Old Guys Rule

Haha, I love this line of t-shirts, etc. When I saw this designer paper at my LSS, I knew I had to get it. It made a great cover for a notepad for my Daddy. It’s hard to come up with some kind of alterable for a guy. I also added a little “b” Chipboard monogram. Fun, quick, Easy and best of all Dad loved it!

Post-it holder

I made this little post-it note holder for my Gramma. She is truly a blessing to me, I adore her with every ounce of me. I used Stampin’ Up! Chip board and just cut it to the size I wanted, I don’t seem to be very good at using standard sizes, lol! Here it is open.

Supplies:
Stamps: A Beautiful Thing, Tart & Tangy
Paper: Summer Picnic, Real Red, Bashful Blue and Whisper White cardstocks
Ink: Real Red, Glorious Green
Accessories: Red check ribbon, Scallope circle punch, cirlcle punches, scalloped border punch, Stampin Up! chipboard, Bind it all

Some gift card holders...

My parents like giftcards for Christmas, and since it seems like they have just about everything it works out well! I made 3 different gift card holders. This one was for my Gramma. There is a great tutorial for it on Gina K's blog, being that I was full of cold medicine and feeling artistically challenged, I decided to also use Gina's beautiful layout! Here is the inside of the card

Supplies:

Stamps: Frosty

Ink: Brilliance in Graphite Black

Paper: Holiday Treasures, Ruby Red and Shimmery White cardstocks all paper by Stampin' Up!

Accessories: Rectanlge Nestabilities, Copic Markers, Sakura Black Glaze Pen, Word Window punch by SU! (for the slot that holds the card)

Another Gift card holder...

Closed this card isn't so much fun, but when you open it..woo hoo! This one was for my Daddy and of course it is holding a Home Depot gift card, lol. Santa is colored with Copics and has Dazzling Diamonds snow and Fun Flock for the fur on his suit...very dashing!

Supplies:
Stamps: Jolliest Time of the Year, Holidays & Wishes
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Craft Basic Black
Paper: Wintergreen DSP, Black, Basic Gray, Sage Shadow cardstocks
Accessories: Vanilla hardware, Top Note die, Black ep, Ticket Punch, Tag Punch

Secret Santa gifts...

I participated in a Secret Santa gift exchange this year...how fun!!! These are 2 of the "handmade items" I made for my little elf. These test tubes are the funnest little things to decorate! I filled these up with gumballs (mostly cause I liked the colors, lol).

Supplies (all supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted)

Stamps: Deer Friends

Paper: Heirloom Treasures, Ruby Red and Chocolate Chip cardstocks

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Season of Cheer and Saint Nick Rub-ons, Felt Flurries, circle punches, silver cord, Alpine Ribbon Originals and Test Tubes by Martha Stewart

Secret Santa gift #2

Here is the second item I made, this one is full of yummy chocolate. I hope my little elf likes her homemade goodies!

Supplies (all supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted)

Stamps: Snow Swirled

Paper: Heirloom Treasures, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip and Ruby Red cardstocks

Ink: Old Olive

Accessories: Saint Nick rub-ons, Fire and Ice Rhinestone Brads, Brown felt Alpine ribbon, Slit punch, Circle Nestabilities, I don't remember where the cardboard container came from.

Bellaholics Calendar Swap

Well this is the 2nd year that I have hostessed the Bellaholics Anonymous Calendar Swap. Each person make calendar pages for 4 months and then we throw all the extra's in a big pile and reassemble all the calendars. I normally end up contributing 2 spots and then I bind them and give them a front and a back. This is this years calendar. Later I'll post my month contributions. This year we made 44 calendars! Up a few from last year. I think the biggest challenge is making these cute and simple. I can't do anything elaborate or very time consuming since I have to make 44 of them. I'm rather pleased with this year's covers, I hope everyone else likes them too! The circle on the cover is a monogram using my JustRite Special Occassions set. The part where you see the words is the back cover (the front cover is 9" long and the back cover is 10 1/2" long), it says "Life, Live like you mean it".

Birthday Gift for my MIL

Have you ever had one of those projects where you worked so long and so hard on something and you are abosultely inlove with the end result, and then the recipient says "Oh, that's nice"? This is that project. I made this Stationery Box and altered Candle for my Mother in Law's birthday. Now mind you these stationery boxes are pretty quick and easy to make, but I spent hours coming up with the card, and the note cards, etc. I really loved the way it turned out. I got the directions for the box from Jackie Topa's blog and then just had a great time decorating it, etc. Because my cards and note cards are so bulky I could only fit 4 of each into the little cubbies. The main image on the cards was colored in using my "Homemade In Colors" markers (click on the Tutorial catagory on the left sidebar to see how to make your own set of these). Below is a picture of the contents, the cirlce thing-y's in the corner are envelope seals. This was so much fun I think I will make some more for some family Christmas presents!

Supplies (all supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Bloomin Beautiful, Say it with Scallops, "From the Desk of" and Special Occassions font by JustRite Stamps, "B" monogram and border by PTI
Paper: Bella Blossoms DSP, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss cardstocks
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Stampin' Up! markers, Pink Tafetta ribbon, dimensionals, Ticket punch, Chocolate Chip 5/8" ribbon, Riding Hood Red stripped ribbon, circle punches, scallop circle punch, Nestabilities (tags and circles), Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder, Button Bouquet buttons.

BC76 - A Color Challenge...

Happy Friday!!! Happy Friday means Happy Bloggers' Challenge day! Woo hoo! Todays' challenge was to use Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Tango Tangerine and Close to Cocoa. I was very excited to be getting my challenge card done early (yesterday), until I finished and realized I didn't like it, so I made another one! Above is my 2nd attempt, I like this one. I've attached my "reject" card below.

Supplies (all supplies are Stampin' Up!):

Stamps: Jolliest Time of the Year

Ink: Brilliance in Graphite Black

Paper: Close to Cocoa, Bashful Blue and Whisper White cardstock, Frosty Day DSP

Accessories: Rhinestone brads, Felt Snowflakes, Dazzling Diamonds

Here is my poor little "reject card", lol. I used Spica glitter pens and "outlined" the snow with a C-1 Copic marker. I think I like the Dazzling Diamonds look above better. This is a Joy Fold card.

Supplies (all supplies are Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Jollies Time of the Year
Ink: Basic Black and Bashful Blue
Paper: Bashfull Blue, Close to Cocoa and Whisper White cardstocks, Frosty Day DSP
Accessories: Rhinestone Brads, Silver cording, copic markers, spica glitter pen in clear, Black Sakura glaze pen, Scallop circle punch, circle punch

BC75 - Inspiration Challenge

Happy Friday!!! I am so excited to be stamping again and participating in the Bloggers' Challenges! This week's challenge was an Inspiration Challenge, IC's are quickly becoming my favorite types of challenges!! :) Thanks Lisa! You can see the Inspiration piece below. A friend of mine had a really bad week this past week, so when I was looking through my stamps trying to figure out which stamps to use for the challenge, I knew this set would make for a perfect card for her! Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again! Have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies:

Stamps: owl always love you by Gina K Designs

Paper: Figgy by Basic Gray, Basic white cardstock from PTI

Ink: Brilliance in Graphite Black

Accessories: Build-a-Brads from Stampin' Up!, Copic markers, Paper piercer, Sakura Black Glaze pen

A couple of Thanksgiving cards

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I just love all the cooking, all the family time, all the play time!! I know I am late getting these up, but I really wanted to share them because I really like how they both turned out. I used Harvest Home stamp set for both and my Basic Gray Mellow mat pack for both. This card I did a little paper piecing, for the pumpkins I used paper from the Autumn Vines DSP by Stampin' Up!, and then just used Whisper White cs for the stems.

Supplies:

Stamps: Harvest Home by Stampin' Up!

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust and Whisper White cardstocks by Stampin' Up!, Autumn Vine DSP by Stampin' Up!, Mellow paper pad by Basic Gray

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Stampin' Up! markers

Accessories: Chocolate Satin Ribbon from PTI, Nestabilities

This card turned out even better than my original plan (I just love when that happens). Not sure if you can tell from the picture, but I used the Pumpkins Cuttlebug folder on the Pumpkin Pie rectangle. The "buttons" are wood buttons that I colored with my copics. I also dug out my Metallic Rub-Ons from Gina K Designs to "ink" the edges of the white cardstock. Love this stuff!!! I love it even more, I am sure, when I learn how to use it, lol!

Supplies:

Stamps: Harvest Home by Stampin' Up!

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White cardstocks by Stampin' Up!, Mellow paper pad by Basic Gray

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Stampin Up Markers, Copic Markers

Accessories: Wood leaf buttons, CB embossing folder, twine, Metallic Rub-Ons

Shimmerz Blog candy winner...

Thanks to everyone who sent Birthday cards!! Every day we got a stack of cards! It was sooooo much fun! My daughter loved them all and said "gosh, I feel so loved, hehehe". The cards were absolutely gorgeous and wonderful, thank you so much to everyone who sent a card! The winner of the 4 pots of Shimmerz from My Favorite Things is.... Sarah Anderson! Here is the card Sarah sent. Sarah, please email me with your choice of colors.

An Award from Susan (StampingTink)

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY- nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement . Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.Deliver this award to 8 bloggers who may then pass it on. I hope you’ll accept this award from me because of our friendship and the inspiration you all give me. I received this super cute & charming award from Susan. Thanks, Susan!

Christi Thorsen
Chris Dickenson
Teresa Kline
Leanne Dudley
Lynn Mercurio
Lori Tecler
Sarah Anderson
Shannon Roberts

Christmas Card kits... limited quantities

I have pre cut, etc. a small handful of each of the Christmas card kits/add-ons (click on the picture on the left sidebar for details). Due to the Holiday "time crunch" once I run out of what has been precut, I will not be selling any more. So, order yours now, these kits are going fast! To order your kit(s) email me today at tccrain@socal.rr.com. Have a wonderful day! Later today I'll post some Thanksgiving cards and tomorrow is Bloggers' Challenge day!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I always feel so honored and get a "warm & fuzzy" when someone sends me one of these awards. I never think that anyone really looks at my blog very often and so I am so surprised and honored to know when someone is not only reading it, but comes back for more! I got this award from Susan (Stampin Tink), you've gotta check out her blog...not only are her cards, etc. wonderful, but her blog is super cute too! It seems like "life" is just taking over and swipping my "creative time"...thanks Susan for the little nudge I needed to get back on track!

So here's the rules with this award:

1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to their blogs
5. Leave a message for your nominees

There are so many blogs out there that inspire me in one way or another, instead of nominating 5 I will ask that you visit 5 of the fabulous blogs on my sidebar. THanks again Susan and to everyone else who reads my itty bitty blog! Have a wonderful week!

Shimmerz Cupcake Birthday MFTWUW04 & SC199

Finally!!! I finally got to stamp, I finally got to post and I finally got to play with some of the goodies I've gotten lately from a few different friends! (Wait until you see the cupcake card tomorrow using my cupcake from Shannon & Lisa). Talk about multi-tasking...this is a Birthday card for my Chemo patient (I am a Chemo card angel), this is my paper piecing entry for MFT Stamps What's Up Wednesday Challenge and the SplitCoast Sketch Challenge 199...whew, that was a mouthfull :)
Let's get to the fun facts... The cupcake wrapper is paper pieced as is the frosting (technically), I colored the frosting with my copics using RV02 and BG23, then I painted over them using Pink and Mint Shimmerz. I also colored in the cherry using R29 and then gave it some dimension with Crystal Effects. Hopefully you can see the shimmer better on this little picture as well as all the dimension. Thanks to Carollee for this awesome paper, the perfectly matching Shimmerz and the super cute ribbon!!! Thanks for stopping by and looking!

Supplies:

Stamps: It's a Cupcake Kind of Day and sentiment from You Take the Cake (both sets by MFT Stamps)

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black

Paper: The Sweet Stack with Glitter by DCWV

Accessories: Copic markers, Shimmerz, Pretty in Pink cs (by Stampin Up), Crystal Effects, dimensionals

Yeah I'm back!! How about some Blog Candy??

Hi everyone! Thanks for visiting and for bearing with me in my absence. The world is back on track now and I think I am getting caught up! This post will remain at the top of my blog until the Blog Candy deadline, so please scroll down to see other posts!

My beautiful and wonderful baby girl is turning 18 next week (November 20th)! That is her in the picture with me. She loves stamping and drooling over the talent of many of my "online friends". So here's the deal... send her a Happy 18th Birthday card by November 26th (that gives you 2 weeks). Please also leave a comment on this post. We will put all the cards in a hat and draw one as the winner. The winner will receive (drum roll please.....)

4 bottles of Shimmerz, their choice of colors!!!
Shimmerz will be shipped directly to you from My Favorite Things Stamps

This is a surprise, she has no idea. Please email me for the address (tccrain@socal.rr.com)