Autumn Meadows

Last week I started working my way through a pack of Autumn Meadows dsp (from last year's Holiday Mini catalog)--I really enjoy the color combos and textures of the paper. I'm trying to get a bunch of fall type cards made for the troops. The mailing deadline is mid-September and I want From Our Hearts to receive them with time to spare, so I'm hoping to finish up and mail them off by the end of this week. I went through an entire pack of Chocolate Chip cardstock last week! I'm down to picky little scraps and that's it.

I will say that all the cards I've made from the paper pack have been CASEd from somewhere else, so if you see a card that looks like yours, let me know! I have trouble keeping track of where I find things sometimes. I made 8 of these babies and I'm really quite pleased with how they came out. Those little squares were a tiny bit pesky, but not too bad. My version was more "inspired by" the original version than a straight copy. Martie said that the types of cards they need most are "miss you" and "thinking of you" cards, so I tried to focus my sentiment efforts in that direction.

Supplies:
Taken with Teal, Chocolate Chip, Autumn Meadows, Very Vanilla cs
Three Little Words
Taken with Teal, Chocolate Chip ink
5/8" grosgrain ribbon (choc. chip, retired)

Be True to Your School

A quick post today, since we are just back from a long weekend in Yonkers (I know, I know--we went bonkahs in Yonkahs...) and I'm trying to get caught up. We had a lovely time celebrating the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, catching up with old friends, seeing my toddler's godfather, seeing my husband's mother and grandmother, and generally enjoying the weekend, but it was a lot of busyness too. Some day soon we'll stop being so busy on the weekends.

Anyway, my card for today was a commission from my friend Emily, who does beautiful photography--check out her website for samples of her work. She asked me to make two cards for her son's two teachers. He is starting school for the first time this year and she wanted something a little extra special for the first day. She specified green apples, but that was about all, so I turned to my color coach (great tool!) and picked this combo. I like the pop of red at the bottom and those green apples look delish! This is another favorite sketch of mine, which comes from Mary Fish.

Supplies:
Crumb Cake, Bashful blue, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White cs
Tart and Tangy stamp set
Wild Wasabi ink
dimensionals, jumbo white brads
perfect polka dots emboss folder
3/4" real red polka dot ribbon

Hand Stamped Sentiments: Scrap Inspiration

I think I've mentioned before that Stampin' Up! sends all its demonstrators a magazine every month called Stampin' Success, which is just chock full of ideas, tips, and other great information. I don't always use the ideas in the magazine, but this month was really a winner! I copied one of the cards (twice!) and one of the scrapbook pages, and have filed away another idea or two from the issue. I kept it open for several days to remind me of all the great stuff inside. These are the two cards I CASEd from it. The first is a sympathy card for a friend and the second one uses the same color scheme and similar template to become an anniversary card for some friends of ours.



In other news,...drumroll please...my BIG SHOT ARRIVED TODAY! Yippie!!! It arrived quite late in the afternoon, and I just got around to opening it after putting the kids to bed, but look at that beautiful sight! And look at those virgin cutting pads--I'll have to fix that in a hurry! I ordered only dry emboss folders to start, so those pads will stay nice for a little while anyway. :)

My favorite sketch

It has been raining cats and dogs here today (meow, meow, bark, bark) and just started hailing. My hubby is watching the boys, so I thought it would be a good time to type up a blog post. Yesterday we went to a birthday party at Valley Forge and then decided to go to the Renaissance Faire since we were already out that far. That was our first mistake. It was brutally hot and miserably humid in Manheim (where the the Faire is always held) and most of the acts that we come to see were no where to be found. My toddler was a mess because he was having some allergy issues and refused to nap in the car, so he was not in the mood to walk around a sweltering hot faire, and I was wearing the baby and just plain hot. We stayed about an hour and then decided to head back. We had planned to go to Vespers at a church kind of on the way home, but it just took so long to get there because we had to stop several times for crying baby and cranky toddler.

About the time we hit the exit for the church, hubby asked me if we should just go home and skip the service because the kids were just nuts, but I said, no, let's just keep going--we were about 20 minutes away by then, so might as well. I was glad we did go on because the service was lovely and we always enjoy going to there. I just wish it was a little closer and not off the messiest highway in the area. But the end result was that we arrived home tired, a little bit sunburned, a little bit heat-stroked (me) and ready to drop. I bathed both kids in record time and got them both down by 8:30, which is an hour later than my toddler's normal bed time, but sometimes, that is how it goes.


I love sketch challenges, but sometimes, it is nice to use an old favorite again and again. This past week I used one of my favorite sketches to make some cards for little girls. This is my go-to sketch when I'm stumped and I think it works for most images and styles. Basically, you use a strip of dsp that is half the width of the card, plus a 3" square (or so) central panel. Add your sentiment below and Bob's your uncle!

I hope some soldier will be happy to send one of these to his or her little girl back home! I borrowed the Pony Party set from my friend and upline, Claire, and made six cards with it, three of each color scheme.

Supplies:

Card 1: Regal Rose, Real Red, Pink Flamingo dsp, Whisper White cs
Pony Party stamp set
Inks: Staz-On, Regal Rose, Real Red, markers, real red ink
Scallop Circle, Large Oval, Modern label punch
real red designer button, linen thread, dimensionals

Card 2: Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo dsp, whisper white cs
Pony party stamp set
Inks: Staz-On, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise, Regal Rose, Melon Mambo markers, Melon Mambo ink
Scallop Circle, Large Oval, Modern Label punch
Tempting Turquoise designer button, linen thread, dimensionals

I've been workin' on the railroad, all the live long day!

No, not really. But I have been stamping like a madwoman whilst trying to get caught up from our vacation. I have pictures of what I've been working on, but haven't edited them yet, so today's post is just going to be a rundown of some of the (298!) cards I made in July for the troops and for friends who had babies. Some are original, some are CASEd from here and there, some are versions of cards I've made in the past, all are made with love. :) Enjoy!

Back from the land o' the green

Just in case some of you thought perhaps I'd been eaten by a leprachaun, I thought I'd just write this quick post to say that we've been visiting them instead. ;) We just returned from 12 days in Ireland and we had a WONDERFUL time. The children did very well all things considered, and we were able to see a lot of sights, listen to some great traditional Irish music and just enjoy a lovely country. We're a bit jet lagged now, and I'm trying to get caught up from the last two weeks, so my posting might be sporadic for a while.

Glendalough

We came home on Thursday, unloaded the luggage in the living room, which I quickly sorted into wash loads. I then did a manic number of washes and then repacked so we could drive out to western PA for the weekend to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday. We stopped in Harrisburg to visit some old friends on Friday to break up the trip a bit, and then spent the weekend in Indiana, PA (hometown of Jimmy Stewart, in case you care) and then home again on Sunday. All I can say is whew, it's good to be home. So now I have another mountain of laundry to do because all the clothes I brought for the weekend smell unpleasantly of the hotel room we stayed in and I'm trying to get baby thank you cards made as gifts for several friends and relatives who had babies recently or are due soon. But that is par for the course, I guess!

Monasterboice, just outside Dublin

Today's card is one I made in July for the troops--I really like the hydrangea set. You can earn it for free with a qualifying order--just ask me how.


Supplies:
Old Olive, Rose Red, Naturals Ivory, Rose red dsp
Because I Care (hostess, level 1) stamp set
Rose Red, Old Olive inks
Top Note die