Card for a Handy Man

Here’s a card from this week’s card class.  It’s a punch card featuring wrenches.  You could use this for any occasion in a handy man’s life.  The head of the wrench is a 1 ¼” circle punch with the word window punch used to punch the opening.  A little hint is to cut the word window punch first and then cut the circle.  The handle of the punch is just a ½” strip and the bottom of the wrench is a ¾” circle with a flower punched out of the center.  The flower punch is from the Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack.  The greeting is from the Itty Banners stamp set.  There are framelits that can be used to cut out the banners but I don’t have them yet so we had to resort to scissors.  The background used is the  Woodgrain stamp.  I did a little sponging to give it a more used look.  Punch cards are so much fun and this one is so easy to do.  I copies this from someone else but I don’t remember who it was so I can’t give them the credit that they deserve.

To busy to stamp.

It seems like I've just been to busy to get anything done.  Which is part of my problem.  I start a project and then I think of something else that I should be doing so I switch to the new project and then something else occurs to me.  And then at the end of the day nothing is completely done.  But now that graduation open houses are done maybe things will settle down just a little.  So while I haven't been doing a lot of stamping, well, except for convention swaps, I do have some cards to show you.  Last Sat Ronda had a baggie book/ new catalog kickoff and here's a couple of swap cards from that event.

Terri McNamara made this first card.  A wonderfull summer time card.  Makes me want to get out there and go for a bike ride.  Now if I just had a bike.

This card is from Bonnie Keiser.  I love the colors in this one.  Another happy, feel good card.

More new stuff

I have a terrible habit of trying out something and then laying it aside to finish later.  Well, yesterday I had to try this new embossing folder.  It's called Argyle.  Well, I tried it on a piece of Very Vanilla and I thought "that's nice.  But what would it look like if I sponged it"  So I sponged it with Soft Suede and I really liked how it showed up.  So then comes the point where I would lay it aside to finish later.  But I decided that I need to quit doing that.  So I finished the card with a new stamp set called "Horse Frontier".  I think it turned out pretty good.  A nice masculine card.  What do you think?

More new gadgets (aka accessories)

So here's a couple of cards that are showing two new accessories.  This first card is showing an embossing folder along the right hand side of the card.  This folder is a narrow one and it comes in a package with another folder (that I showed you yesterday).  The duo is called Delicate Designs.  It doesn't say it's snowflakes but that's what I see when I look at it.   The snowflake stamp is from "Jolly Bingo Bits" and the mittens and greeting are from "Chock Full of Cheer".

And this next card show a new edgelit that comes in a package with the edgelit that I showed you yesterday.  The duo is called Finishing Touches.  It's a little hard to see but it has a small saw tooth design.  Here I used it on both sides of the Bashful Blue card stock.  Then I put a piece of the 1/8" ribbon down the center.  The greeting on this card is from a set called "Itty Bitty Banners"  and the rest of the images are from "Baby Boutique".

new gadgets.

I had such big plans for this week and here it is on Friday and my list is still way to long.  So I'm off for a day of shopping.  Does anyone know how to get rid of chipmunks?  At this stage I'd just as soon they were all dead.  I've tried all kinds of deterrent but they're making a horrible mess of my hosta beds.  Maybe they just like hosta's.  So today I'll check at Mennards and Home Depot to see what they suggest.  I'll try anything.

So here's a quick card to show you.  I know it's not the best picture but it shows two things that I wanted to show you.  The Finishing Touches edgelit was used to get the scalloped border and the Delicate Designs was used to get the embossed scallops.  If you decide to do something like this make sure that you do the edgelist first because if you do the embossing first then it gets flattened when you do the edgelit.  Does that make sense?  Emboss first and then cut. 

And when you look closely at this picture you'll see that I put it together backwards.  The embossed image is debossed.  I should have turned it over to get the embossed image.  It doesn't really matter and I love these new gadgets.  And by the way, they both come in a package with another item.  Two embossing folders and two edgelits.  I'll try and show you the others tomorrow.  Notice I said try.  But if it's going to be as hot as they're predicting I'll probably be inside all day so I should get it done.

I've been busy.

Trading Days was this past weekend in Ashley and I won this chair on the fire department's silent auction.  It was built by someone at the prison.  Did a lot of sanding and it's now painted and ready to go out on the front deck.  Just need a little table to sit beside it where I can put my drink.

This is probably why I don't always get much done.  Ronda is always telling us to put things away when we're done with them and it's a great idea but I don't seem to do it.  There is a little spot right in the middle where I can work.

However I did get some stamping done.  This is an idea that I found in a crafting magazine.  I love the idea of black on black.  The magazine also had the card in white but I didn't like it as well.  This is going to be my swap card for the next Rubber Queens meeting.  There are two new stamp sets used on this card.  The "Love" in the middle is from a set called "You Are Loved"  It's a beautiful Valentine set.  The flouishes behind the love are from a set called "Flowering Flourishes"  And the background is embossed with the Tulip folder.  It doesn't show in this picture but there are three different layers.  And you can probably tell that the "Love" and the layer beneath it are both heat embossed with black embossing powder.

Today I downloaded the Holiday Mini and I can hardly wait for you to see it.  It's 40 pages long and I want everything in it.  There's new glitter paper, a metallic pen, lots of new designer series paper and tons of new framelits and punches.  Fantastic!!!!

More Christmas???

Here's another cute and quick card using the new designer paper "Be of Good Cheer".  I love, love, love this paper.  The greeting on here is from the new stamp set "Chock Full of Cheer" and the little images around the edge are out of "Jolly Bingo Bits".  The green card stock is the new in color Gumball Green and the red is Cherry Cobbler. 

Retired Sale - finally

I've been sorting and deciding and I'm finally ready for my retirement sale.  I'm saving a few of my favorites.  Here's a picture of the table all set up with the stamp sets that are for sale.

I'm all set for Thurs at 7:00.  Hoping to see a lot of you then.  I have a big stack of 12 x 12 designer paper for sale also and some stamps that are not Stampin Up! simply because since I've found Stampin Up! I never used those old stamps anymore.  And the reason that I have so many stamp sets is because there's been a couple of years that I didn't sell any of my retired stamps.  But there's so many new, awesome sets that I want that I need to make room for them.

And here's a quick card that I made today using the "Make a Cake" stamp set and the "Patio Party" designer series paper.  I love the lanterns.  Wish I had them all over my yard. 

Christmas in June????

Don't you just love Michigan weather?  Yesterday Laurel, Tiger and I went to St. Johns to some garage sales.  It was so cold that Tiger decided to sit in the car and wait for us.  A first for him.  Then we went to Cancun for lunch.  I've never seen anyone get so excited when they brought our chips and salsa.  He loves the chips.  When we were done and wanting to go to the car it looked like a monsoon outside.  The wind was blowing like crazy and it was pouring.  1st of June and we were wearing our winter jackets.  Oh well, that's what you get for living in Michigan.  An adventure every day. 

So now on to some stamping.  It's a new year and I sent in my first order out of the new catalog yesterday.  I can hardly wait to get that box.  But in the meantime here's a couple of Christmas cards made with some new paper and a new stamp set.  I love this new Christmas paper.  It's called "Be of Good Cheer" and I'm already on my second package.  Won't this make a beautiful Christmas scrap book?  The stamp set is called "Chock Full of Cheer".  The paper and stamp set go together so well.

We made the above card at my Sneak Peek event on Thurs.

And this is just another really cute card done with the same stamp set and paper. 

I don't know if I've talked about this before but I want to change things up a little bit this year and one of the things that we're going to do is make a Christmas card at every class.  This way you'll have some cards all done when Dec. gets here.  I'll still do a Stamp A Stack sometime so we'll have tried out a lot of stamp sets by Christmas.  I can hardly wait to see the new Holiday Mini which you'll get sometime in July. 

Have you drooled all over the new catalog yet?  If you haven't gotten your copy yet just let me know and I'll get one to you.  Happy Stamping.