bit impatient sometimes. Anyway, once I got the right (or at least closer to right) paper, it went a bit easier. You still have to be SUPER careful not to tear through the vellum. It rips SO easily!

I have the whole thing done and then I decided it needed more. (Why can't I leave well enough alone?) So I poked tiny little holes randomly in the centers of the flowers with a pin. It looked "ok", but not that great. So I then decided to cut out the centers. WHY??? Again, if I'd had the right tools, it might not have taken an hour and a half just to cut out those little pieces! I used my Coluzzle blade and paper snips. Oy!

Ok now that part was done, what do I DO with it? I had originally had made it to lay over the card base, but quickly realized that wasn't going to work right, so I trimmed the focal piece off and started playing around with it. I finally decided "Less is More" and attached it to the Night of Navy card base using my Glue Pen! (Love that thing!)

So there's my first attempt at Pergamano. Like I said, it looks ok, just needs something, but I'm not entirely sure what.

Coaster Box Prismacolor Pencil holder

So I'm in the middle of trying to get my stamping space organized and I decided I needed a better way to hold my Prismacolors and such, so I came up with this cute little box!



The basic box is the same as you've seen in a gazillion galleries and blogs, but the center divider and Gamsol holder are mine :)

You need:
8 4" medium weight coasters
15 4" squares of PP
small corner rounder
Modge Podge (I like the Matte)
a large-ish paint brush
sanding block
20 4" - 5" lengths of ribbon
good scissors or kraft knife (I used my Kai's and they worked great!)
a ruler, a centering ruler is nice if you have one
a hole punch (I used my Crop-a-dile)
good strong glue (I used Glossy Effects, basically CE)
2 6" lengths of 1/4" elastic

First thing you want to do is use the corner rounder and round the corners of your PP. Then adhere them to the coasters using the Modge Podge. I like to use a fairly thick layer so it stays wet and if I mess up the placement of the PP, I can move it around a tiny bit. Then I put a piece of CLEAN copy over the top and rub so there are no bubbles. I also use my brayer to make sure the PP is down really well. Do this to both sides of 7 of the coasters and 1 side of the last one, this is the bottom of the box.

Let these dry. I like to weigh them down while they are drying so they stay flat. If you don't, they will warp slightly and that just doesn't look as good. Once they are dry, decide which 4 will be the sides and which 3 will be the center divider pieces. Sand down the edges and corners for a shabby-chic look.

Using the templates as guides (these are NOT to scale, please go by the measurements!) make the 4 side pieces. You need 5 holes in each side. I used my Mat Pack to get them even on mine. Punch out holes with hole punch or Crop-o-dile.


Again using the templates as guides, make the 3 center divider pieces. I used my Kai scissors to cut the slits and they worked perfectly! You want to make the slits the width of the coaster, maybe "slightly" thicker. And only go down about 2 inches. These slide onto each other creating the 6 spaces for the pencils, stumps and sharpener to go in.



Now you want to make the box. If you are adding the holder for the gamsol, take the elastic and poke one piece through the 2nd and one piece through the 4th holes down and tie a knot in the back. Run them across the front and poke it through the same holes on the other side, pull taut and tie another knot. You want the knots to be on the inside and the elastic to have a little bit of give, but slack enough so that you can fit the Gamsol bottle in. Now you can construct the box. It's pretty self explanatory. For the bottom, I take the last coaster, the one with one one side covered with PP and kinda force it into the bottom, PP side up. Then I run a bead of CE around the seams. Let dry before putting the divider inside.

I have my pencils by SU color family because this is how I am used to all my colors. I have a separate box for the rest of my colors. I really like having all my Magic Pencil materials in the same space. I can keep the whole box on a shelf and when I want to color with them, I just take the whole thing down and I'm ready to go, everything is right there together!

What a fun day!

I meet SO many new people online and very rarely get to actually meet them IRL (in real life) so when the opportunity comes around to get to meet my "friends" for real I jump! Seriously, I talk to these gals DAILY, it feels like we've known each other forever, but in all actuality, we've never met. That's the hardest part about online friendships. Usually we live SO far away from one another it's impossible to meet, but every now and then, I mean once in a blue moon, I get to meet one of them!


That happened just this past Saturday! I got to meet Sara (Sassyat30) from SCS!!!! Woo Hoo!!! She was down this way to help her sister paint her new house. What a nice sister, to drive 6 hours just to help her paint! Well it worked out great for us :) We got a chance to meet for lunch and do a 'little' shopping. The only thing I wish was that we'd had more time to spend together! When you've talked online for months a couple of hours for lunch and shopping just isn't enough!

Danita (another "online friend" turned real life friend, HI Danita!) and I met Sara at her sisters and then we went to lunch at a really neat place. It used to be the newspaper building years ago and they turned it into a really cute little restaurant. During lunch Sara mentioned something about wanting to buy some Fabriano note cards but not really wanting to get them online. So I said that any "good" art store should have them. Danita told us there was a good art store on campus, so after lunch we went! Sara got her notecards and Danita and I got a few more Prismacolor pencils for our collections! (I only need 17 more to have all the SU matches! LOL)Unfortunately after that it was time to take Sara back to her sisters, I mean she was really there to help paint, not to go gallivanting around with us LOL!

We had a great time! It was like old friends meeting again after a long time! There was never a lull in the conversation, heck it was hard to talk sometimes cuz we're all talkers LOL! We are definitely going to have to figure a way to get together again! Here's a couple pictures from our get together! Sara is on the left, I'm in the middle(I wish someone would have told me I was eating my hair!) LOL, and Danita is on the right!

"Cow" Tipping

I LOVE the movie Cars! And this tractor is just perfect for the "Cow" tipping part! Mater is hysterical!



The card is 4.25" x 4.25" in Really Rust stamped with Flannel Plaid in Really Rust then sponged with both Rust and Chocolate Chip. The strip is Old Olive with Linen stamped in Olive and then sponged too. I printed the quote using the SF-Heather font.

I stamped the tractor 3 times then masked it and did the grass and clouds. I just made a cloud template from a sticky note. The "hub caps" are silver snaps, attached using my Crop-o-dile (LOVE it!)

All in all a pretty simple card, but I just think it's hysterical!

In Colors 2007

OK so I kept seeing all the pics from SU cruise and honestly I wasn't too impressed with the new colors. They all looked dark and dingy to me. I knew most of that was the pictures themselves and had little to do with the actual colors, but I was disappointed. Well I just got a peek at the Preview catty and OMG they are gorgeous!




The only one I'm not 100% sure about is the River Rock, but I know once I see it used I'll like it. I think I like more of this years colors than last years. I seriously can't wait for the new catty to come out! It's always around this time of year I get antsy and NEED new stuff to play with! Hopefully there are TONS of wonderful new sets that I can get my hands on !

Hopefully sometime today, my lovely DH will get these new colors added to the SU Color Combo Site!

We're still deciding what to do with the current In Colors once they retire. So I guess I'll ask your opinion.

Basically here are the choices:
1. remove them once the new catty is current
2. leave them for the Fall/Winter catty period and then remove them
3. leave them forever, but "X" them out somehow to indicate they are no longer current
4.other ;) (cuz as we all know, you always need an other choice)

LMK what you guys think and we'll do what we can :) Please remember we cannot make everyone happy, but we'll try to go with the majority vote ;)

My Little Barbie doll!

Kendalyn just turned 4 years old, but she LOVES Barbie! She has most of the Barbie movies and is always asking to watch them! Usually it's Princess and the Pauper, but lately she's gotten into The Magic of the Rainbow. She just loves it! Anyway, she's always asking me to do her hair like the characters in the movies. Like I said, most of the time she wants to be Annaliese, but yesterday she wanted to be Alena and then today she said, "Do my hair like Sunburst!" Hmm ok Sunburst has 2 pigtails on the top of her head with 3 brads coming out and looping around. I can do that. LOL So here's Kendalyn with her Sunburst hairdo!



She's such a funny kid! I still can't believe she's 4 already! Where did the time go?

I'm on a roll!!!

That LSC challenge really got me going today! I made 2 more cards in very little time!

The first one is actually for the VSN Pre-challenge, but it fits the LSC challenge too :) The Pre-challenge was to use rainbows on your card. It could be literal or just the colors, bold or subtle, your choice. I just realized that today was the deadline for entries, so... here's my card! I think it took all of 20 minutes from start to finish!



First I stamped the white card base with the Rhonna Farrer flourishes stamps and then I adhered the flowers on top. The flowers are all cut with the Cuttlebug Flower die. I stamped the blue flower with the "Enjoy Your Day" stamp from Riveting, and attached a Prima and rhinestone :)All in all a really easy card to make.

The next card was another for the LSC115 "Wide Open Spaces".



Again I saw something similar in one of my scramping mags. I punched out the oval with the SU large oval punch twice and then trimmed the edges to make one oval. Then I mounted the patterned paper to the back and cut the bottom edge with my scallop scissors. I used my new mat pack (LOVE it!) and poked the holes in the scallops. Then I backed the whole inside front with Regal Rose for a more finished look. I added the 3 mini Primas and rhinestones for some bling and poof! another simple card!

Have a Splendiferous Day

This is my absolute favorite saying from A*Muse!!! I think it's perfect! I LOVE A*Muse's sentiment stamps, I just wish I could afford more of them. I have a really hard time paying $7 for each stamp.

Today's challenge was Wide Open Spaces! We were to create a card that has lots of plain space on it. No patterned paper, no background stamps, no wheels, no nothing! I just got the latest CK mag today and I was flipping through it while I was eating lunch and I say Becky Higgin's sketch and sample LO. The right side of the sample LO was so simple and it was just perfect for this challenge. So what did I do? I CASE'd it of course ;)



This has to be the simplest card I have ever made! It's Kraft for the card base, Regal Rose on the bottom and Chocolate Chip on the top. I ran some ribbon across where the colors meet and then used a few (8 LOL) mini Prima flowers (LOVE them!) and Lasting Impressions matte brads (love them too!) in Oatmeal for the centers. Then the sentiment and I was done! SO simple, but I really like it! Simple is hard for me LOL I always want to add more and more and more! LOL

Snappy Birthday

This was for the Featured Stamper this week. I had made the card earlier and totally forgot to take a pic of it to post! Some days (weeks) my brain decides it doesn't want to work for me, I guess this is one of those weeks!

Here's the original card: GG's Frogs by themilesmum

As usual the challenge is to CASE a card and change at least 2 things about it. So, here's my take on her card :)



I changed the colors (but only slightly) actually I only changed 1 color! Amazing how changing 1 color changes the look of the entire card! I also used Crab & Co. from SU and the bubbles embossing folder for my Cuttlebug instead of the mosaic one. I really like the way this turned out!

The crab was colored with Prismacolors and Gamsol. I really love this coloring technique! I think I use it more than any other medium I have! It's just so easy to get great looking images!
Welcome to my new an improved blog. I hope you can find something useful, insightful, humorous or just plain silly here. Enjoy!
 
Copyright 2009 Inky Dinky Doo All rights reserved.
Blogger Templates created by Deluxe Templates
Wordpress Theme by EZwpthemes