Did a little stamping

Julee is having a sketch challenge over at Verve Visual which was just the excuse I needed to get in and STAMP SOMETHING today! Plus the fact that I just got this pretty paper yesterday and wanted to do something with it!

The printed paper is one of the "stack" pads from DCWV - this one is the Old World Stack which uses textured cardstock. The regular cardstock is Stampin' Up! Groovy Guava and Very Vanilla. The "tabs" were punched with the Word Window Punch. The black brads are from an assortment by Making Memories and I used my piercing tool and my distressing tool from the Crafters Tool Kit and the Cutter Kit (respectively) - both from Stampin' Up!. The center image is from One Of A kind and the sentiment is from Blossoms Abound, both available in the current Stampin' Up! catalog and both stamped in Chocolate Chip Craft Ink. I colored the flower in using a blender pen and my Groovy Guava reinker and then added Stickles over that. To give the top panel a little dimension, I used Pop Up Glue Dots. I'm kinda pleased with how it turned out!

I'm Leavin, On a Jet Plane!!!!!

I'll be home in about 5 hours! I'm sure Taz will be DELIGHTED to see me.... yeah. Right.

Flight out of Portland is scheduled for 5:23 PM Departure and a 6:45PM arrival. It is COLD here and rainy and windy at home. Should make for a bumpy landing! Oh well, at least I'll be HOME! Now I'm really glad we got to park so close to the shuttle stop!

I'll post photos later this week of my adorable furry "nephew", Mr. Pants. He is VERY cute!

A fun birthday card!

Birthday wishes to Justin (who probably isn't reading this, but if you are, stop or you'll see your birthday card!)!

So this morning, I sat down to make his birthday card. He is turning 36 today, so I knew after doing this card for VSN, that I would use the pattern again for his birthday!






The original card used the new Bali Breeze paper on Blush Blossom and was plain inside.





This card used the Creamy Caramel CS and the new Ginger Blossom paper. The paper Flowers are from Prima and the rhinestone ones are from a CTMH customer special.






This is the inside of the card. The butterfly tattoo is one of the new Stampin Up Rubons that will be available during SAB (Sale-A-Bration) and the stamp is from a retired phrase set, also from SAB, I believe.

VSN - the rest of the story!

OK - As promised here are the rest of my cards from this weekend! Actually, there are 2 more, but I can't find the photo of one and I can't post the other one since I am sending the card to someone for her birthday soon and it's REALLY obvious that the card is for her.



Altered Composition Book. Real Red Patterned paper from the Hostess Level One pad, white Taffetta ribbon, Chocolate Chip Satin ribbon, sticky half pearls from Michael's, unknown silk and paper flowers. Sentiment is from Stampin Up.

For the Chocolate challenge. Holds a Ghirardelli Square inside. Like the teabag holder swap I was in a couple months ago. Chocolate Chip, Berry Bliss and Chocolate Satin ribbon with Gold brads. All supplies Stampin Up.

Can't remember what challenge this was for.... Bling It On, I think. Again, all Stampin Up supplies: Soft Sky CS, ink and Patterned Paper, Blue Bayou CS and ink, Happiness BG stamp, clear rhinestone brads, 1/4" square punch, paper piercing tool and craft mat, Zig Painty Pen (silver).


This was for the last challenge I did, called Pack Your Purse. We were given a list of what we had to use to make our card, no more and no less. It was a LONG list! I'm not big on really ornate or busy cards usually, so pulling this off without it looking like TOO MUCH was tough for me! Everything but the Silver ink and the stickles are Stampin Up: Pretty in Pink and Rose Red Patterned paper from the Prints Pads. Pretty In Pink, Rose Red and Whisper White CS. Inks are Pretty In Pink, Rose Red and Platinum Planet (Archival Brilliance). Flower stamp is from Heartfelt Thanks. The silver is the Weathered BG stamp. "Celebrate" is from Wonderful Words. The squared are punched with the 1" square punch and layered on the white panel, then the pink, then the rose. Stickles on the pink layer for added BLING! The white 1/4" grosgrain was then layered on and the brads were set using the paper piercing tool to make the holes first.

Hopefully tomorrow I will find the picture of the other card I did.... it's a good one.

In the meantime, here is a link to the crazy finch feeding frenzy in my yard this morning. If you have your sound on, you will also hear the very sad sound of the neighbor's dog that has been chained on the side of their house in the rain for over 24 hours now. Yes, I have called Animal Control. They said they would send someone out this afternoon. This poor dog has been sounding like this all day yesterday, off and on thru the night, and all day today. It just makes me want to scream..... sorry the video is sideways, but the stupid editing software I bought only 2 months ago won't work on the new (Vista) computer and the company will not give me a free upgrade so I didn't edit! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J63Qoqh8vzE

VSN Weekend!

NOTE: The links to the VSN info over on Splitcoast will only work if you have a user ID there and are logged in, SORRY!

So, this weekend was VSN (Virtual Stamp Night) over on Splitcoast. Of the 18 challenges, I did 9. And I'll upload the photos later, they are on the OTHER computer. So if you are reading this and there are no photos, check back later!

There were 6 Challenges on Friday and I did 3 of those. The first two and the 4th one.

First was "Circle of Friendship" which was to make a friend card using a circle pattern. It was not my favorite of my VSN submissions and is probably the card I will re-make for the bonus After VSN challenge. The cardstock is Ballet Blue, Bashful blue and Brushed Silver. The stamps are Sanded Background, a set from CTMH and I don't remember what set the flower came from! The bling flowers are CTMH asnd the silk flower is from Michael's (Floral dept) with a Circle Fire Pumpkin brad in the center. The ribbon is the new striped Grosgrain in Bashful Blue.

The second challenge was called "Chocolate Shoes". We were to use a photo of some chocolate shoes as our inspiration. The stamps used are all from the CTMH set "Let's Shop". The Cardstock is Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. Inks are Choc Chip, Pretty In Pink and Rose Red. There are stickles on the shoe and her ponytail band and metallic gel pen for her necklace. The spiral clips are from the Antique Copper Hodge Podge Hardware and the ribbons are Pink 1/4" grosgrain and Chocolate Chip Taffetta.

The third challenge I did on Friday was "V-Neck, Baby!" which was to make a criss-cross card. I really enjoy making these and need to do them more often. It's like an envelope without the flap. The cardstock is Chocolate Chip and Whisper white. The pink used is the new Berry Bliss DSP. That yummy ribbon is the Chocolate Chip Satin from the Holiday mini which can still be found in the Ribbon Originals Theater collection. The scallop punches used are Marvy and the stamps are from the new One Of A Kind set from the new Spring Summer Catalog.

That's all for now. I need to save some for tomorrow, right?

OH! In other news.... WE HAVE A FENCE AGAIN!!!!! The neighbors were out putting up their side fence yesterday and had picked up the one section of ours that fell into their yard, so I sent Russ out to see if they would do our section too while they were at it. $50 cash later, we have new posts and our sections are back up. YAY!

Unfortunately, it seems they were prompted to fix the fence because they apparently added a dog to the household yesterday. It is a German Shepherd and so far it has barked and cried almost non stop since they TIED HIM UP ON THE SIDE OF THE HOUSE LAST NIGHT. Grrrrrr.... Yes, these are the same neighbors that had the chihuahua mix dog tied to their BBQ 2 summers ago. Grrrrrrr.... Poor dog has a section of fence leaned up against the house as a shelter. I don't think it is used to being kept outside because when I was looking at it over the fence, it started to rain lightly and the dog freaked out trying to figure out where the water was coming from. Poor thing. I hope the dog is visiting or they start treating it better or I will be on the phone to SPCA...... sigh.....

A little bit of stamping....

I got my new catalog order from Stampin' Up! on Wednesday evening. Then yesterday, I got my SAB preorder. I haven't had time to do anything but mount my new sets (3) and put away the inks, ribbons and papers. Last night I did take a minute to try the new rubons though. I had bought some rubons last year at Michael's and could not get them to stick to ANYTHING. So when I heard that SU! was coming out with rubons, I really didn't care. Well, the ones that we will be featuring during Sale-A-Bration are just so dang cute, I had to get a set in my pre-order. I tried one on textured cardstock and it came out REALLY CUTE. Then my friend Janice asked if I had tried them on GROSGRAIN RIBBON yet? WHAT WHAT WHAT????? So, I went and cut off a 6" piece of the 5/8" wide Chocolate Chip Grosgrain and tried it..... HOW STINKIN CUTE IS THIS?????

I thought it was pretty cute!

I also had to do another sympathy card..... this one was hard since I actually knew the gentleman who passed on. A dear sweet man. Since I was really happy with the way the card came out that I did for Jan a couple months ago, I decided just to do another one. I did the roses in So Saffron (aquapainter with WaterColor Wonder Crayons) this time, made the Always Artichoke mat bigger and then matted that onto Brushed Gold and only used 3 brads. The images are not Stampin' Up!, but the supplies all are.

I need to make a run up to Lake Tahoe for some Hard Rock pins they've been holding for me since November. I had planned to go up today, but the weather looks like Tuesday will be GORGEOUS and I'm hoping it won't be crowded. Today I imagine it will be a ZOO as some of the ski areas got over 10 feet of snow in the storms this past week and this will be the first CLEAR ROAD day. The weekend ought to be INSANE up there and I think we may even have a 3 day weekend with Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. for the state workers... Yeah. Tuesday will be better.... So maybe I'll get my new stamps out and see if I can whip something up to post here tomorrow! Wish me luck!!!!!

Aint it PURTY?

Ok, it isn't. But it's functional!

I learned that an 8 foot long piece of 2x6 will fit all the way in my car too!

Glad I did it since the 20-30 MPH gusts we were forecast to have today turned out to be 40MPH gusts.....

Hopefully next week we can get a fence contractor out here to look at all the stuff that needs fixing!

Yeah, it was a DOOZY!

So we spent the first part of this week being told that this storm was going to be BAD. They were right.....

2 sections of fence down....

section on the side leaning (notice that if it falls, it will hit the power box for the spa?)

This section just sheared right off the 4x4 post....

yes, that says 2.5" of rain. Since Thursday.

At least we have no roof damage. All the neighbors have shingles off. When we re-roofed in 2005, we could have done it for about half the cost if we had just replaced it with the same quality that was on there to start with, but after wind damage TWICE, we decided to put a 50 year, 100MPH roof on the house. Apparently a really good move.....

Next door the wind took the chimney cap/spark thingy halfway off. Of course it is dangling precariously over the property line now.... She also has a section of fence down in back in addition to the sheared off support on our side. Next door on the other side they lost shingles and part of their patio cover. There's two guys on the roof on the house behind us now (in the rain) covering up the bare spots.

All in all, we were really lucky. The biggest piece of my tree that came off was about 2 feet long and only about the diameter of a pencil. Guess that means my tree is healthy! The neighbor across the street had their trash cans blow over, so their recycling is all over their front yard. I remembered to put the bricks on the lids of our cans and they stayed shut. YAY! I don't think there is a leaf left on our block. Russ went down to the corner last night and raked the pile away from the storm drain so we won't get street flooding with the rain today. So much nicer to do that when it's not raining that when you look out and see a lake at the end of the driveway!

So, that's the storm update. Oh, and for the number geeks, we had sustained winds over 40MPH for about 5 hours. The peak sustained wind speed hit 57MPH at one point and our "record" gusts came in at 65MPH at 8AM, but were running over 55MPH from 7AM until 10:30. NASTY NASTY day! These recordings were for the Sac Int'l airport which is about 10 miles away. When you see the news for Sacramento, they usually take the readings at EXECUTIVE Airport which is about 25 miles south of us.

And it's raining again.... hard enough that I can hear it. Wheeeee.......