Valentine Post #1

Happy New Year! I hope that 2010 is everything you need it to be!! As for this house we are in the throws of preparing for a visit from a close friend. It's amazing the things you let go, pile up to put away later and just generally forget about. The children had Christmas all over again when long forgotten toys suddenly reappeared. Unbelievably I also began work on Valentine cards.

I'm not a big valentine person. David and I usually exchange a small gift and a card so I'm not sure who these cards will make there way to. Anyway, here are three that I created this past New Year Holiday weekend.

Love of a Lifetime



Details:
Paper: Memory Box Stamps Gossamer
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery and Close to Cocoa.
Ink: SU Craft Close to Cocoa
Punches: Martha Stewart border punch and SU Word Window.
Dies: various Spellbinders Nestabilitie.
Stamps: Inkadinkadoo Flourishes and SU So Many Sayings.
Design: Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge.

Kindred Spirits



Details:
Paper: Basic Grey Bittersweet Collection
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Ruby Red and Chocolate Chip.
Ink: SU Classic Basic Black, SU Pretty in Pink and Bashful Blue markers
Punches: Martha Stewart border punch and SU Word Window.
Dies: various Spellbinders Nestabilities Ovals.
Stamps: Pretty Petticoat Chirp UP digital stamp, SU So Many Sayings.
Design: Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge.


Valentine's Heart #1



Details:
Paper: Basic Grey Urban Prairie Collection
Cardstock: Whisper White and Ruby Red.
Ink: SU Craft Ruby Red
Ribbon: Hand dyed Ruby Red Michaels Brand 1/4" Organza
Stamps: Autumn Leaves Hearts and Stars
Miscellaneous: SU Mat Pack, Paper Piercing
Design: Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge #SC261.

Thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!

Weekend Sketch Challenge #105

One of my favorite paper crafting artists Beate Johns has a sketch challenge every weekend on her blog Fresh & Fun. This past weekend I decided to swim with the big fish and to participate. This card is the result of that challenge.

I picked a stamp by Memory Box entitled Cardinal Collage as the focal image and the sentiment is from the Stampin' UP! Snow Swirled set. Ink is SU Real Red, markers are SU Real Red and BIC Mark It Rambunctious Red. Cardstock is Real Red By SU and patterned paper is from the brand new SEI Winter Song collection.

As a critique of my own card I'll readily admit my marker coloring skills leave something to be desired. Bare with me please I'm afraid coloring is going to take quite a bit of practice.

Thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!

A victorian Christmas?

Probably by card maker standards I am late to the show but I have started working on holiday cards. I discovered the SEI collection Christmas Mint and I'm loving hard on the stamps. The paper is geared more towards scrapbooking otherwise I would have it all over these cards. Instead I purchased the Dewfrost 6x6 paper collection by Memory Box. These are truly wonderful papers - first of all they come in a cellophane bag unattached rather than the traditional paper pad style. Secondly, they ship with 3 of each design, a real money saver in my opinion.

Cardstock and inks are obviously Stampin' UP! This time around I dipped back into the retired In Colors for a little Blue Bayou and Soft Sky. For the tree patterned paper I used the long retired French Script background stamp. I'm really pleased with the card. Watch in the coming days while I try to improve on this card.

Thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!

A bereavement thank you note

Wow, not sure why I have such a hard time posting to this blog, but I sure do. It takes very little time to actually do a post but it's mustering the energy that is the difficult part for me. So, my apologies for taking far to long between posts - I'm still stamping and creating just ... too lazy to post about them.

We are doing well since the death of David's dear mother. Needless to say Virginia is missed tremendously. Sunday's are the worse day because come hell or high water she always called to check in and have a good long conversation with her baby son David. I mentioned in my last post that I was going to be making the bereavement thank you notes for the family. The cards the funeral parlor provided were the absolute worse - felt like they were made from copy paper.

Details:
CASEd: Somwhere out there, can't find the original website. Sorry and thank you!!
Stamps: Words to Birds Collage, Memorybox Stamps.
Ink: Basic Black, Classic Stampin' Pad
Cardstock: Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Walk in the Park DSP, all Stampin' UP!
Ribbon: Black Gingham, Stampin' UP!

Thanks for looking and yes HE still stamps!

Final Stampin' UP! Post

Well, I resigned from Stampin' UP! this week. It was time ... just never really came to fruition for me. I kept myself in business as long as I could then had to admit when it was becoming far too much of a burden for the family. I would like to continue to buy SU products occasionally but it will be doubly difficult to pay full retail after having that 20% demo discount.

Perhaps to celebrate my independence from the controversial IDA I went to a brick & mortar stamp store. The store Beautiful Impressions is here in Connecticut. The store is located in a beautiful old building in a town called Westbrook. It was filled with so many wonderful things for stampers, so different from the big box stores. The owner is a woman named Teri (last name escapes me) who was so knowledgeable and helpful (much different than scrapbook stores IMO.) Amongst my purchases was a beautiful little stamp entitled "Words to Birds Collage" by Memorybox Stamps that is so unique. I'm using this stamp for the bereavement thank you cards for David's family. I'll post the finished project soon.

To close up this post I just wanted to stay to everyone who has supported and encouraged me along the road of Stampin' UP! a big thank you and if you're able keep an eye out for me -- I'm not going away!