My Purple Palace Therapy

It's All About My Friends!

2012-01-28T23:36:00.000-06:00

I am blessed with some great friends in my life!

And I am so very thankful for every one of them and

love them dearly!

Time Well Spent

Playing around with a bright color combo.

stamps: Stampin' Up Time Well Spent set

paper: SU green galore, whisper white, and

regal rose, non-SU yellow patterned DP

ink: memento tuxedo black

accessories: SU crushed curry, green galore,

regal rose markers; green galore, regal rose

summer sun watercolorwonder crayons, and

a blender pen, SU crushed curry dotted ribbon,

non- SU sheer dotted ribbon, heat tool (on the

sheer ribbon)

Friendship Blooms

The original plan for this card was black and white,

but color always sneaks in on me. LOL

stamps: SU Friendship Blooms set

paper: SU basic black, whisper white, marina mist

ink: memento tuxedo black

accessories: swiss dot CB folder, non-SU dot ribbon,

basic black grosgain, black brads, stampin' sponges,

stickles

New Storage for my Retired Ink Pads

2012-01-28T14:28:00.006-06:00

I have an awesome storage unit from http://suink.net/

that I absolutely love. I use it for my current SU ink

pads, current in-colors, and specialty inks.

However in the 7 years I have been stamping, I

have acquired many ink pads that are now retired.

Even though I'm no longer an SU demo, I still prefer to

keep my current and retired inks and cardstock

separated - mainly for ease since I can't order additional.

This is the latest way I have been storing the retired

ink pads. I recently put them on my storage cubes that I

moved under my stamping counter. Before that,

they were across the room on a shelf.

The separating panels are not actually sturdy, but

do offer a little support to help them stay stacked.

Well, in cruising through pictures of people's craft rooms

and storage ideas, I ran across ideas of covering

cereal boxes.

My son drinks these breakfast drinks in the mornings

to add more protein to his diet. We got these bulk-type

boxes at Sam's, and I realized they were the perfect width for

Stampin' Up ink pads.

So I got some scrapbooking paper in colors to match

the fabric I picked out for the new curtains my mom is making

for my window and cabinet boxes,

dug out the mod podge, and used some of the

ribbon we found that matched the fabrics.

The Finished Ink Pad Boxes

They have many imperfections, but I love them!

I have them on my counter next to my ink pad storage

and now I have them all right in front of me.

My Monthly Challenge ...

2012-01-27T23:06:00.003-06:00

... and I completed it BEFORE the end of January!

Yay! Those of you who know the procrastinator in me

will understand what an accomplishment

that is for me! LOL

Here's hoping this is the first of many

successful challenges to myself.

Just a refresher, my personal goal for each month

is to make 6 Christmas cards,

10 gift tags, and 1 homemade gift.

I had my cards completed last week, but

I think for future months, I will save them until

my challenge is completed each month.

My Christmas gift tags

Homemade gift

I decided to make an accordian file card holder.

I found the tutorial for this in the resources section

at splitcoaststampers.com:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/accordionstylecardholder/http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/accordionstylecardholder/

There are 10 cards inside the box.

They are each very simple, but sweet cards

using a colored base, a white layer embossed with

the rebeccah cuttlebug embossing folder,

then a variety of sentiments or images stamped

in ink to match the card base.

... and the mojo still goes :)

2012-01-24T21:17:00.007-06:00

Mambo Love You Much

This card is a whisper white card base. The first layer is

melon mambo. The SU Soft Swirls background stamp is stamped

in melon mambo ink on the top half of the card front.

The pink pirouette layer is embossed with the swiss dot cuttlebug

folder, and the bottom edge was punched with SU's scallop border punch.

The sentiment from SU's Well Scripted stamp set is stamped in melon mambo,

then punched out with the SU scallop circle punch. I used the piercing

tool around the scallops. I stamped versamark directly onto the bottom edge

of the card front, and onto the sentiment scallop circle, then embossed

them with iridescent ice embossing powder.

I stagger-layered a scallop circle in melon mambo behind the bottom of

the sentiment to separate it from the pink pirouette stip more.

Pink pirouette taffeta ribbon tied around the cardstock layer finished it off.

Crocheted Thinking of You

This card uses the SU Bella Rose DP, riding hood red,

and whisper white cardstock. The sentiment from SU's Warmest Regards

stamp set is stamped in riding hood red ink, punched with the SU punch, and has

riding hood red ink sponged around the edges. Riding hood red taffeta

ribbon looks so great with this paper pack! I used crocheted flowers

from SU's accents & elements for the finishing touch.

Pomegranate For You

I am using up some DP from my stash.

This card uses SU DP, purely pomegranate, and

whisper white cardstocks. Purely pomegranate stitched

ribbon is across the bottom, and regal rose grosgain is across

the top layer.

I stamped the sentiment from SU's One of a Kind stamp set

in purely pomegranate ink, punched it with the SU punch,

then used stampin sponges around the edges with the same ink.

Bermuda Bay Wishes

I ran across some odds and ends of DP while organizing.

I used the DP on bermuda bay cardstock with the top of the front embossed

with the swiss dot cuttlebug folder. I used a metallic cardstock for layering.

I stamped the flower from SU's Delight in Life stamp set,

using the rose red and bermuda bay markers for ink.

I punched the image out with the 1" circle punch, then

layered it onto rose red punched with the 1 1/4" circle punch,

then bermuda bay punched with the 1 3/8" circle punch,

and finally the metallic cardstock punched with the SU scallop circle punch.

I adhered it with dimensionals and added some non-SU fibers from behind it.

The sentiment is from SU's Heard From the Heart stamp set,

and stamped with gold encore ink.

I added bermuda bay dot ribbon and hodgepodge hardware to finish it off.

Cart of Blooms

This is for this week's Teapot Tuesday challenge.

This card is for a lady named Betty. You can ready her story here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/teapot-tuesdays-f260/mmtpt182-~-gee-dats-better-muddah-fadduh-kindly-disregard-letter-t546774.html

My card base and basket are daffodil delight cardstock.

I made the basket using SU's round tab punch for the bottom

and the SU large oval and scallop oval punches for the handle.

I added some flower brads from my stash.

We were supposed to use a flower cart image on our card.

However, I don't have one. So I made my own. Luckily, I ran across a

pre-made close to cocoa card front a friend gave me using an

embossing folder (I'm not sure which it is though).

I made the wheel with the Creative Memories circle maker.

I covered the wheel, as well as some strips for the sides of the flower cart,

with versamark, then embossed them with copper embossing powder.

I used a stampin' sponge in daffodil delight ink on the whisper white

cardstock for a sunshine effect. I stamped the butterfly from SU's

Because of You stamp set in lavender lace in the corner, and used

the matching marker for it's trail behind it.

I stamped the flower trio image from SU's One of a Kind

stamp set in lavender lace, daffodil delight, melon mambo, only orange, and

gable green inks, then punched them out using SU's

flower trio punch. The main sentiment is also from SU's

Blooming with Happiness stamp set, and the basket's sentiment

is from SU's Fancy Flexible Phrases stamp set.

I hope it can bring some blooming smiles Betty's way.

Challenge Swap that was left behind :(

2012-01-20T15:45:00.003-06:00

In all of my cleaning and reorganizing of my purple palace,

I ran across my envelopes from a challenge swap that I fell way

behind on, and I thought some needed some attention.

Lucky for me, two of them were for Christmas cards.

That means that I finished numbers 5 & 6 for my monthly

Christmas card challenge. Yay! :)

Then I also dug into a few more of them.

Non-traditional Purple Christmas Card

This is a challenge swap creation.

I received the DP, the image, the sentiment,

the ribbon, and the beads in the swap.

I cut the DP into rectangles and added them to

a pale lavender paper, and onto a white card base.

I used the Creative Memories wavy blade on my new cutter

to cut out the tree image. I used the SU punch for the sentiment,

then sponged the edges with pale plum ink.

Then I added the beads to the sentiment and the tree.

I tied the ribbon into a bow, then curled the ends

with my heat tool.

Non-traditional Guava Christmas Card

This is another challenge swap creation.
I received the image, the guava ribbon, the DP, and the beads,
and the challenge was a non-traditional colored Christmas card.
I added always artichoke cardstock, embossed with a cuttlebug folder,
and used the SU scallop border punch across the bottom edge.
I colored the image with SU markers, and sponged the edges with always artichoke ink.
I then used the Creative Memories cutting system for ovals on the image,
as well as the groovy guava layer behind it.
I also added some gold stickles.
I stamped the sentiment from the SU Holly Jolly Christmas stamp set,
using SU always artichoke and groovy guava ink, punched it
out with the large oval punch, and sponged the edges with groovy guava ink.

Challenge Christmas Thank You

This is another card I created from a challenge swap.

I received the DP, the scallop punch, and the sentiment.

I added wild wasabi cardstock, and used

SU's distressing tool on the edges of it, as well as the sentiment.

Razzle Rose Red Quack Me Up

This card uses another challenge swap.

I received the image, the black cardstock base, the white, cardstock,

the DP, the rose red and black ribbons,

and the rich razzleberry cardstock that I embossed

with the swiss dot cuttlebug embossing folder.

I added the rose red cardstock punched out with the SU scallop circle punch,

and the dots and faux stitches done with SU's rich razzleberry marker.

Denim Genuine Birthday
This is also from a challenge swap that I didn't have completed.
I received all of the papers and images, and added my own
soft suede cardstock base, linen thread, red and blue
star brads, and the Happy Birthday sentiment
from SU Birthday Greetings stamp set,
which I embossed with a copper embossing powder.

Bright Birthday Giraffe

This card is a gate fold.

The large turquoise rectangle is only

adhered to the left half, and it opens and

leaves the right side still folded.

the inside flap

This is from another challenge swap. I received most of the

supplies, including the image, the DP, and the

turquoise and orange ribbons.

I added some of my own goodies, including the solid cardstocks,

celery and eggplant ribbons, and a 3-D birthday decoration.

I colored the image in with SU markers,

and sponged the edges with tempting turquoise.

I embossed the front flaps with the swiss dot cuttlebug folder.

I punched the sentiment out and layered it with

SU circle punches, and then onto the SU scallop circle punch.

I also sponged the top layer with tempting turquoise ink

and added dots all the way around.

2012-01-16T15:37:00.009-06:00

Creative mojo is still running strong :)

Eggplant Teacup Friendship

I do not know where the image and sentiment stamps

are from, as they are images I snagged from my Mom's stash

of received images.

I used SU elegant eggplant, lavender lace, and whisper white

cardstocks, along with cardstock vellum.

I stamped the SU Soft Swirls background stamp in

elegant eggplant on the card base.

I colored the image in with watercolor pencils and a blender pen.

I used Fiskars corner edges scissors on the top corners of the

lavender/vellum layer as well as the whisper white.

I used the SU scallop trim border punch on the

lavender/vellum bottom border.

I used SU whisper white organza with elegant eggplant grosgain

behind it across the top layer. Then I added a bow

in lavender satin ribbon.

Pink and Gray Fabulous Friend

I used SU DP as the main focus of this card.

I layered it with SU pink pirouette cardstock.

I stamped the image/sentiment from SU's Oval All

stamp set in encore silver ink and punched it out with

the SU wide oval punch. I finished it off with SU's

pretty in pink taffeta ribbon.

Pink Pirouette Circles Birthday

This is just an easy birthday card to add to my stash.

I used DP with SU pink pirouette and very vanilla cardstock.

I stamped the circleimage from the SU Seeing Spots stamp set

in pink pirouette on the very vanilla layer.

I stamped the sentiment from SU's Warmest Regards stamp set

in early espresso ink. I used the SU punch, and sponged the punched

sentiment and the very vanilla layer with early espresso ink.

Navy and Marina Mist Happy Birthday

This was a another super simple card, just to add to my stash on hand.

I used DP with SU night of navy and marina mist.

I stamped the sentiment from the SU Birthday Greetings stamp set

in night of navy ink. I finished it off with night of navy grosgain ribbon.

Rose Birthday Hugs & Wishes

I used SU DP with SU riding hood red, pink pirouette, kiwi kiss,

early espresso, and whisper white cardstocks.

I stamped the image from SU's A Rose is a Rose stamp set

in ridinghood red, pink pirouette, and kiwi kiss ink,

and the sentiment from SU's Hugs & Wishes stamp set in early espresso ink

I used the SU punch for the sentiment and sponged the edges

in riding hood red ink.

I used the SU distressing tool on the pink pirouette

layer behind the rose image.

The ribbon is SU riding hood red taffeta ribbon.

Turquoise and Olive Birthday Wishes

I used SU DP with SU's basic gray, whisper white,

tempting turquoise, and old olive cardstocks.

The flower image is from the SU Time Well Spent stamp set,

colored in with SU markers.

I used the SU Trio Flower punch for the corner flowers.

I stamped the sentiment stamp in tempting turquoise ink,

then punch it out with the SU designer label punch,

and sponged the edges in tempting turquoise.

Then I layered it on the SU punch.

I added turquoise ribbon and stickles to finish it off.

Non-Valentine Colored Valentine

I wanted to make a Valentine without using the typical

Valentine colors. I used an SU DP to determine my card color scheme.

I used SU's so saffron, bashful blue, early espresso, and whisper white cardstocks.

I embossed the bashful blue layer with the swiss dot CB folder.

I stamped the image from SU's Festive Four stamp set in

early espresso ink and layered it. The bashful blue layer was

edged with SU's distressing tool.

I stamped the sentiment from SU's Holidays & Wishes stamp set

in early espresso ink.

I finished the card off with SU's daffodil delight taffeta ribbon.

Lots of Hearts

This is a simple one made from some Valentine DP I ran

across while reorganizing my Purple Palace.

I used it with SU pretty in pink, real red, and whisper white cardstock.

I stamped the sentiment from SU's Holidays & Wishes

stamp set in SU real red ink.

I used the Creative Memories heart punch for the hearts

and the SU punch for the sentiment layers.

I added real red dots to border the sentiment layers.

I finished it off with a bow in the SU pretty in pink grosgain ribbon.

Busy Hearts & Dots

I used couple different DPs for this one.

I think it turned out rather busy, but fun for a Valentine.

I used SU pink pirouette, pixie pink, and real red cardstock.

I stamped the sentiment from SU's Fancy Flexible

Phrases stamp set in SU pixie pink ink.

I made the additional hearts with the Creative Memories heart punch.

I added a Love ribbon across the bottom, as well as SU

whisper white organza ribbon behind the top layer of DP.

I finished it off with lines of pixie pink dots to border the love ribbon.

Walt Disney's Twilight

This card is for the Teapot Tuesday challenge for this week.

We are sending a young lady in the hospital

to bring some smiles her way.

She loves the movie Twilight, and the challenge was

something funny, whether it is the image, the

sentiment, or whatever. I found the image

online and printed it off to use for this card.

I used SU's real red, brilliant blue, peach parfait,

and whisper white cardstock.

I printed the sentiment and image on the computer.

(not the best print job unfortunately, as my printer is about out)

I wanted some fun embellishments, so I used sticky strip

to adhere SU bold bright beads. I also used a variety of

coordinating SU ribbons to the side.

I hope this card makes Amy giggle as much as me. LOL

2012-01-11T09:31:00.010-06:00

I am so loving my burst of creative energy lately! It's definitely been a long time since

I have had this much mojo in my Purple Palace!

My Sweetness

A stamping friend of mine hand-crocheted
this awesome purple headband flower for my niece.
When my sister took her for her 3 month pictures,
she took some special ones in just purple
(obviously, I loved them! lol)
So here is the scrapbook page with a few of them.

I used the Jasmine Cricut cartridge for the lettering.
Then I embossed them in clear embossing powder for
some added shininess to this special page.
I also clear embossed my picture mats and flowers.

Here are two more cards for my monthly Christmas card challenge

(6 a month)

no stamp, no ink Santa

I wanted to do a simple, no stamp, no ink card.

I used designer paper for the main focus of the card.

I used SU ridinghood red and wild wasabi cardstock.

I used the striped SU wild wasabi ribbon and hodgepodge hardware

for an added touch.

holly jolly reindeer

I love reindeer!!! Cute ones, fancy ones, I love them all!

This is a designeer paper from my new stash that I had to use.

I used SU chocolate chip, ridinghood red, and whisper white cardstocks.

The holly jolly sentiment is from SU's A Holly Jolly Christmas stamp set.

I used SU markers to color the small stamp from SU's Season of Joy stamp set

underneath the sentiment, stamped off for faded images, then punched

it out with SU's wide oval punch.

The wide chocolate chip grosgain ribbon finished off the outside.

This card is a gate fold card, meeting in the middle. The ridinghood

red layer is only adhered to the left side of the card base.

On the right side, I adhered a cut-out reindeer image from the

designer paper, and layered it using SU's 1 3/8" circle and the scallop circle punches.

I added gold dots around this with the zig painty to help it stand out from the card base.

A creative start to 2012

2012-01-09T12:30:00.008-06:00

Starting 2012 off creating :)

I am starting this new year off creating! And I love it!
I set a personal monthly goal to create 6 Christmas
cards, 10 gift tags, and 1 homemade gift each month.

Gold and Holly

This is a very simple card, but I like clean and simple on
many of my cards. The holly background is a designer paper that I received,

as is the gold paper. I did use SU whisper white cardstock for the
card base and to stamp the sentiment from the SU stamp set Christmas

Punch in gold encore ink. The image works with the SU wide oval punch.
I also used some gold ribbon from my stash for an extra gold element.

Cruisin' Sparkling Santa

I definitely had the recipient in mind while creating
this card. I decided to use the SU Cruisin' Christmas stamp set, with my uncle

in mind. I used SU whisper white, glorious green, and real red
cardstocks, as well as a designer paper from my shopping. To bring out the red

sparkle in the designer paper, I covered real red cardstock with versamark,
then embossed it with iridescent ice embossing powder.

I stamped the Santa motorcycling image in Memento tuxedo black ink

and added some color with SU markers.
I stamped the sentiment in versamark and real red, then also
embossed it with iridescent ice embossing powder.
Then I finished it off with a fun, sparkly fiber from the Paper Studio.

I Said a Prayer Angel

We found out that my mom was the designated
recipient for a challenge on SCS, where we are members and friends
with so many great people. She has received some beautiful cards
from people on SCS - some she knows, but most she doesn't.
I thought this was such a cool idea, and decided to check out
the weekly challenge. I am jumping on the Teapot bandwagon, and
decided to start with this very challenge for my mom.

I used SU bermuda bay, cool caribbean, and whisper white cardstock.
For the background, I used the shaving cream technique with
the SU bermuda bay and cool caribbean refil inks.
The angel image and the prayer sentiment are non-SU
stamps, and unfortunately I cannot name what company. I received the
angel image in an image swap, and I received the sentiment from a

friend, and there is no company name on it. But I love both!
I colored the angel in with a blender pen and the same SU inks. I covered

her wings using the versamarker, then embossed with iridescent ice
embossing powder. I stamped the sentiment in marina mist ink onto cardstock vellum,

trimmed with decorative scissors. I finished the card off with some SU hodgepodge

hardware and a non-SU cord from my stash.

Cody's birthday

2011-12-13T20:36:00.003-06:00

Today my Little-Man turned 11 years old!

Cody is currently really into his farm toys, now actually playing with them and taking care of them. He prefers the 1/64th scale to play with. So he got new farm toys from us, as most of the boys' farm toys are pretty used and abused, and need to be retired to staying outside for the dirthill. He loves his tractors! He now has a whole farm set up on the pool table in the basement - with Daddy's permission because that was what he enjoyed doing as a kid.

Here is his card. This is a tractor stamp that I got at a local stamping store when it was still in business. I stamped the image in SU craft basic black ink and embossed it with SU clear embossing powder. I stamped the sentiment in SU real red ink. I used SU basic black, real red textured, brushed silver, and whisper white cardstock. I used SU wide real red and narrow basic black ribbon, as well as a silver ribbon that was purchased elsewhere and given to me as a gift.

We had his family party over the weekend. He chose to have a farm theme on his birthday cake this year. He liked what I came up with.

Quacker exchange

2011-12-13T14:13:00.021-06:00

My Quacker friends had another secret gift exchange. I sent to Suzy.

I only took pics of things I made for Suzy, not the store-bought items.

her card

Friendship bookmark

Merry Christmas picture frame

Quacker ornament

a Christmas blessing

Suzy is from Texas, so I couldn't resist when I saw these tiny ornaments. I'm picturing a pillar candle standing in the middle with rope or twine tied around it.

Texas wreath

Suzy's sister Debby sent to me :)

She spoiled me with goodies!

Debby hand-painted this Chicken, and it will go perfectly in my kitchen!

A Weekend of Creating

2011-12-11T20:53:00.007-06:00

I did a lot of creating this weekend,

with paper and ink, as well as with frosting.

Well, my big sister turned 40 today :D

I was nice on the cake for her surprise party though.

... and of course, the card had to match the cake

A Christmas gift for our dear friend

a couple small cards to go with gifts

Our friend Sue took a road trip to come visit us, and she brought some new toys, including

a new Sissix die and embossing set that I absolutely fell in love with! I spent most

of our crafting time playing and making stockings. LOL
Of course, Mom ordered this set for us to play with now. :D

Sympathy cards

2011-12-07T18:04:00.009-06:00

These are never my favorite to make! Last week, there was a tragic car accident that killed 3 teenagers and injured two. One of the young men lost belonged to a family we know. He was the oldest of three children- having a younger brother and sister, and they just lost their father to cancer one year ago the same month. This family has been through so much! And now this horrific nightmare upon them tears at my heart! So I spent today creating some special cards for my friends.

This one is for my little buddy Kaylee. She and I have done a lot of talking over the last year, as we have both lost our daddies. Now she is facing the loss of her big brother on top of it. My heart just breaks for this girl, as well as the rest of her family. But she needed a special card just for her.

And this one is for her brother Lucas.

~R.I.P. Levi~

~You are forever loved and missed by many~

Ali's b-day creations

2011-12-07T17:40:00.004-06:00

My Angel-Face turned 14 this year!!!

Here is what I came up with for Ali's card. She is really into the zebra stripes and hot pink. In fact her bedroom is done in it, her bedding set being black and white zebra stripes on one side, and hot pink leopard print on the other. So I decided to go with that.

Now I realize this isn't really what I create in my purple palace, but my cakes are another creative outlet of mine. And since it was the same theme, I wanted to share it here as well. Ali loved it, so I'm happy with it. I had fun with this one too.

Fun with clothespins

2011-11-22T14:06:00.003-06:00

My sister gave me a bunch of these jumbo clothespins. I've always thought rub-ons would work well for decorating them. Yet, they have sat in my cabinet of alterables for quite some time. So I got a few out and played with them yesterday and today. Here is what I came up with.

I thought they turned out kind of fun :D

3 years in the making! LOL

2011-11-22T12:00:00.003-06:00

I have heard of long-time projects, but THIS is RIDICULOUS! LOL

As you can see with my blog, I have done very little creating in a very long time. So, in trying to get back into the swing of things, we decided I needed to finish off these cards that I have had the supplies ready for. Three years ago, I started this red card for Christmas cards. With birthday party invitations for 4 birthday parties (each child had a "friend party" and a "family party") and life in general, they didn't get done.

So, I decided to do these snowy cards to send out after the new year with a family update letter. Right about then is when my elbow issues started, and I ended up treating and doing physical therapy for what seemed to be tennis elbow - I think "Stamping Elbow" would have been the correct diagnosis in my case. LOL

So these all got pushed aside, and basically forgotten about.

But I am very pleased to announce that after a mere THREE YEARS,

both sets of cards are complete. LOL!

creating today :)

2011-07-10T16:19:00.013-05:00

I went downstairs and did a little bit of creating today. I did 2 scrapbook pages for my Daddy album. I want to do an entire album dedicated to pictures of Daddy and memories of him. I found these papers and stickers when we went to Archiver's Father's Day weekend knowing what pictures I would use for them.

I also finished up the last double page layout I started at that crop I went to a while back. They are from Cody's baseball last summer.

New Fabric

2011-07-09T20:13:00.003-05:00

Woo-Hoo! I'm excited! We went to Hobby Lobby and found fabric for Mom to make curtains for my Purple Palace! :) It's in the basement, so I have one small high window. My cutting counter has two cabinet bases that are open. So we are going to use tension rods and hang curtains. I can't wait to see the end result!

Finally Finished Pages

2011-07-05T13:38:00.010-05:00

My sister Tammy made this wonderful page, and I just loved it! She made one for me too :)

Daddy passed away this past April. He had an adoring love for eagles, making this page so perfect! She also included the two poems that we chose at the funeral home for the printed items used for services, Safely Home and To Those I Love and Those Who Love Me.

Here are some pages I started working on a few months ago at the last crop I went to with Tammy. I finally got around to finishing them up this weekend.

Cody's Four-Wheeler Accident

left page close-up

right page close-up

The kids were all dressed up for my cousing Abbey's wedding since they were helpers in the wedding. I couldn't resist taking some pics of my precious kiddos looking so beautiful!

It was great being back in my Purple Palace working again. I have been trying to get it reorganized now that I'm no longer a Stampin' Up demo. I'm working on getting all of my goodies together and ready to create with, and not having to have everything separated for business reasons. Everything gets to be organized for creating reasons now :)

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

2011-06-20T08:45:00.003-05:00

Well, it has been forever since I last posted. In all reality, I haven't done much work in my Purple Palace in the last year or so. I even let my Stampin' Up demoship go this past February. Too many things going on at home and with the family to schedule or plan much. I have come to the conclusion that doing the business, I put so much into keeping that going, that I didn't hardly get to any of the scrapbooking that I love, which is what really got me into the paper crafts in the first place. I have decided that the scrapbooking is too important to get any further behind in. My family is the most important thing in my life, and I need to get it in scrapbooks for all of us to enjoy. So my contentration at this moment is getting my room back in shape and reorganized now that my focus has changed. Then I want to get my scrappin' back in gear and enjoy all the many memories that I am treasuring. :) So hopefully there will be many more posts to come in the near future.

Another spring flood

2010-06-08T10:21:00.011-05:00

Well, another spring flood interrupted my stamping and scrapbooking. :( At least this time, my floor didn't have anything laying around on it! We also didn't get as much water in the basement this time around. However, we were not able to save my carpet after this flood.

My room is so sad without the carpet!

Until we figure out why we're getting the water all of a sudden and get the issue fixed, I don't want to put any more carpet down there, just waiting for it to happen again. So I decided to paint my floor purple in the meantime. It's definitely a brighter shade of purple than my carpet was, but it was the closest color they could tint the special floor paint. So I put two coats of the purple paint down, then a coat of concrete sealer over it, which ended up giving it a nice glossy finish. I'm hoping to be able to get some stuff moved back in there soon, so I can work on getting organized again.

My daddy helped me with the first coat of purple.While I'm redoing my room, I decided to add stamped flowers to the wall. Originally, I only had one row of flowers all the way around the room. It was the layer under my clock. The concrete sealer added such a pretty glossy finish to my floor :)

I'm liking it! :D

I did some creating today! :)

2010-03-04T15:21:00.014-06:00

A young couple we know just had their first baby, a baby girl. So here is what I will send to welcome her. Everything for this card except the embossing folders is Stampin' Up material. The card base is sage shadow, ran through the cuttlebug with the d'vine swirls folder. The pretty in pink layer was ran through the cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder. The toy elephant image is from SU's retired Year After Year set, and the congratulations sentiment is from the retired Baby Talk set, all on whisper white cardstock. I colored him in with the watercolor wonder crayons. The grosgain ribbons are in the same colors as the cardstock.

Keith has known the new baby's grandparents most, if not all, of his life, so I am sending this one to them. All products for this card, with the exception of the embossing folder, is Stampin' Up, whether current or retired. The card base is a retired in-color pink pirouette, with shimmery white layers. The embossing on the card front is the cuttlebug folder swiss dots. I used SU's new scallop oval punch as well as the sale-a-bration scallop trim border punch. The giraffe image is from the retired Wild About You set, and the sentiment is from the sale-a-bration set Whimsical Words. Both are stamped in pink pirouette. I topped it off with SU's beautiful organza ribbon.

I also needed a birthday card for my mom's dear friend that I have known my entire life. I decided to play with this year's in-colors. My card base is rich razzleberry, with bermuda bay, crushed curry, and whisper white layers. The background and cupcake images are from the retired Big Bold Birthday set, and the sentiment is in the Heard From

the Heart set. I used the same colors in ink pads and markers for both. The finishing touch was the matching rich razzleberry polka-dotted ribbon.

Getting into some challenges :)

2010-03-03T14:37:00.005-06:00

In my lack of interest in getting downstairs to actually play in my stamping room, I have fallen very behind on our group challenges. The hostess of the month sends the same images, pieces of cardstock, embellishments, etc. to everyone in the group, and we all see what we can come up with. It's great to see how many different ideas come from the same supplies! Well, I decided to start with the March challenge, which I just received in the mail a day or two ago, and the February challenge, which my mom was hostess for. So here is what I came up with.

March challenge

February challenge

Keith's Birthday Cards

2010-02-27T14:01:00.004-06:00

My kids each made a birthday card for Daddy all by themselves. :D I was pretty impressed!

Dustin was ready to start his when I got in the shower. When I came out, he had it all done. He drew the picture, and sounded out the words he wanted to spell - and never asked for any help. I'm so proud of my little guy!

Dustin's card

Cody's card for Daddy

Ali's card

Ali used the SU Party Hearty stamp set for this card. It has a pacific point card base, with a chocolate chip layer behind the whisper white. She used pacific point, chocolate chip, tempting turquoise, garden green, and yoyo yellow SU inks and markers for the images.

Here is my card

I used SU's retired Born to ride stamp set, as well as the current SU On Your Birthday set for the bithday sentiment. I used a whisper white card base, a textrued (non SU) black layer, and SU's brushed silver and pacific point cardstock behind my focal image. The motorcyle and birthday sentiment is stamped in basic black, and a little bit of color added with a blender pen and pacific point ink. The Born to ride sentiment is stamped in encore silver ink. I also knotted a piece of basic gray taffeta ribbon.

Card Swap

2010-02-23T13:44:00.003-06:00

Sue arranged a card swap for us to take part in. She decided on a them for masculine cards, either for men or boys. Ali and I came home with some great cards! I already posted my card, as well as Ali's, so I will share everyone else's creations

Becky's card
Brooke's card

Lisa's card

Lois's card

Sharon's card

Shelly's card

Sonja's card

Sue's card

Tammy's card

Tanya's card

Thanks girls, for a fun afternoon full of friends and stamping! :D

Ready for the card swap :)

2010-02-20T23:23:00.002-06:00

Ali knew what stamp set she wanted to use for the card swap card. We went downstairs today, she picked out some colors, designed her layout, and stamped and colored in her image in no time at all. I was pretty impressed. :)

She used the retired Stampin' Up set When I Grow Up. Her card base is bashful blue, with close to cocoa, chocolate chip, bashful blue, and very vanilla layers. She used the bashful blue, night of navy, close to cocoa, chocolate chip, creamy caramel, mellow moss, and always artichoke markers to color in her image.

Way to go Ali!

Card Swap

2010-02-17T21:15:00.006-06:00

Sue has arranged a group card swap this weekend, and it's all about masculine cards. So here's what I came up with.

I pulled out the retired SU stamp set, Computer Quips, for the focal image as well as the inside sentiment. The happy birthday sentiment is from the retired set Big Bold Birthday, and the circle images are from the retired sets Big Pieces and Little Pieces. I made the card as an easel card.

I used Stampin' Up's chocolate chip and new in- colors, dusty durango and soft suede inks and markers, as well as creamy caramel marker. I used chocolate chip, dusty durango, soft suede, naturals ivory and very vanilla cardstocks.

I used the distressing tool around the focal image as well as the bottom inside layer.

my Valentine :)

2010-02-17T16:04:00.007-06:00

I have to share my Valentine card with all of you! Keith went downstairs to my stamping room and MADE me a card! :) I'm so proud of him! He said "I used scissors and your tape-thing and everything" LOL

This is the front. He even hand-cut his heart :)

and here's the inside. He found an image I had stamped and cut it out. :)

Wow! It has been forever!

2009-11-13T16:49:00.012-06:00

I realize it has been over a year since I added to this blog! I can't believe that! Unfortunately, I really haven't done a whole lot in my awesome stamping room this year. I had elbow issues that didn't allow me to do much stamping early in the year. Then, in May, we had a flood. We got four inches of standing water in our entire basement - including my Purple Palace. With my limited time down there, my room was a mess, lots on the floor. And since the flood, we have really stayed busy with life, kids, and of course, our bad luck. But it has been cleaned up, I have almost full use of my right arm again, and I am ready to get back down there and create. So hopefully, I will have something fun to share with you soon.
I suppose I will attach flood pictures for this post.

Here was my first view going down the hall towards my scrapbooking room :(

We had to take everything out of my room to clear the floor. We shop-vac'd the carpet, then hauled it outside for drying out. So my supplies were scattered throughout the house where we could fit them.

My counters were unusable

Bella Rose Stamp Camp

2008-09-25T08:37:00.015-05:00

I thought I'd share the final projects for my Bella Rose Stamp Camp that I held last week. Everyone seemed to enjoy all of them. We made two 3-D items and three cards, using the Bella Rose designer series paper.

This is a mini photo album, using the clear envelopes as photo pages. You can use any number of envelopes to hold photos from any special event you have in mind. We used ridinghood red cardstock, the Bella Rose DSP, the new riding hood red taffeta ribbon, and the gold eyelets in the metallic eyelets set.

This is the tool caddy that I showed before the class. It is great for your desktop to hold any variety of things that you'd like to keep handy. You can use it in your stamping or scrapbooking area, your desk at work, or keep it by your phone to hold pens and a small notepad. We used coasters to form the box itself. The Crop-A-Dile put holes along the sides. Then we tied pretty in pink and riding hood red taffeta ribbon to hold the coasters together. We used the Bella Rose DSP on the outsides of the coasters. We also stamped the big rose and leaf from the A Rose Is a Rose stamp set in pretty in pink, riding hood red, and kiwi kiss classic inks onto whisper white cardstock, cut the images out, and put them on with dimensionals.

Then we made three cards, using our new punches and some new ribbon.

This card uses the Bella Rose DSP, chocolate chip, and riding hood red cardstocks. The sentiment is from the Best Yet hostess stamp set in cholate chip ink, then punched it out using the new curvy label punch, and sponged the edges with riding hood red ink. We used the photo corners punch on two of the Bella Rose patterns for accents.

This card uses kiwi kiss, riding hood red, pink pirouette, and whisper white cardstocks and the Bella Rose DSP. We stamped the flower image from the A Rose Is a Rose stamp set, then used the new wide oval punch for the image. We mounted in onto the pink pirouette layer and used the paper piercer to accent the corners. Then we mounted it onto the riding hood red layer. We used the new satin ribbon in kiwi kiss/very vanilla. I especially loved the way the knot turned out with the colors like that.

This card uses pink pirouette, riding hood red, and whisper white cardstocks, and the Bella Rose DSP. We stamped the sentiment from the Say It With Scallops stamp set in riding hood red ink onto whisper white cardstock, then punched it out using the new scallop square punch, and used dimensionals to adhere it. We used the new riding hood red taffeta ribbon to accent the DSP.

Upcoming Classes

2008-08-22T08:27:00.009-05:00

My goal for the new Stampin' Up! catalog period is to be better prepared and not procrastinating. I am known to be up late designing projects the night before a class or workshop. I want to be better prepared and have a plan. So before my New Catalog Party, I made samples from my upcoming classes. If you're interested in coming to my classes, visit my website at http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/kristaquick/ for more information. I should have that updated soon.

Color Me Happy class

My Color Me Happy class is early in September. We are making color inventory books for everybody to keep track of their supplies, and what they have and need. We will also make cardstock rings with samples from each of Stampin' Up!'s cardstock colors in the exclusive color families, the neutrals, and the new in-colors.

Bella Rose Stamp Camp

I'm holding a Bella Rose Stamp Camp later in September, to use this beautiful pack of designer series paper! I love this pack! In this class, we will make 5 cards and 2 3-D projects, all using the Bella Rose paper. One of the 3-D projects will be this tool caddy, where you can keep your tools handy at your workspace. Sorry, the tools won't be included. ;)

Holiday Treasures Box of Cards class

My Holiday Treasures Box of Cards class will be in early October. We will make 10 small gift cards - perfect for throwing into those gift bags when you're ready to exchange - along with a beautiful little box to hold those cards until you're ready for them. We will be using the Holiday Treasures designer series paper for these projects.

Playing with my new stuff!

2008-08-21T19:05:00.015-05:00

I am loving Stampin' Up!'s brand new Fall/Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog!! I placed my order of new stuff the very first day, and couldn't wait to play with all of the new goodies! Here are some of the things I created those first few days. All of these samples use only Stampin' Up! stamps, cardstocks, inks, and accessories.

The new scallop border punch is AWESOME!!! For this card, I used close to cocoa, riding hood red, and pink pirouette cardstocks, and close to cocoa and riding hood red inks. The images are from the A Beautiful Thing stamp set, and the sentiment is from Heard From the Heart.

For this card, I used handsome hunter, riding hood red, and whisper white cardstocks. I used the Heritage Holiday stamp set for the images, and stamped them using jet black staz-on, and the sentiment is from the new hostess set Best Yet, stamped using encore silver ink. I used the blender pen to color in the images with riding hood red, handsome hunter, and so saffron inks. I sponged the edges of the Santa image with handsome hunter ink. The scallop punch worked well for this one too. I also thought the new riding hood red tafetta ribbon and the ribbon slider from the stylized silver hodgepodge hardware were perfect accents!

I love the new stamp set called A Holly, Jolly Christmas! That is the only set I used for this card. I inked the Santa stamp with the real red and basic black markers. I used baja breeze, real red, and whisper white cardstock. The red snowflake layer is designer paper from the I Wish simply scrappin' kit. And you guessed it! I used the new scallop border punch across the bottom of the front.

This card base is whisper white cardstock, and the card front is kiwi kiss. The sentiment is from the new Heard From the Heart stamp set. The images are from Doodle This. I stamped the first image in whisper white craft ink onto the kiwi kiss cardstock. I stamped the flower image twice in whisper white craft ink onto white vellum cardstock. I colored them using blender pens and pink piroette ink refills onto the back of the vellum, then cut the images out with my paper snips. I put one of the green rhinestone circle brads through the center of the flowers and the kiwi kiss cardstock for that added touch.

For this card, I used the new hostess set Window Dressing for the images, and Itty Bitty Backgrounds for the background. I stamped the window image onto vellum paper, more mustard, and night of navy cardstocks to piece together. I colored the window frame with the more mustard marker, cut the more mustard stamped image for the window sill, and the night of navy stamped image for the shutters. I stamped the little girl image onto whiper white and colored her in using a blender pen and ink pads. I stamped the little bird onto baja breeze cardstock and cut it out. The card base is baja breeze cardstock as well.

For this card, I used riding hood red, close to cocoa, handsome hunter, and confetti white cardstocks, and close to cocoa and handsome hunter inks. I stamped the reindeer image from the new hostess set, Deer Friends twice - once in close to cocoa and once in handsome hunter. I used the 1 inch circle punch to punch out around the reindeer head on the close to cocoa image. I used the 1 1/4 inch circle punch to punch around the phrase on the handsome hunter one, then placed the preciously punched reindeer on top. I placed those layers onto a 1 3/8 inch circle of riding hood red, then onto the handsome hunter scallop circle. I added white dots around the scallops of the scallop circle with the white gel pen. I used the color spritzer tool with the ruby red marker around the sentiment from the Heard From the Heart stamp set. I colored the reindeer's nose with the ruby red marker, then put crystal effects over it. This ended up being one of the make 'n takes at my New Catalog Party.

This was the second make 'n take at my New Catalog Party. It uses old olive and real red textured cardstock. The main image is stamped on shimmery white and the designer paper layer is from the I Wish simply scrappin' kit. Both of the images are from the Heritage Holiday stamp set. The Santa was stamped using jet black staz-on, and the hat is colored in with the real red marker. The ornaments were stamped with old olive ink onto the old olive cardstock. The sentiment is from the Best Yet hostess set.

For this card, I was playing around with a new technique, Vitalized Vellum. The center top layer is actually white vellum cardstock. Cool, huh?! For this technique, I used kiwi kiss, old olive, and always artichoke classic ink pads. The images and sentiment are all from the Season of Joy stamp set. The card base is always old olive cardstock, and the layers include the vellum piece I worked with, along with whisper white and always artichoke cardstocks. Old olive grosgain ribbon is atied around my top layers. I wasn't completely happy with the always artichoke with the other colors, but I love how the technique turned out!

I loved the technique so much, that I had to keep playing with it. This time I used apricot appeal, pumpkin pie, and tangerine tango classic inks on my white vellum cardstock. The card base is pumpkin pie, and for the layers, I used whisper white and aricot appeal cardstocks with my decorated vellum. The lion image and the "wild about you" phrase are from the Wild About You stamp set. On the scallop image, I inked the lion image with pumpkin pie and apricot appeal markers, and punch it out with the 1 1/4" circle punch, then layered onto a 1 3/8" pumpkin pie cirlce, and an apricot appeal scallop punch. The phrase is stamped in pumpkin pie ink onto pumpkin pie cardstock.

Creating for Tanya

2008-08-02T13:58:00.010-05:00

My cousin Tanya will turn 40 on Monday. Her mom is throwing her a big party (it was supposed to be a surprise party, but Tanya didn't cooperate with that idea). Tammy thought of the fun idea for anyone who wanted to join in to create a scrapbook page for Tanya of any sort they wanted.

I did a "cousins" page for her with pictures through the years. These included Tanya, my sister Tammy, our cousins Marshall and Abbey, and me. One was taken in 1987 at a family reunion. One was from my wedding in 1997. One was taken the month after my youngest son was born in 2004. And the other is from last summer. I enjoyed looking at the similarities and differences in these pictures. I used my Cricut for this page. The title is done using my new Jasmine cartridge.

I also did a double-page "zoo" page because for the last couple of years, Tanya has given my parents "grandparents' zoo passes" to take the kids to the zoo as often as they'd like. We just went last week for the kids to enjoy the zoo with my Mom, so I scrapbooked that day for Tanya. I used my Cricut for these too. The title is done using the Zoobaloo cartridge and the monkey, tiger, and zebra.

This is the card I created for her. She has decided to 'embrace' the forties and be fabulous instead of dread this birthday. So I thought this would be fitting. I used SU's basic black and purely pomegranate cardstock. I used versamark with SU's heat n' stick powder, then glitter from the fine cosmo pack. I also used SU's designer label punch for the "fabulous" sentiment. Both stamps are from SU's Just B stamp set. I put the black layers through the Cuttlebug using the D'vine swirls embossing folder. I used the ticket corner punch and SU's black brads in the corners of the "B" layer. Then I ran the white envelope through the Cuttlebug using the same folder. It was super-classy!

July Stamp Club

2008-07-19T09:32:00.006-05:00

Here is what we made at our July Stamp Club. First, we did a card using the chalkboard technique. You can find the directions here on the tutorial in the Resources section of Splitcoast Stampers.

We used SU's Big Bold Birthday stamp set. The card base is SU's tempting turquoise cardstock. We stamped some of the random images fromt he stamp set in tempting turquoise ink to make a fun background. The layers of cardstock are SU's basic black, tempting turquoise, and pixie pink cardstocks. We used SU's photo corners punch on pixie pink and lovely lilac cardstock for the corner accents, with one of the ice circle rhintestone brads. For the main image, we stamped the cupcake and candle stamps in SU's craft white ink, then used a small pompom to put stampin' pastels over the white ink. We used tempting turquoise, pixie pink, lovely lilac, and summer sun chalks in the stampin' pastels. Make sure to use the embossing buddy over your black cardstock before stamping your image in the white craft ink. This makes it easy to get the extra color off from around the image with a swiffer dust cloth.

I wanted to use some retiring stamp sets in the other projects for the club. For this card, we used SU's wild wasabi cardstock for the card base. We stamped SU's Print Pattern background in wild wasabi ink. We dotted the end points of the background with the white signo gel pen. We stamped the frog image from SU's Unfrogettable stamp set in jet black staz-on ink, then used a blender pen and wild wasabi ink refill to colr the frog in. We used the cameo coral and certainly celery markers to ink the flower image from the same stamp set in the frog's hand. The main image is stamped on whisper white cardstock with sponged cameo coral ink around the edges, then layered onto barely banana cardstock. We stamped the hoppy birthday sentiment from the same stamp set in the jet black staz-on ink onto a piece of wild wasabi cardstock, punched out with the designer label punch. This was then layered onto a cameo coral piece punched from the 1 1/4" circle punch, then onto a barely banana piece punched from the 1 3/8" circle punch. Then we tied some of the wild wasabi striped ribbon (that I LOVE!!!) around the card front.

We did a 3x3 card for the third project. The card base is SU's certainly celery cardstock, with whisper white layered on the top. We inked the flower image from SU's Year After Year stamp set with regal rose and certainly celery markers for the main image. We stamped the thank you sentiment from SU's All Holidays stamp set in regail rose beside the flowers. We used the regal rose wide organdy ribbon to form a tailored bow. This size card fits in SU's mini square envelopes.

June, & July cards - forgotten and left behind

2008-07-19T08:57:00.013-05:00

I was looking at the creations I've put on my computer, and realized there are some I have forgotten to share. Here are some I made in June.

I have two cousins, who are brothers, with birthdays
consecutively, that I changed very little between their cards. I had done the one with the car originally, for a swap between friends. I simply changed the image.

I used SU's basic gray cardstock for the card base, going gray cardstock for the image to be stamped on, and basic black for the layer. The images were stamped using jet black staz-on ink. The car is from SU's Classic Convertibles stamp set, and the motorcycle is from SU's Born to Ride set. I sponged basic gray ink around the image of the going gray cardstock. The sentiment is from SU's Celebrate Everything stamp set, and is also stamped in the jet black staz-on ink. I used SU's basic gray tafetta ribbon, and non-SU silver accents.

Keith's cousin was just recently married. I made this card for her bridal shower. I used SU's basic gray for the card base, pretty in pink for the layers, and shimmery white for the main image piece. I embossed white vellum in my Cuttleug, using the Swiss Dots folder, and layered it over the pink layer. I stamped the dress image from SU's Blooming With Happiness, and colored it in with the pretty in pink marker, and also with going gray ink here and there. I went over the bodice section and some of the flowers with my Versamarker, then covered with heat & stick powder to adhere dazzling diamonds glitter. I stamped the sentiment from the same stap set with basic gray ink. I accented the vellum layer with SU's pretty in pink & basic gray tafetta ribbons.

The wedding was earlier this month. Here is the card I made for it. I wanted to keep it sleek and elegant, so I stuck with my new favorite, basic gray. The card base is basic gray with a full card front of white vellum over it. I used the basic gray tafetta ribbon to hide the adhesive. I used the heart image from SU's Year After Year stamp set and the sentiment is from SU's brand new set Heard From the Heart, being released to customers in August. First I stamped them in basic gray on the basic gray cardstock. Then I stamped the same image in silver encore ink on the vellum. I really love how it turned out in real life.

This was a Father's Day card that I made to send out to my grandpa. I used SU's always artichoke for the card base, chocolate chip for the layers, and whisper white for the image to be stamped on. I used SU's Print Pattern background stamp in chocolate chip on the chocolate chip strip, then used my white signo gel pen to dot the corners of the diamonds on the background. I tied SU's chocolate chip poly-twill ribbon around that strip as well. The image from SU's Classic Convertibles stamp set is stamped in jet black stazon-on ink, then colored with a blender pen with blue bayou, soft sky, and yoyo yellow inks. The sentiment is hand-written. I also used non-SU silver dot accents along the chocolate chip layer under the main image.

June Stamp Club workshop

2008-06-15T13:09:00.007-05:00

Here is what we made at my stamp club's June workshop. They seemed to enjoy them.

First we made a bookmark out of the jumbo paperclips. We used

Stampin' Up's scallop punch on the Bali Breeze designer paper from
SU for the two sides. We used a silver brad and the Flower Fusions as an accent on the front panel. Then we used dimensionals to adhere the two sides together, with the top of the paperclip between them. We used a piece of ribbon from SU's Sherbet Ribbon Originals as an accent.

We made a Father's Day card, using Stampin' Up's Dad's Day and A Light Unto My Path stamp sets. We used SU's basic gray, night of navy, and bashful blue cardstocks, night of navy and bashful blue inks, and night of navy and bashful blue grosgain ribbon for an accent. We used SU's designer label punch around the sentiment stamp, which is a perfect fit.

For the third project, we did the diagonal double pocket card. We did two different color schemes, using the same design and layout for this one. For both cards, we used Stampin' Up's True Friend, Boho Backgrounds, Warm Words, and All Holidays stamp sets. Both cards used the Afternoon Tea designer paper in SU's Occassions mini catalog. SU's designer label, double circle, 1 inch circle, and ticket corner punches are also used on both cards. We also used stampin' sponges around the tag edges on both cards.

In this card, we used SU's chocolate chip, close to cocoa, and

very vanilla cardstock, groovy guava, chocolate chip ink, and the chocolate chip poly-twill ribbon in the Occassions mini catalog.

For the other version of the same card, we used Su's wild wasabi, soft sky, and confetti white cardstocks, wild wasabi and soft sky inks, and the wild wasabi and soft sky double stitched ribbons.

Got some creative juices flowing...

2008-06-07T19:37:00.009-05:00

I went downstairs to my stamping room this morning because I needed to make two birthday cards. My son was going to a birthday party for two classmates (the moms threw a double party for the whole class). As I did those, I realized once again what a disaster my stamping room was. Well, I went downstairs a little later in plans of cleaning and organizing. I did get my countertops cleaned off and my stamp shelf cleaned. But then I got sidetracked. A friend on our quacker thread had posted a monthly challenge for us at the beginning of May. My month of May got away from me, and it was still sitting there, unattempted. She sent everybody an envelope with identical goodies to use in the challenge. Fun idea! We all liked it so much that we formed a large group of stampers to do this same type of challenge for the next year! After I created that card, I figured I should do June's challenge while I was at it. So, my room isn't any cleaner, or any more organized, but I created 4 new cards today. My creative juices haven't really been flowing lately, so that was very nice!

So here is what I created today. First, the birthday cards.

This was for one of the birthday boys. I liked it so much, I made two so that I would have one to keep. His had 7 candles on the cupcake, but I liked it better with just one. I used Stampin' Up's Big Bold Birthday stamp set. The SU cardstock that I used was taken with teal, night of navy, and whisper white. For ink, I used SU's night of navy, real red, taken with teal, and more mustard. I also accented with more mustard and real red grogain ribbons. I ran the navy cs through the cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder. I also used a designer paper for the background.

This was for the other birthday boy. I used Stampin' Up's Birthday Whimsy stamp set. I used SU's brilliant blue, green galore, only orange, and whisper white cardstock. To ink the cake stamp, I used brilliant blue, green galore, only orange, and yoyo yellow markers. I also used silver encore ink for the sentiment. I ran the green galore cs through the same cuttlebug folder. Then I finished it off with only orange grogain ribbon.

Here are the cards I made with our challenges.

Debbie sent us the May challenge. She sent us each an envelope of identical images, designer paper, ribbon, and brads. We could only use earth elements colored cardstock for this challenge. I used close to cocoa, old olive, and naturals ivory cardstock. I cut the designer paper up into strips to use as tree trunks. I cut the grass and treetop by hand. I also used my Zoobaloo cricut cartridge for the vines and leaves. I used the ribbon as rope for the monkey to play on. I wrote the sentiment on by hand.

I really like how this turned out. It was so fun!

Jen sent us the June challenge. She sent each of us watercolor paper with some Father's Day type images, some designer paper, some hodgepodge hardware, and ribbon to work with. We could only use rich regal ink and cardstock. We also needed to use one of the first techniques we learned. I used always artichoke cardstock.I cut the sentiment into strips to make it fit on my card. The technique I used was poppin' pastels to color in the image. I also used pastels over the words of the sentiment. I really like this stamp set, but I haven't bought it yet. It was great to be able to play with the images from it!

Hopefully, it won't be too long before I have another creative day! But first, my Purple Palace does need cleaned - majorly!!

Fun gymnastics cards

2008-06-01T15:17:00.013-05:00

My stamping friend Debbie showed me this adorable idea for little gymnasts here at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/893816?sort=&page=&sortby=&sorttime=&sortdir .

How cute is that?!

They're made out of Stampin' Up punches, and so much fun to make. I used the 1" circle punch for the head and for the bangs of the hair, the 3/4" circle punch for the ponytail in the back, the word window punch for the arms and legs, the small tag punch for the body/outfit, the 1/2" circle punch to help form the leg openings of the outfit, and the small and large oval punches for the design on the outfits. I punched the small oval first, then centered that to punch the large oval punch. That gave me an oval ring. I cut it on both ends, then put the curved strips onto the outfit, then trimmed the edges off. I used SUu's tempting turquoise and whisper white cardstock for the card and card front, SU's very vanilla for the head, arms, and legs, SU's tempting turquoise for the outfit, and shimmery white for the oval punch-outs for the outfit designs. For the hair, I used SU's really rust, so saffron, close to cocoa, and chocolate chip cardstock. I also used tempting turquoise grogain ribbon for the hair bows. I used SU's Brushstroke Alphabet on Ali's card, Sincere Salutations set for Melissa's card, and All Holidays for Brandy's card.

My daughter had her tumbling recital last night, and I wanted to play with this super-cute idea. I made this card for her to congratulate her on a season of hard work with her tumbling.

I made this one for Melissa, the assistant tumbling teacher. She has helped with these young tumbers so much, and even tumbles with Ali's class, and they really look up to her.

I made this one for Brandy, her teacher. She really loves these kids and is so proud of all of them!

Teachers' gifts

2008-05-28T09:50:00.018-05:00

I created some books for the kids' teachers. Today is their last day of school, and they'll get to give them their presents and books. Cody is in first grade, and has a teacher and a teacher's aide all day. I made them both one of these books. I used my Bind-it-all on these.

The first grade class went on a field trip to the Children's Museum a couple of weeks ago. The class picture is on a separate flap, attached to the red piece that folds out. Each page has a flap that folds out to show another picture.

I made sure to get a snapshot of each of the students in the class on the field trip to include in these books. I also had each student write their favorite thing about first grade for me to use in these.

Ali is in fourth grade, and has one teacher all day. This is also her first year teaching, so I wanted to do a little keepsake for her of her first class.

I copied the class picture that came home last fall with school pictures. Then I cut each student out, and the teacher as well for the last page. I also had each student sign a piece of cardstock, and I cut out each signature. I used a small tin to hold the pages. The pages are just on a book ring for a flip-book. Then on each page is a student along with their signature. The pages aren't anything fancy, but I like how it turned out with their signatures.

Here are the cards that are going with the gifts. They definitely aren't anything fancy, but I was happy with them. They are exactly alike, just different colors. You can't really see the bottom of the red one very well, but it does have the same stamps done across it.

Mother's Day creations

2008-05-20T12:57:00.009-05:00

I had fun creating for Mother's Day gifts. I recently bought a Bind-It-All. For those of you who don't know what this is, it an awesome tool that binds things together - it punches the holes, and also squeezes the coil for numerous fun ideas!

For my mom, I made a book of my kids. Each child had their own page with a recent picture and a handwritten note for Grandma Soni in an envelope across from their picture.

Here is the book.

Here is the first double page.

Here is Alissa's page.

Here is Cody's page.

Here is Dustin's page.

and the final double page

I also made some smaller albums for Tammy, Keith's Grandma Norris, Momma Sue, and Vicki. I used the same pictures of the kids in them. Since I made four of them, I was able to take a picture of all the pages at one time.

I also made a brag book for Vicki.

Boho tote and cards

2008-04-25T12:57:00.011-05:00

Cody had to take a "cake walk prize" for the school game carnival. I decided to make a tote and 5 coordinating cards for his prize.

In the mix of everything, I used Stampin' Up!'s Boho Backgrounds, True Friend, and One of a Kind stamp sets. I also used sentiments from SU's Hugs & Wishes and Warmest Regards stamp sets. I used SU's purely pomegranate, pretty in pink, close to cocoa, chocolate chip, sage shadow, and whisper white cardstocks, inks, and markers. The double stitched purely pomegranate and the pretty in pink taffeta ribbons were great accents. I also included a matching envelope for each card in the tote.

Here are close-ups of everything.

Dustin's b-day car

2008-04-23T06:53:00.003-05:00

Here is what I came up with for Dustin's birthday card. I used the car from Stampin' Up!'s By Land stamp set, and the happy birthday sentiment stamp from SU's Big Bold Birthday set. It uses a non-SU designer paper along with SU's wild wasabi, brilliant blue, real red, summer sun, and whisper white cardstock, wild wasabi, brilliant blue, and basic black classic ink, the ticket corner punch, and wasabi double-stitched ribbon. I was very happy with how it turned out, and Dustin seemed to really like it too.

new baby gifts

2008-04-14T16:12:00.005-05:00

Our neighbors just had a new baby boy last week. They also have a 2 1/2 year old little girl who is in a library program with Dustin, my youngest. So when I was thinking of a gift for the new baby, I wanted to do something special for the new big sister as well. So I created these to go with some gifts that I picked up for them.

I made this for the new big sister Sidney. I loved how the little princess turned out. I thought she needed to be sparkly. I used the Paper Dolls cricut cartride to cut the princess and accessories. I used the Teardrop cricut cartridge to cut the letters. Everything that is sparkly was embossed with SU's iridescent ice embossing powder.

I made this for the new baby, Trent. I love boys' stuff done in primary colors, probably since that is what my boys' room is decorated in. I used the Stampin' Up Headline alphabet stamp set and Wild About You set. I also used some various ribbons and embellishments.

But then, I ran across this while looking online for ideas. You can see it at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/565891. So I did one very similar, changing a few things here and there. I was very happy with how it turned out. I used SU's Headline alphabet stamp set for the letters, the Warm Words set for the script, and the Wild About You set for the images. I also used the round label punch and soft subtles brads from Stampin' Up. I couldn't decide on just one for the baby, so both pictures are in the frame. They can switch them if they'd like.

April Stamp Club

2008-04-14T14:07:00.012-05:00

These are the cards we did at my April Stamp Club.

This was done using the flowers out of Stampin' Up's Year After Year set, the back-ground flower stamp out of SU's A Good Egg set, and the friend sentiment out of Stampin' Up's Everyday Flexible Phrases set. It uses SU's mellow moss, pretty in pink, and regal rose cardstock and markers (to ink the flower stamp in different colors), whisper white cardstock, the designer label punch, large oval punch, and small oval punch, the 1/8" cirlce punch, moss gingham ribbon, and also stampin' sponges.

This was the card I took to the class for our sample. It uses Stampin' Up's Bugs & Kisses stamp set. We used SU's blue bayou, wild wasabi, creamy caramel, and whisper white cardstock, caramel ginham ribbon, the spiral punch, and stampin' sponges.

During the class project, my sister changed hers up a little bit, and I followed her lead. I love the image tilted and also how I changed the ribbon for it.

I received a beautiful dahlia fold card from my Quacker friend Suzy in her special gift for me that everyone loved. So we did this technique at our stamp club this month. The card itself opens up sideways. I trimmed the card top, then also used SU's corner rounder punch to make the scallop edge. We used Stampin' Up's Doodle This stamp set. We also used SU's blush blossom and old olive cardstock, the Bali Breeze designer series paper, the circle rhinestone brads in Ice, the 1 3/8" circle and the small oval punches for the flower pieces, and old olive 1/4" grosgain ribbon.

Creations for my QSS

2008-04-14T13:53:00.010-05:00

Our Quackers chat group had another fun secret gifting thing again this spring. We have so much fun with these! I was buying and creating for Dody, a real beach lover. Most of her package was store-bought items from our local scrapbooking store, but here is what I created for her.

She was trying to come up with a name for her craft room a while back, but never decided for sure. Her undecisiveness meant that I had to pick a name since I really wanted to do a name frame for her room. One that she had mentioned while thinking of name ideas was my favorite, so I went with it. This is the name frame I created for Dody's Crafty Cabana.

She already has an "about me" scrapbook page from an earlier exchange, so I decided to do one for my whole family.

I also did a recipe page for Taco Pie.

Here is the card that I sent with Dody's gift. Another friend had sent me some Bella stamped images to play with, and I thought it was perfect for Dody's card.

~~Happy Quacking, Dody!~~

moving stuff in

2008-04-14T08:46:00.015-05:00

Now that the counters and new shelves are up and the carpet is in, it is time to move stuff into my new room! Keith mounted my t.v. up in the corner so that I still have my counter space underneath.

This is my stamping counter. I love this huge pegboard! I try to put things where they're handy and in sight. I love this storage for my punches in particular because they're within easy reach, and I can tell easily which shape each punch is. My four color families of classic ink pads and reinkers are in this unit from http://www.suink.net/. My t.v. is so handy up on the wall so that I have my computer in a nice place too.

This is my cutting counter. I wanted my Cricut and Cuttlebug to be easily accessible, along with my paper cutters. I have extra embellishment things organized in the little clear tubs on the top shelf.

The white cart next to my cutting counter holds my extra Cricut things like mats, papers, and tools. I also have my dry embossing things on there. Next to that is my scrapbooking table. I love having a separate place for my scrapbooking.

My purple cubes hold my designer scrap-booking papers. I try to keep them separated and somewhat organized, so I love having all of the different areas. There is a tall white cabinet in the corner that holds my retired and non-SU inks, my clear stamps, and some of my technique supplies like shaving cream and acrylic sealer. The white cabinet with double doors holds things like my SU envelopes, cello bags, and neutral and specialty papers. The purple dividers on top hold my 4 Stampin' Up color families of cardstock.

The white shelf is my "new to me" shelf that I was so proud of. I decided to use it for my stamp sets and organize them a little differently. I really like them this way! Then I have a tall shelf for business supplies, catalogs, anything that fits.

Since my room is smaller than what I was used to, I decided to use the hallway part of it for shelving. The little white thing is where my daughter Ali keeps her scrapbooking things. Then I have a shelf for picture organization. I also have a taller shelf for my scrapbooks and 3-D items.

I still have a lot of organizing to do, and some curtains to hang to cover cabinets and the window. But it will get done in time.

None the less, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Purple Palace!

My Purple Palace

2008-04-12T14:16:00.005-05:00

First, to explain the name. We bought the new house and moved in last fall. It was only next door to where we were living. We were living on my husband's family farm. After his mom passed away, we decided we wanted to buy the other half of her property. Not a horrible move by any means. But my new stamping/scrapping room is smaller than the one at the old house. However, I LOVE it so much more! My husband has spoiled me, and my new, smaller room is much more usable and organized. Or at least, it will be more organized when I'm finished. But to top it all off, I was able to make my stamping/scrapping room PURPLE! My favorite color! How cool is that?!

We started off with a cinder block room in the basement. It has a hallway leading down to it that I consider part of my room. We have put a lot of work into this little room though. We put two coats of KILLZ primer/paint on all of the walls. Then we covered it with a coat of glossy white paint to brighten it up.

Before we moved, the place that my husband works at was throwing out some old countertop and a couple of base cabinets since they were remodeling a room they were in. So my husband acquired them, knowing I could use them in my new room. With a little help from a friend, he got those put up where I wanted them.

He also put up some shelves over my cutting counter. They really help for the organizing!

~Now it's time to Stamp~

I decided to decorate my new room using the Doodle This stamp set from Stampin' Up! I used purple and green acrylic paints with the stamps. Keith got me a great big pegboard to cover almost the entire wall over my stamping counter to hang a lot of my tools and such on. I decided to decorate the pegboard to match the rest of the room. The pegboard is a bit busy, but once all of the tools are hanging on it, you don't see all of the business.

There was an old, yellowish, yucky shelf left in the basement.

I latched onto it, and started painting. I also stamped it to match. Hey - if it doesn't move, stamp it! Right?! I was really happy with how it turned out too.

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Now, here's the coolest part. My husband actually ordered me purple carpet for my new room!! He cut it and installed it himself, and did a fabulous job on it!

~I LOVE MY PURPLE CARPET!!~

So welcome to my Purple Palace!