My Adventures In Stamping

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T12:47:00.000-05:00

This is the last of my valentine shares. This is an ATC I made for my friend who collects them.

I really liked the way this one turned out.

Hope you have enjoyed my valentine's. Have a fantastic Valentine's day.

Valentine's - Day 8

2012-02-10T09:30:00.000-05:00

Day 8 is here...just to change it up a bit, I used stamps from The Angel Company for this card.

I love the little bees. This is a good card for my youngest granddaughter. She'll really like it. Hope you do too.

Have a great day.

Valentine's - Day 7

2012-02-08T09:30:00.000-05:00

Here is the 7th card I've made. Hope you like it.

The center of this card is also ATC sized. I liked layering the different complementary cardstocks together.

Valentine's - Day 6

2012-02-06T09:30:00.000-05:00

Here we are again...

This actually started out as an ATC. Then I layered it onto the geometric background, but needed it to be on something else. It's kind of busy, but I still like it.

What do you think?

Have a happy day.

Valentine's - Day 5

2012-02-03T09:30:00.000-05:00

I hope you are enjoying these cards...Here is another...

I'm really enjoying this stamp. It was $1 at Wal-Mart. I'm trying to keep my cards simple this year.

Enjoy...

Valentines - Day 4

2012-02-01T09:30:00.000-05:00

Good morning! Another day, another valentine...

Another very simple card. A few dies and a punch. Add a few pink rhinestones and you are done.

Hope you enjoy...

Valentine's - Day 3

2012-01-30T09:30:00.000-05:00

Good morning. Another valentine for you:

For this one, the cupcakes were stamped, colored and glittered, then cut out. I attached them to gold cardstock (which is why there is a glare from scanning). I used checkerboard stickers for the border, punched a border across the bottom of the card, then added red rhinestones. Hope you like it.

Stay tuned for another...and have a great day

Valentine's - Day 2

2012-01-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

Good morning! Here is another valentine I've been working on. Actually, you could use this for any occasion.

The flowers were stamped, colored and cut out. I put glitter on them and let dry, then added the buttons. I put some rhinestones by the punched border to add a little bling. Hope you enjoy.

Valentine's Cards

2012-01-26T12:24:00.001-05:00

Good afternoon! I've been working on some Valentines for my girls, and just want to share with you today.

I was looking for something clean and simple, and I think this qualifies. The black and white dots are a sticker.

I will be posting more during the coming days.

Thanks for looking...have a great day!

Christmas Tag #5

2011-12-09T11:00:00.000-05:00

And here is the final tag:

I used some background cardstock I had, then stamped the tall trees, and embossed with clear embossing powder. They weren't very vivid, so I colored them with permanent markers. I added some sheer silver ribbon, the JOY letters, some holly and some snowflakes.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the tags I've made for my loved ones for Christmas, and maybe gotten a little inspiration along the way.

I hope you have a very merry Christmas.

Christmas Tag #4

2011-12-08T10:58:00.000-05:00

Day 4:

I cut the Christmas trees from some paper I had, then added dimensional glaze. I used the same music stamp I used in some of the other tags, and the Martha Stewart snowflake punch. The JOY letters are from TAC stamps. I embellished the snowflakes with jewels and glitter glue, and smeared some gold metallic acrylic paint on the side of the tag to give it some texture.

Hope you enjoyed this tag. Tomorrow I will share the last tag.

Christmas Tag #3

2011-12-08T10:54:00.000-05:00

Day 3 of the Christmas tags:

This tag is for Emilie, who is 8. I used the Christmas Ornaments embossing folder, then layered the different elements. It created a fun tag that she'll like.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Tag #4.

Christmas Tag #2

2011-12-07T10:50:00.000-05:00

Here is tag #2:

Rachel is in chorus in high school, so I chose a musical theme for her tag. I used the music notes embossing folder, embossed the background with gold and sanded off the notes so they retained their natural color. I stamped the JOY using TAC stamps, colored with copics, cut out and added dimensional glaze. I stamped the music score, cut out, distressed the edges and added a paper flower that was colored with copics. The name I used some EK Success stamps, colored with markers, punched out and added dimensional glaze. Hope you like this one, too.

Christmas Tag #1

2011-12-06T10:46:00.000-05:00

Good morning. As promised, here is my first Christmas tag:

I was inspired by Tim Holtz to make some tags this year. I used his embossing folder technique for this tag. The background is then embossed with white embossing powder and then the raised part was sanded off, allowing the background color to show through.

The large snowflake is a cuttlebug punch, and I embellished it with glitter glue and jewels. "J" "O" "Y" was punched out and colored with copics, then I added dimensional glaze to them. The smaller snowflake is a Martha Stewart punch and it also was embellished with glitter glue. I added a stamped piece of music and some trimming and I was done.

Hope you enjoyed it. I'll have another tag tomorrow.

Christmas Card 2011

2011-12-05T10:38:00.001-05:00

Wow, I've been gone awhile, and while I've been gone, Google changed how I blog. It will be a new learning curve for me for sure.

How have you been? I've got this stupid cold that is going around, and it stinks! I don't know if I will ever kick it. However, being sick is not all bad. I got a chance to get into my studio and create. First I will give you a preview of some of my Christmas cards this year. I mailed most of them out before I realized that I hadn't scanned them, so I apologize for only giving you a preview of one of them.

Some of the reindeer I added "ornaments" to the antlers with glitter glue. Because I get bored making the same card over and over. The cards have different background papers, just to keep it fresh.

I also made tags for Christmas presents. So stay tuned, and tomorrow I will share the first tag.

Hope you are doing something crafty today...

Another Halloween Card

2011-10-25T11:29:00.000-04:00

Good morning! Halloween is fast approaching. Are you dressing up? Do you have any parties to go to? I usually dress up to give out candy. I'd better hurry up and decide what I'm going to be this year.

My friend Lorian reminded me that I should have used Uncle Jumpy on one of my Halloween cards. So I did just that.

What do you think? I think he adds a little "terror" to the card. Or mystery. Anyway, thanks for the idea, Lorian.

Hope you have a spookfully delightful Halloween...

Halloween Card

2011-10-11T16:03:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile. I've had computer problems (I smoked a brand new computer that wasn't even a week old), both here and at work. Add to that that I am learning a new graphics program, and it's easy to see why I haven't been involved with the blog. However, that is neither here nor there.

I do want to share some Halloween cards with you. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Maybe it's because I can dress up and be anybody I want to be. I do love to dress up for Halloween, as does my hubby, and we've become quite good at it. We've been doctor and nurse, queen and court jester, the American Gothic couple. You get the idea.

I cased the card idea from Michelle Zindorf, but I changed up the stamps. I made some with pumpkins and some with cats. I'll show you both cards.

I couldn't decide which color moon I really liked, but now that I see them online, I'm thinking the white moon gives a much better contrast. Different sentiments on the inside, too. I think my granddaughters will enjoy them

I hope you have a safe and happy Halloween....

I'm here again...

2011-08-16T14:34:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted, but life has a way of intruding at times. Know what I mean? Anyway, I haven't been idle, and here is one of the cards I recently made:

I have had this patterned paper sitting around forever, and I picked up the elephant stamp from My Paper Moon and figured it was a match made in heaven. The paper looks like elephant skin to me, and looks really textured. I stained the background panel with distress inks, then stamped the elephant, one at a time. Colored with Copic markers. I used a "stitch" stamp from TAC. It was a quick and easy card, but still looks good.

One of my favorite magazines is Rubber Stamp Madness. Have you seen it lately? Check out their website or their Facebook page Tell them Becky from My Paper Moon sent you. You'll be glad you did.

Hope to see you again soon....till next time.....do something artsy.

A Man's Card

2011-06-24T14:04:00.000-04:00

Just stopping by to post a card I recently made for my hubby.

Very easy...I ran an inkpad over a page out of an old book, then tore it into strips and layered it onto dark blue cardstock, which was layered onto the white card. Then I used alcohol inks on glossy paper to make the background that I stamped the old truck on (TAC stamps). I layered this onto white cardstock and onto the cut strips. Three little pearls on the bottom and the card was done.

Hope you enjoy it. It's very hot here and I've been having migraines, so not so much stamping for me lately. About this time of year I start whining for cooler weather (which won't get here until late October or early November).

Stay cool...

Thank you

2011-06-14T11:59:00.000-04:00

You are probably wondering why I haven't posted in awhile. It's because hubby got a new toy and he's keeping me busy on the weekends, the only real time I have to play. Here is a pic of his new toy:

Isn't it cute? It looks much smaller than it is. Inside it has a dining area that converts to a double bed, a sink, refrigerator and 2 burner stove, and a couch that converts to bunk beds. And it has air conditioning. He likes to cook outside, so he also sets up a camp kitchen under a canopy and we usually eat outdoors on a picnic table when camping. So we have been camping and having a good time, but I've missed stamping.

As most of you know, I live in Florida. I have followed the Casey Anthony case since Caylee was missing and people were looking for her. A couple weekends ago we were camping in our new little travel trailer (pics below), and lo and behold our neighbor was a court judge in that jurisdiction. He was over on this side of the state to get away from all the hoopla surrounding the case. We talked about it briefly, and I continued to follow the trial on Twitter. We had such a good time playing cards, and fishing so we exchanged addresses so we could camp together again. After we got home, he called and invited me to go to court to hear some of the Anthony case in person. How could I turn down an offer to witness history being made? So last Saturday, my daughter and I made the trip to Orlando, where he gave us passes to attend the trial that day. It was a very educational experience.

To show my appreciation, I made the card below to send to him. I doubt if he's ever received a Thank You card for sending someone to court :-)

I also made my hubby a very similar card for Father's Day. Stamps are Stampscapes and My Paper Moon.

Hope to see you again soon....

Dahlia Fold Fan

2011-05-03T10:02:00.000-04:00

Good morning! Well, it's been awhile since I've posted...again...but I haven't been sitting idly by doing nothing. I've been reading other blogs and getting ideas in inspiration. One of my favorite blogs to read is Juliet A's Ballpoint Bliss.

One of Juliet's posts was a tutorial for a dahlia fold fan. This was something I wanted to try. I'm not totally sure I did it correctly, but I like the results anyway.

In retrospect, I wish I had used a different background paper. I think the red patterned paper is too much, since I used it on the geisha's robe, the fan and the backgound, don't you? The stamp is by Sparkle N Sprinkle.

Ah, well, I will probably make more of these, so I can change the colors then.

Hope you have a great day!

Spring Fever

2011-03-24T15:57:00.000-04:00

Yes, I admit it. I have (and have had) Spring Fever. My Muse has been gone for a little while and I'm having withdrawals.

So, in the meantime, here is a little something I put together for someone dear to me as a get well card.

My granddaughter got her tonsils out yesterday, and I wanted to cheer her up.

The piece of cardstock behind the imp is a leftover piece that I made with alcohol inks on glossy cardstock. I ran it through the cuttlebug with an embossing folder, then highlighted the raised part with a dark brown inkpad. The little sparkles don't show it, but they have glitter on them. I used Copic markers to color the image.

Image: Magic Imp stamp by My Paper Moon

Hope you enjoy.

Oh, and if you see my Muse out wandering around, please send her home....

Neutral Shadows - with a twist

2011-02-17T16:07:00.000-05:00

Hello, once again. The weather today is absolutely gorgeous. In the 70's, blue skies... If it would only stay like this forever, I would be in heaven.

This month the Technique Junkies newsletter had a technique called Neutral Shadows, where you embossed an image with white embossing powder on white cardstock, then added shading with a neutral color. I fell in love this this technique.

But I wanted to change it up a bit, so I embossed on black cardstock with black embossing powder (or you can use clear). Here is what I came up with:

After embossing the image, I used Brilliance Moonlight White pigment ink to stipple around the image, giving it an aura or halo. I matted the image on white cardstock.

For the background I used white cardstock, then a layer of black, then a piece of black and white patterned cardstock. I punched a piece of black cardstock with a scalloped border. I used a white gel pen to make circles and adhered it to the background. I put my finished layer on top and, viola, I was done.

A pretty simple card. Please leave a comment here and let me know how you like it.

Have a great weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T14:02:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you are enjoying your day. My wonderful husband took me out to dinner Saturday night, and gave me the money to get a Kindle E-Reader. How sweet is that?

Here are a few cards I made for my sweetie and my children/grandchildren. Hope you enjoy them.

This one was for hubby. Something a little more masculine than I made for the girls. The heart that the little boy is cutting out is covered with red glitter. Very shiny.

This one doesn't have a black dot on it in real life. I guess it was on the scanner and I didn't catch it.

And this one has watermarked hearts on the last red layer, which didn't show up in the scan.

I decorated small paper sacks with Valentine's images and punched out hearts and heart doilies to hold the treats I bought my granddaughters. I didn't get them much candy (except a few Hershey Kisses...what's Valentine's Day without kisses and chocolate?), but I got them some drawing tools, paint by numbers, small notebooks, etc.

Have a happy day!

Mystic Bar Mix

2011-01-28T09:01:00.000-05:00

Good morning. During the Christmas holidays I told you that I was making some different treats for the holidays, and if any of them were keepers I would share the recipe with you. Well, one of them as exceeded all expectations of being a keeper. It is so good, in fact, that I have made 4 batches since Christmas. I changed up the recipe, so I will share my altered version with you. It's yummy!

What you will need:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butterscotch bits
1/4 cup Heath bar toffee bits
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter in 13 x 9 pan and heat in oven until melted. Remove from oven
Place dry ingredients in large bowl and mix well. Add sweetened condensed milk and stir until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan.
Bake 22 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.

These bars remind me of bars I used to get at a bake sale when I was in high school (that's going back quite a ways). They were sooooo good, and I had never seen the recipe anywhere. When I saw this recipe in a magazine, it was very similar but not quite. The recipe in the magazine called for raisins and no butterscotch or toffee bits. I'm not a big fan of raisins, so I left them out and reduced the chocolate chips so I could add the butterscotch and toffee bits. The result is fantastic. Everyone who samples them wants the recipe, so I'm sharing it with you too. If you give it a whirl, leave a comment and let me know how you like them.

The Cat's Meow

2011-01-26T10:28:00.006-05:00

Hello! Good to see you again.

It's hump day and we're halfway through another week. I'm a weekend person and love to spend it with my family, or crafting, so I live for Friday. I just found out there is a Hobby Lobby near me, and I'm cooking up a road trip. I don't have any craft stores really close by, so it's fun to have a girls day and spend it with my daughter and granddaughters going to craft stores. Of course, the times I have to take my hubby instead, he's pretty good about hanging out while I shop. Usually I've let him shop first at the sporting goods store, so he's a happy chappy.

Anyway, today I wanted to share a special card I made for a special friend.

I love the Lady Catsby stamp, and for a special card she goes well with the Cat's Meow stamp. Another easy card with no lumps and bumps, since I'm mailing this card to my friend.

I stamped the cat onto glossy cardstock and colored with markers. I cut apart the cat's meow stamp so I could put it on multiple lines, and stamped above and below the cat. I used a ticket corner punch to trim the corners. I layered it onto green cardstock and punched those corners as well. I punched holes along each side of the white cardstock with my needle punch. I used a pink lightly patterned cardstock for the background, and a scrap piece of floral patterned paper that I tore along one edge. To give the card a little dimension, I used crystal lacquer on the parasol and the shoes. And I ended up with a stray black mark on the cardstock, so I covered it with a white bow. Pretty clever, don't you think? I didn't want to throw it away and start all over. When I make a boo boo, I try to salvage the card if at all possible, since my time to craft and play is at a premium.

I'm happy with how the card turned out, and I'm sure my friend will be, too.

Hope you have a happy day...

Another Silhouette Lady

2011-01-24T10:11:00.002-05:00

Good morning. Hope all is well with you and yours. Did you do anything fun this weekend? We were invited to a bonfire at one of hubby's friends. I made mystical bars and he made a huge pot of chili to add to the potluck fare. We had a really great time.

For today's card I chose another Silhouette Lady. This time it's Silhouette Lady #9.

Another easy card, but not so quick. Let's take a look:

The scan doesn't show it, but after I stamped the image of the lady on the white cardstock, I stamped it again, cut it out and layered it with pop dots. It took a little time to cut it out, with all the little nooks and crannies, but I'm glad I did. It looks really nice in person. I used a nestability die to cut the image into an oval, and a nestability die to cut the scalloped oval. I used my needle punch to punch holes in the scallops. I used a piece of the scrap paper from the scalloped oval to make a "ribbon", and used the needle punch to punch holes.

Happy with the results

Quick and Easy Thank You

2011-01-20T09:38:00.002-05:00

Good morning! Hope you are well this morning. How is the weather where you live?

I needed a thank you card for someone I don't know very well. Gushy was out, and this little guy just begged to be used. How could I resist?

So, here is another quick and easy card, with no lumpy embellishments. Just perfect for mailing.

I used patterned paper for the background. I stamped the little guy (Thanks) and colored using copic markers. I punched out the oval using a nestability die, and did the same for the scalloped oval. I punched holes around the perimeter using a needle punch tool. I used an Angel Company stamp to stamp Thank You on scrap red paper and used a black marker to make the dots between. For some bling I added glitter glue to the flowers.

I was quite pleased with the outcome.

Hope you have a creative week!

Silhouette Lady

2011-01-17T09:37:00.000-05:00

Good morning! I hope you had a restful weekend. I had some obligations to take care of, then I got some time to play.

I recently released some Silhouette Ladies, and today I would like to introduce you to one of them. I had a lot of fun making this card, even though it's a very simple card. I like simple, easy to mail cards, without a lot of lumpy, bumpy embellishments. I save that for cards I can hand deliver.

Anyway, here we go...

I chose Silhouette Lady #13 for this card. She's very lovely and I thought she would look pretty in pink. The scalloped rectangles were cut using Nestability dies. I added a little glitter to the flower to give them some bling. The background cardstock is textured.

For this card you can use any sentiment you would like on the inside.

Head on over to My Paper Moon to see the rest of the Silhouette Ladies.

Have a great week!

New Issue of Rubber Stamp Madness

2011-01-05T09:59:00.001-05:00

New issue due out soon.

Start a subscription to RubberStampMadness, the original stamping magazine. The Spring 2011 issue has stories on tags, tips on coloring photostamps, using watercolor crayons with alcohol inks, combining iris folding with stamping, domino jewelry and more. Check out the artwork on two themes: Bunnies and She Loves. . . . If you love to stamp, check out RubberStampMadness. http://www.rsmadness.com

I can't wait to get my issue....Happy Stamping.

Winter Tag and New Images

2011-01-03T21:47:00.000-05:00

Good evening. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year celebration. We spent Christmas at my daughter's, and we spent New Years there playing with the grandkid's Wii. I think my hubby may be contemplating getting one.

I loved seeing Tim Holtz's Christmas tags. Alas, I don't have access to all his stamps and supplies, but using what I already have, I made this:

I stippled the tag with a couple different colors of blue. I stamped the trees with black ink but didn't like how it turned out, so I overstamped them with green ink. I think they turned out okay. I used a swirl stamp to put a few swirls on the tag just to take up the open space. I have a stamp that I love that is very similar to one of Tim's that is soooo versatile. It's the Spatter Background Stamp and it looks like this:

You can use it for snow (like I did), or to add texture to a background. I've used it for rain and sand, and you are only limited by your imagination.

I punched some snowflakes and added glitter glue to give them sparkle. I love snowflakes and love to make winter cards using them. We don't have real snowflakes in Florida...lol.

And for the bottom I ran a piece of blue cardstock through the cuttlebug with an embossing folder, then ran my dark blue inkpad over the piece to darken the raised pieces. I tore the bottom for added interest.

I stamped the "dream" stamp onto cream cardstock, tore it out and aged the edges with a dark brown ink.

I enjoyed making the tag, and I was pleased with the way it turned out.

And now, since we are in a new year, I wanted to introduce some new stamps.

There are 16 individual silhouette stamps. These stamps are approximately 1-1/2 x 2 inches each and are $3.50 each. You can see them by going to My Paper Moon and click on What's New. To celebrate this new release, I will be selling them for 10% off for a short time.

Hope you have a great week!

Tuesday Tip Day - Versamark Pads

2010-12-21T07:12:00.003-05:00

Good morning. Only a few more days until Christmas. Have you gotten all your shopping done? I think I am as ready as I'll ever be. At least I hope so. I'll probably still be remembering things I should have gotten or should have done, right up until Christmas.

I'm making some new goodies to eat this year, and if they turn out okay, I'll share the recipes with you here.

Now on to today's tips: Using your Versamark Pads

Use for adding discreet journaling lines to your scrapbooking. The Versamark ink is sticky when you first apply it, but it dries like regular ink and loses it's stickiness. It's acid-free so it's safe for your scrapbook pages, and it works on all colored card stock.
Use it in place of embossing ink. Just stamp and emboss with colored or clear embossing powder.
Use it for shadowing. This is a technique that works well with kaleidacolor pads and word stamps, but actually any type ink or stamp will work. Stamp the image with Versamark. Then stamp directly over it with your other colored ink. Because you seldom will be exact in the placement of the second stamping, you will make a shadow that gives a 3-D effect. You can embellish on this by embossing with a transparent embossing powder. Metallic ink pads also give a stunning effect.
You can use your Versamark pad to make a watermark. This is great for tone on tone backgrounds. It will deepen the shade of colored paper wherever you stamp. So, for every color of paper you own, you now have a complementary color of ink.
You can do the Poppin' Pastels technique. There are two ways to accomplish this effect on light colored card stock.

Apply chalks to the area to be stamped, then stamp with Versamark and allow to dry (or use your heat tool to dry your paper faster). Then gently rub with a clean cotton ball. You could emboss with clear embossing powder while the stamped image is still wet, and the image will jump out at you.
Stamp first with Versamark, then rub the chalk gently over the stamped area and watch the image magically appear.

You can do the Reverse Pastels technique. This time you will use brightly colored chalk to cover dark card stock. Then stamp with Versamark over the chalked area. The ink will pull out the color of the paper from beneath the chalk. I like to emboss with clear embossing powder while the ink is still wet. Be sure to clean your stamp before re-inking it, as the chalk you removed is now on the stamp, and you will dirty your Versamark pad.
The Brayer Resist technique can be done with Versamark. Stamp your image(s) onto glossy white card stock, using Versamark ink. Gently wipe away the ink using a lotion free tissue, wiping in a small circular motion. Ink up your brayer and roll it over the paper. Wherever the Versamark was stamped, the paper will resist the colored ink from your brayer.
Embossing on Glass - Use an anti-static bag on your glass to remove any static electricity. Use the Versamark to stamp an image onto a glass container. Emboss with detail gold or silver embossing powder. Fill your glass container with candy and tie a ribbon on it. Makes a great gift for a hostess.

I hope you get to try some of these tips. Leave a comment and tell us how it worked out for you, or, if you have other tips for using a Versamark pad, please share them with us.

I hope you have a very merry Christmas!

Tuesday Tip Day - More Fiber Fun

2010-12-14T04:30:00.002-05:00

WOW!! Less than 2 weeks til Christmas. The time has snuck up on me, and I'm not ready. Are you ready? I did manage to get all my Christmas cards done, but I haven't finished my Christmas shopping. Yikes, I'd better get a move on.

This blog is posted several different places, so not all the comments show up here. It's also linked to my Facebook page, and of course, the comments there don't show up here. If you want to friend me on Facebook, please make sure you put blog in the comment section so I'll know where you found me.

Now, let's get some more fiber tips! Some of these may also be used for scrapbooking. I like that you can use fibers in multiple places.

You can use fibers to:

Map out your vacation route with fiber threaded through eyelets (great scrapbook page)
Spell out the greeting, using fibers to stitch out the letters
Make a frame around a stamped image.
Use as laces on paper pieced shoes (great for paper pieced sneakers)
Use fibers to tie 2 or more elements together
Scarf on a stamped or paper pieced snowman
Create bows
Fringe on animals
Build a water/mountain outline
Attach a tail to a kit
Use for seaweed
Make clotheslines for hanging small clothes with tiny pins.
Stitching a template design
To hang or attach buttons or charms
Use to hang signs from buttons, brads or eyelets

Can you think of other uses for fibers? Please leave a comment and let us know.

I don't know if I will get to post again before Christmas, but I'll try. If not, have a great Christmas.

Hugs,

Tuesday Tip Day

2010-11-30T09:03:00.001-05:00

Good morning! It's been awhile since I've posted, I know, but life has been busy.

Thanksgiving was a great success this year. We didn't cook, we went out to a restaurant with a Thanksgiving buffet and enjoyed our meal immensely. Scott roasted a small turkey breast so we would have "leftovers" for sandwiches, and I bought a couple of pies, and we were good to go. And the best part was, we didn't have to spend 2 days cooking and all the mess to be cleaned up. And we had turkey, ham, prime rib and baked stuffed sole, so the family members who really don't care for turkey were in heaven. Hope yours was fantastic, too.

I thought today I would give you some tips for using those fibers that you have left over from when fibers were all the rage. If you are like me, you still have lots left. Let's use them up. Here are some ways to do that:

Weave through mesh
Create trees or grass
Make hair or other features on paper dolls
Use as a string for balloon diecuts or stamped balloons
Tie through the hole on a tag
Create a spider web
Use as decorations on a Christmas tree
Use as decorations on an Easter Egg
Use as a blanket stitch around a border or mat
Make tassels
As needlepoint stitches on your page or card
As an enhancement to die cuts
Use to hang mini tags
Use as an accent on Serendipity Squares
As embroidery stitching
Attach to a brad and use as a yoyo
Use for wrapping presents
Wind fibers tightly together to form the center of a flower

Can you think of other uses for fibers? Please add a comment. We will keep adding to the list.

Have a great week and I hope you get to do something crafty.

Autumn Cards

2010-11-10T19:51:00.000-05:00

Good evening. It's been a while since I last posted, and tonight seemed like a good time to rectify that. Since that time Halloween has come and gone (both granddaughters had strep throat and didn't get to go trick or treating), I've participated in a virtual stamp convention over at Rubber Stamp Chat, we've had an election, and I'm finally settling back into the routine.

I have made a couple of autumn cards, so I'll share those with you:

Both of these cards use a leaf set from The Angel Company, which is my favorite autumn stamp. I have had this set for 5 or 6 years, so I'm not even sure if they are still available. I used alcohol ink for the colored background, then stamped my favorite leaf stamp. On the first card I just cut the stamped background into squares and put them on the card. I used some fibers I've had for some time. (Just trying to get rid of stuff).

On the 2nd card I made the background the same way, colored it with alcohol ink, then stamped the leaf. I punched this set out with a scalloped punch, and tied raffia around the background.

I hope you have a great week, and I hope you get to do something crafty.

Inky hugs,

Layout Challenge

2010-10-28T21:42:00.000-04:00

Good evening. I have a busy, busy weekend ahead, how about you? I am in the middle of a virtual stamp convention at Rubber Stamp Chat, so I have orders to make. Also, I need to get a haircut, I want to carve pumpkins with the granddaughters, and Sunday is Halloween, so I'll have to help the oldest granddaughter with her makeup. She wanted to be the Mad Hatter, so we got her costume all ready, but she'll need help with the makeup. The youngest one is going as a hippie, and she really looks cute in her costume.

I want to post some cards I made for the Technique Junkies layout challenge. I had a lot of fun, and even though all the cards are the same layout, they have different looks. Tell me what you think:

They are pretty self-explanatory, so I won't bore you with all the details. Why don't you give this layout a try?

Oh, I want to make some Pizza Mummies for the girls when they are here. They are easy to make...just take English Muffin, split and toast. Put some pizza sauce on them, then cut the cheese into strips. Layer the cheese in a criss cross fashion, leaving space for the eyes. For the eyes, use black olives, and put either a piece of pimiento or scallion for the pupil. Place in a 350 degree oven until the cheese is lightly melted (about 10 minutes). You can see them here.Publish Post

Hope you have a great weekend....

Pink and Brown Distressed Card

2010-10-10T09:52:00.000-04:00

Good morning! It's a beautiful morning here in Florida. I have been sleeping with my windows open and really enjoying the cool air.

A friend recently had surgery and I wanted to make her a special card while she recuperated. I know she likes pink, so that was a must. I had just gotten a Technique Junkie newsletter, and there were a couple of designs in there I liked, so I combined the techniques and morphed it into this card:

I used glossy cardstock and liberally smooshed a light brown ink on it. I put the top half in an embossing folder and spritzed it with water before I embossed. I repeated with the bottom half in a different embossing folder. While it was wet I blotted some of the pooled ink. When the piece dried it was much lighter and looked kind of highlighted.

I used the same brown ink on a piece of regular white cardstock. Then I stamped "Thinking of You". You can see how much darker it stayed when it was dry. (I didn't spritz it with water). I used a corner rounder then layered it on pink cardstock and rounded those corners as well.

I layered ribbon between the two embossed halves. Then I punched a bunch of flowers from different sizes of punches out of patterned paper, then put them together with a brad and placed on the ribbon.

The whole thing is very distressed looking, so if you like that look, this is a great way to achieve it. I really liked the card when I was finished, and I hope it brightened my friends' day when she received it.

Enjoy the autumn weather....

Toddler Stamp and Card

2010-09-29T10:16:00.000-04:00

Good morning! I haven't posted in quite some time. I think my Muse is visiting someone else. She needs to come home.

The weather here is dreary. We are under a tropical storm watch, and it's only supposed to get worse as the day goes on. But I don't mind occasional dreary days. Especially after the brutal heat we have experienced this past summer. I'm ready to move on to cooler weather.

I have a new stamp to introduce. It's my Toddler Stamp (#D674-9C) . I put together a card to show you how cute it looks colored in. I'm not happy with the background, and will work on that, but I like the image.

Here is the image:

And here is the card I made:

I used a purple spray on the background purple cardstock, and it actually looks better in real life, but I'm still not happy with it. I colored the gemstones with a copic marker to match the toddler's clothes, and they turned out nice. The background layers were cut with nestability dies, and the bottom white layer was embossed with the dotted swiss embossing plate.

I'll try not to be so long with my next post. Until then, I hope you get to do something crafty!

ATC Folders

2010-08-27T18:12:00.000-04:00

Good evening. I hope you have had a good week. It's been hot, as usual, but uneventful. That may be about to change. We are keeping an eye on 3 systems in the tropics. Danielle will miss us, and hopefully Earl will, too, but we will be tracking the one after, which will be Fiona when she's named. But that's at least a week out, so we're good.

I make a lot of ATC's (artist trading cards, 3-1/2" x 2-1/2"), They get lost in card envelopes, so I have made a little folder to put into an envelope to mail them. So the recipient gets an ATC and the decorated folder. To mail them I use the 6-1/2" x 3-5/8" envelopes.

Here is a sample:

To start, I use a half sheet of 8-1/2 x 11 cardstock for the base. I cut it so I have 2 pieces of 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" cardstock. On the long side, I made 2 scores, one at 3-1/4" and one at 6-1/2". When you fold on the scores, you turn the 2" piece up and put a little glue on the side edges only, so it makes a little pocket across the bottom of thee cardstock. When you turn the top scored piece down, you now have a nice little folder with a pocket. You can embellish them in any way you choose, but I like to keep it kind of flat so I don't have a lumpy envelope or embellishments that get smashed or broken. The pocket and flap will also help protect your ATC embellishments. On the above folder I used decorative paper, then stamped the flourishes. I heat embossed the shell, then used distress inks to make it look like a real shell. I just attached it to the folder with adhesive.

Here are some more samples:

This one had flowers and leaves stamped, colored and cut out, then adhered to the folder. Some of the flowers have pop dots behind them. I used a scallop punch on the bottom so some of the pocket layer shows.

This one has a sand dollars stamped, heat embossed, cut out and adhered to the front.

I stamped this fellow, colored and cut him out, and adhered him to background paper that matches the background of the folder. I cut out the 2 layers with a nestability die.

I stamped the dragonfly and cut it out. Then I stamped it again and just used the wings. I adhered the wing section over the bottom dragonfly so that the wings are dimensional.

I cut out the pink circle, stamped the dragonfly, then put stitches around the edge and used a white gel pen to put white dots in the circle. I used glitter glue on the dragonfly.

I used the Cricut to cut out the medallion and the white background behind it. Then I stamped the image and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder.

I stamped the flower, colored it and cut it out and adhered it to the background paper. Very simple. And last, but by no means least,

I stamped this guy on the background, then stamped him again and cut out the bottom part, which I adhered to the stamped image. I colored the flowers with markers, which didn't show the background behind them.

So, as you can see, you can do a lot of different things to jazz up your folder. And it will still protect your ATC and keep it from getting lost in the envelope. You can make your own background papers instead of using patterned papers, and you can add more stamping. I just used what I already had at hand.

I hope you give this a try. If you do, please share your creations with us, via a link in the comment section.

Have a great weekend!

Dragonfly Days

2010-08-19T10:02:00.000-04:00

Good morning! I hope you are doing well today. It's almost time for the kids to head back to school here, but in some parts of the state (and country) school has already started. My granddaughters can't wait for school to start so they can re-connect with their friends who they haven't seen during the summer.

I've been playing with the whimsical dragonfly stamp from the Stampsations line by My Paper Moon. This is the first card:

The card looks gray in the scan, but it's really a navy blue. The dragonfly was stamped with Staz-On, then without reinking I stamped it on the white cardstock several more times, giving it a shadowy appearance. I wanted the main dragonfly to really pop, so I used crystal lacquer on the wings and body, then lightly sprinkled a light blue glitter over it while it was still wet. I used the nestability dies to cut out the main image and 2 mats. The card background is from some background papers I had, but really looks like a handmade background made using saran wrap crinkled up with ink.

I stamped Psalm 118 on the bottom of the card. I left the inside of the card blank, but I can use it for a birthday card, anniversary card, thinking of you card, or just leave it blank and use it as a notecard to write to my sister.

I love the whimsy of this dragonfly stamp. By using different colors and background papers, it totally changes the tone of the card.

Here are a couple more cards I made using the whimsical dragonfly stamp:

On the bottom 2 cards I used glitter glue on the wings before I added the crystal lacquer.

I hope you have gotten a little inspiration today. Stay cool and I'll see you next time...

Thinking of You Card and Blog Award

2010-08-06T17:07:00.000-04:00

Hello and happy Friday. I hope you are beating the heat. Can fall and cooler weather get here soon enough? I swear it gets hotter every year!

I dug out a stamp that I don't often use, the Lotus Blossom stamp from My Paper Moon. I was in the mood to make a Thinking of You Card, and this is what I came up with.

It's a very simple card, with a pink cardstock base and a dotted swiss embossed layer. I stamped the lotus stamp 3 times on glossy cardstock and used alcohol inks to color the images. I cut them out and layered them, pop dotting the one in the middle. Very easy to do.

My friend, Shelly, has given me a new blog award. Thank you, Shelly!

There really isn't anything stylish about me, I'm all about comfort, but I will accept it in the spirit in which it was given. I am supposed to list 5 things about me that are stylish, and I am supposed to give the award to 5 other bloggers. So, without further ado, here are my 5 stylish things:

I love shoes. I wear shoes that are comfortable, but I have a closet full of shoes that I love to look at.
I love purses. Same as with the shoes. I probably have 100 purses. I can say that I use them all, though.
I love bright colored clothing. Blues and reds and yellows. Lime green. I got that from my mother.
I am trying to let my hair grow long enough to donate to Locks of Love. It's very hard during the summer, because I have thick hair, so it's very hot. I don't know how you ladies do it. You have my complete awe.
I love jewelry, although I don't wear it as often as I should.

Now I have to think about the 5 bloggers I am going to give this award to, so I'll have that in a future post.

I hope you have a great weekend. Hubby is entering a barbeque cookoff on Labor Day weekend, and he's going to practice with his teammate tomorrow, so I'll be eating barbeque. I hope you can stay cool.

And I hope you get to do something crafty!

Bargain Betty

2010-07-26T17:43:00.001-04:00

Hey, there. Hope you had a great weekend. They are always too short (and too hot this time of year), but I enjoyed mine anyway. Hubby and I went to a nautical flea market, where he bought a tackle box. I was surprised he didn't spend more money, but then, he has a lot of fishing stuff already.

I got to play with one of the Moe Wubba stamps that I usually don't reach for. I made a couple of tags with Bargain Betty.

I stamped Betty on white cardstock, and colored her in with Copic Markers. I cut her out with a Nestability die. I used part of another stamp (Stamp Out Empty Mailboxes) to get the rubber stamp image. I made small slits in the sides of the shopping cart and inserted the stamps so it looks like she's shopping for rubber stamps (and getting a good deal - she must be shopping at My Paper Moon).

I took a manilla tag and smooshed green staz-on ink on the top part of it. I took some complementary patterned paper and layered on the bottom part of the tag. Then I put the Bargain Betty layer on top and stamped a small "Thanks" (Hero Arts).

I used a Mrs. Grossman lace sticker on the top part of the patterned paper.

This is the other tag I made. I did it basically the same way. Only the patterned paper and colors changed. And I used more of the lace sticker.

Hope you have enjoyed these tags as much as I enjoyed making them.

I hope you get to do something crafty this week (and keep out of the heat).

Zentangles

2010-07-09T14:58:00.000-04:00

You may have wondered what happened to this week's Over The Moon Monday post. Well, I had a long weekend, and with Monday being a day off from work, I spent it with hubby. And I decided that during the summer, I will post at will and not on a schedule, so I will get back to the Over the Moon Monday posts in the fall. For now I will just post when I have something to share.

Oh, my gosh, I have fallen in love. I need to make an ATC using Zentangles. And since I didn't really know what a Zentangle was, I had to do a little research. And now I'm hooked. These are so much fun to make. I was never a doodler (except in high school), so doodling doesn't really come easy to me. But I was able to make my first Zentangle, nevertheless. Here are the ones I have made so far (since yesterday afternoon):

The one on the top left was my first Zentangle. If you do an internet search, there are lots of sites and galleries for you to get ideas, along with some videos. I plan on spending some time this weekend browsing and getting some inspiration.

I fixed up a little baggy with some blank white ATC sized cards, along with some Sakura Micron pens with various sized nibs. This will be the perfect thing to keep me occupied while waiting in doctor's offices and other places where you have to wait.

If you have some Zentangles you'd like to share, please post a link to them in the comment section. I'd like to see what you've done. I'm always up for getting inspiration. :-)

Also, during the month of July, all Christmas and winter stamps are 20% off at My Paper Moon. No coupon code to remember, the sale prices are already on the site and will post to your cart. So why don't you get started on your Christmas cards while it's so hot outside?

See you again soon....

Over The Moon Monday - Side Step Card

2010-06-28T09:51:00.000-04:00

Good morning! I hope you had a great week. I belong to Midwest Stampers Yahoo Group, and I joined a calendar swap, so I kept busy with that. My month is April, so I'm thinking April Showers and Easter. I stamped a lot, colored a lot, and cut out a lot. But it's coming along nicely. And it kept me in the air conditioned house. It's brutally hot across much of the nation, and I hope you are keeping cool and drinking plenty of fluids to keep hydrated.

I was browsing some blogs, and found a card that I absolutely love, and I had to make one. It's called a Side Step Card, and I found it at Julie's Stamping Spot. You have to be really careful to use the exact measurements she shows to make this card. Can I tell you how many I messed up and had to throw away? Anyway, here is my card:

My camera is messed up, so I had to scan this with the scanner, and you can't really get the 3-D feel for the card. There are 3 "steps" on the right side of the card. I used stamps from The Angel Company. The little sentiment on the middle step says "flowers are the stars of the earth."

Also, I modified mine a little by putting the yellow cardstock on the 3rd step to make it a full sized card for my tulips to stand up on.

Anyway, I hope you find time to try this card. It's a lot of fun, and I can think of a lot of stamps that would go well with the 3-D-ness (is that a word?) of this card. In Julie's samples, she used butterflies and flowers on one, and Christmas ornaments on another. If you make this card, please share a link in the comment section.

Until next time, do something crafty!

Over The Moon Monday - Quilting

2010-06-21T07:30:00.001-04:00

Good morning! I hope you have had a good week. I had a busy week and weekend. First off, I have had severe pain in my right ankle for quite a while. So long, in fact, that I can't even remember when or how it started. I finally broke down this week and went to a doctor, simply because I am tired of the pain, and it got to the point that I didn't even want to get out of bed. I had to have some lab tests done, and the results weren't what I had hoped for. I have to go have more labs today and then will see the doctor.

Then to start off my weekend, I awoke Saturday morning with a migraine. Hubby said he tried to call me from the grocery store, and so I started looking for my cell phone. It was in my jean pocket, the same one that he had just run through a complete laundry cycle. Needless to say, it didn't work. I had to go get a new cell phone. I have the old one in a bag of rice, and if I can get it dried out, at least I will have a spare. In case that happens again.

My granddaughters came over on Saturday afternoon to make their dad a Father's Day card, and the little one stayed the night. We went out to breakfast on Sunday morning, which is a treat for all of us, and then she spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon in the hot tub. We don't have it heated right now, so it's like being in a swimming pool. Then we had a late lunch and she went home. She's one of those children that demand a lot of attention, but I really don't mind.

So, it's been a pretty full week, but I did manage to make a card. And here it is.

I really like this technique, since it lets me use up bits and pieces of cardstock or patterned paper.

To make this card, I used plastic wrap tapped against a coordinating colored inkpad, then tapped on the paper to give it a watercolored look. You could also achieve the same look using watercolored paper. Or you could just use coordinating pieces of patterned paper. Any of these options would be fine. Just make sure you have at least 3 different kinds/colors of paper.

I stamped my main image (Miss Kitty) onto white cardstock and colored her. I also stamped it on a piece of the faux watercolored cardstock and cut out the dress so it would coordinate. You can't see from the scan, but I adhered little colored gemstones to her shoes that match the dress.

TIP: You can use the little gems you find in the cosmetic section that you glue on your fingernails to use on your cards. They are usually less expensive than the jewels you buy for stamping/scrapping.

I cut these pieces of faux watercolored paper into odd sizes and adhered them to the bottom card layer. I used a zigzag sewing stamp (unknown) to tie the seams together. You could also just use a coordinating colored pen or a black pen to make these zigzag stitches.

I used nestability dies to cut out the main image, the layer mat, and the scalloped layer. I adhered them all together and adhered them to the front of the card.

This is a great way to use up scraps. I hope you give this technique a try.

Have a great week!

Over The Moon Monday - Father's Day

2010-06-14T07:00:00.001-04:00

Good morning! How was your week? I hope you had a fun week and got to do some crafting. The heat here is brutal, so I've been spending as much time as possible inside, just to stay cool. I've been enjoying the sunsets and sitting in the hot tub. We don't keep ours really warm, so it's been very refreshing, and a great way to beat the heat. I don't know what we did before we got it.

Today I want to share a card I made for my hubby for Father's Day. He's a great guy (and the reason we have the hot tub), and I want to show my appreciation for all the things he does for me.

I like to keep my cards simple, without a lot of bulky embellishments so that I can mail them without a lot of extra postage. Don't get me wrong, I love the look of cards with bulky embellishments, that's just not my style. Anyway, here is the card:

It's a pretty self-explanatory card, but here's how I made it anyway (for those of you who like written instructions):

I stamped the hat 6 times, twice on each of 3 colors, and cut them out.
I applied flocking to the hat bands, and let dry
I used a nestability die to cut 6 pieces of cardstock, two each of three colors. These are the same colors I used to stamp the hats.
I adhered the hats to the different colors of cardstock.
I trimmed a piece of kraft cardstock with a scalloped edge punch.
I adhered the hats in a manner that was pleasing to me to the kraft cardstock.
I adhered the entire thing to a green base card.
I stamped Happy Father's Day. (Stamp mfg. unknown)

I like the texture the flocking gives to the card without all the bulkiness.

Here are some things I could have done differently:

I could have embossed the individual pieces before adhering the hats to them, but I liked the plain look.
I could have embossed the kraft layer before adhering the rectangles.
I could have arranged the hats differently.

I hope you have enjoyed this card. May your have a great week, filled with sunshine and laughter, and may you get to be creative.

Over The Moon Monday - Wedding II

2010-06-07T06:47:00.001-04:00

Good morning. I hope you had a great week. The weekend is always too short for me, how about you?

The weather here is already horribly hot. The heat index was 110 degrees on Saturday. It was really hot the whole weekend. It's too early in the year for it to be this hot. It's not even technically summer yet. Good weather to stay indoors and stamp, if you ask me.

Last week I showed you a wedding card I was making. I spent the week re-doing the card, and I like how it turned out. I will apologize in advance for the scan - lumpy cards just don't scan well, and I need batteries for the digital camera. Anyway, here is the new and improved card:

Here are the changes I made:

I used twinkling H20's to color the embossed images.
I matted the flowers with patterned paper.
I made an additional flower with the patterned paper to add a little interest.

Leave a comment and let me know which one you like best, the glittered one or the one that used twinks.

I hope you have a great week!

Over The Moon Monday - Wedding

2010-05-31T08:01:00.003-04:00

Good morning! I hope you are enjoying Memorial Day, which is usually a signal that summer is beginning. Please take a minute to reflect on the true reason for this holiday...the sacrifice by many men and women to give us the freedoms we enjoy today.

We had a family cookout yesterday, and we all had a really good time. Good food, good friends and family, good times.

Last week I told you I was working on a wedding card. I finished it up, and now I'm not sure if I like it or not. So, I will share it with you, and I welcome all comments, both good and bad. I still have some time before the wedding, so I have time to remake it, if that's what you think I should do.

Here is the card I made:

I used the dotted swiss embossing folder to make the white background. Then I used the floral embossing folder with white cardstock. I punched it out, using a nestability die. Then I stamped the "love - honor - cherish" on white cardstock and trimmed it with a nestability die. I stamped the rings using the 2nd generation stamping (stamp off once before you stamp on the project), then used twinkling H2O's to color them gold. I matted with a patterned paper.

I liked it at this point. But sometimes I can't leave well enough alone. So I used glitters in the colors of the patterned paper to color the flowers. I should have either left them white or watercolored them, I think. What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts, both good and bad. I value your opinion.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your day...until next time...do something crafty!

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2010-05-24T14:49:00.000-04:00

Good afternoon. Another week has flown by. It seems like the older I get the quicker time flies. I got to do a little stamping and card making this weekend, and that's always a good thing. My brother's birthday is coming up, and I wanted to do something for that. And I have a wedding card to make, for my husband's nephew by marriage, but I'll save that for another post, since I have some time to get that done.

My brother has had a lot of medical problems, and I wanted to make something to remind him to count his blessings for what he has and can do, and not dwell on what he doesn't have (or can't do). I have a little stamp by Hero Arts that I think will do nicely. And so we will have a Pick 3 Challenge.

Here are the things to pick from:

Animal
Rivets
Birthday
Lace
Patterned Paper
Punch

Just pick 3 of the above items and share your creation via a link in the comment section. Here is my creation:

I stamped the sheep (Hero Arts) onto white cardstock and colored using Copic markers. I used a nestability die to cut out the image. Based on the colors I used to color the image, I chose my patterned paper for the background.

I used the same nestability die in 2 larger sizes, once to make a mat for the image with the background paper, and a larger one on white cardstock for the final mat.

On the inside I stamped "Happy Birthday" and matted it with the same patterned paper that I used for the background.

A very simple card that looks nice.

I hope you have a wonderful week, and I'll look forward to seeing your creations, and also seeing you back here next week for the wedding card. Until then, do something crafty!

Over The Moon Monday - Layout Challenge

2010-05-17T15:20:00.000-04:00

Good afternoon, and welcome to Over The Moon Monday.

Today is my birthday, which is why I'm late posting. I've just been doing everything out of order today, and it's been fun mixing things up.

I had lunch this past Saturday with my friend, Candy, and we always show each other what we've been up to stamping wise. I always get some good ideas, and this time was no exception. So, I would like to use my favorite one as a Layout Challenge. My example is nowhere near as pretty as Candy's, but I'll practice up on it.

Here is the Layout I want to challenge you to use:

and here is my sample:

You can click on either picture for a larger image.

I hope you take up the challenge and post links to your creations so we can all see your beautiful artwork. I always enjoy seeing how other people interpret the challenges.

It's starting to lightning and thunder, so I'd better close for now. I hope you have a wonderful week and you get to do something crafty.

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2010-05-10T10:32:00.001-04:00

Good morning! This is the last day of my mini vacation and Birthday Bash here in the Florida Keys. The Birthday Bash is our annual celebration of all the May birthdays, anniversary, and Mother's Day, and we have 1 big party instead of 7 little ones. Sometimes we go to a theme park, but this year we chose the Keys for a 4 day get-away. I love the Keys, so it was a perfect choice. I have limited time, so I'll have to share the fun later.

I told you last week if we had enough comments posted I would give away blog candy. That didn't happen, so you are stuck with another Pick 3 Challenge. I combined this with a challenge I had to use colors that you don't usually use together, and I thought I came up with a pretty good color combination.

Here are your choices:
1. Something summery
2. Eyelets
3. Fringe
4 Punch
5. The color Yellow
6. Glitter

Pick 3 and play along.

Here is what I made:

This is an ATC sized card using the Sun stamp and vine stamp from My Paper Moon. The sentiment is from The Angel Company.

The challenge to me was to use 2 colors that don't usually go together. The burgundy and bright yellow were a natural choice, once I decided what I was going to make.

I stamped the sun onto yellow cardstock. I stamped it twice, cut out just the face of the 2nd one, and applied crystal lacquer. Let dry thoroughly, so you don't get smudges or fingerprints in it.

While that was drying I used the vine stamp around the edges. I colored it in with markers, making the berries a dark red (almost burgundy).

I colored in the sun's rays, then applied glitter glue and allowed to dry. While that was drying, I punched a piece of white cardstock, then stamped the sentiment inside with yellow staz-on ink. I used a burgundy marker to make faux stitches around it, then applied it to the bottom portion of the ATC.

I used a pop dot to attach the sun's face. Then I matted the whole thing onto burgundy cardstock.

I hope you have enjoyed today's pick 3 challenge. If you decide to do the challenge, please leave a comment, and you can even leave a link to your beautiful creation. I get inspiration from looking at other's work, so please share with me.

Also, today is the last day of the virtual stamp convention at Rubber Stamp Chat, so if you haven't checked it out, now would be a good time to do so. Lots of vendors and sales.

Have a great week!

Rubber Stamp Convention

2010-05-06T10:31:00.001-04:00

Don't forget to visit Rubber Stamp Chat for a virtual stamp convention. Lots of vendors and sales, so head on over and support your favorite vendors (or maybe find a few new favorites). Convention runs from today through Monday, May 10th.

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2010-05-03T06:57:00.002-04:00

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend. I pulled a muscle some time ago, and I keep reinjuring the same muscle before it has had time to heal, and it gave me a great deal of pain and trouble this weekend. I have to get it better before next weekend, because we are doing our annual Family Birthday Bash (5 Birthdays, 1 Anniversary, Mother's Day, and our Anniversary). This year we are taking everyone to the Florida Keys, since my kids and grandkids haven't been before. We are only taking a long weekend (Friday through Monday), but we'll have fun. The guys can spend one day deep sea fishing while the girls can go to Theater of the Sea for the dolphin shows, and the rest of the time we will just get some much needed R & R.

This week we will have a Pick 3 Challenge. I like those because they give you a lot of leeway. These are the things you get to choose from:

Lace
The color green
An animal
Fun Flock
Punch
Birthday

You know the drill...pick 3 of the 6 and make a card using those 3, then post a link to the comment section. And here is my creation:

Since we have a lot of birthdays this month, I made this card for my youngest granddaughter. She will be 7, and the colors are bright and vibrant, and something she'll love.

Anyway, for the challenge I chose a bird (animal), the color green, a scalloped border punch, and the celebrate sentiment for her birthday. The colors are very bright (they don't show well in the scan). I stamped the bird and colored him first, I colored the hat with bright colors, then added glitter glue for some bling. Then I punched him out with a nestability punch. I wanted him "out of the box", so I followed the directions on Split Coast Stampers to accomplish this.

Then I layered the cut out image on a green layer, then a red layer. I stamped "celebrate" onto yellow cardstock with green ink, then punched it out with a Fiskars scallop border punch. I used a ruler to make faux stitches across the top. I adhered everything to the patterned background. Inside it says "a little birdy told me it's your birthday." Emilie will love it.

I hope you have a great week. Even though I will be in the keys resting and relaxing, I will still have a blog entry for you next week, so see you then. Maybe if we have enough people who take the challenge and post a link (10 or more), I will give out blog candy and/or stamps. So tell your friends to get busy and post a link. ;-)

One last thing before I leave...over at Rubber Stamp Chat they are having a virtual stamp convention from Thursday, May 6th - Monday, May 10th. Even though I will be gone, I will be participating in the convention, so mark your calendars and head on over to Rubber Stamp Chat on Thursday, May 6th.

Over The Moon Monday - Meet the rest of the ladies

2010-04-26T11:26:00.002-04:00

Good morning! I hope you had a restful weekend. I attended a bar-b-q cookoff on Saturday, and my nephew took home first place in ribs. And they were good. There were quite a few teams competing, so I got to sample a lot of food, and his truly were the best. I also work for him at my day job, so I'm sure he will have a swelled head...lol. But I do love it when he brings lunch...he's a good cook.

Today I want to introduce you to the rest of the new images at My Paper Moon. I think you will like these ladies, too.

This is Winnie.

And Uma comes to us from India

This regal lady is Nefertiti, but she really needs to introduction.

And this is Bessie, who could be a flapper, or just an elegant lady.

Millie is an old-fashioned kind of gal, one of the early settlers, maybe.

and Athena has had poetry written to her

Yuki is a gracious geisha

And finally, here is Anna, who is a beauty.

I hope you have enjoyed meeting all my beautiful new ladies. This is the last week they will be 10% off. Next week we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I hope you have a great week. Do something crafty!

Over the Moon Monday - New Stamps Preview

2010-04-19T10:05:00.000-04:00

Good morning, and welcome to Over The Moon Monday.

Where does the weekend go? It seems like a few minutes ago it was Friday, and now it's Monday again. They sure do fly when you're having fun. And I did have fun this weekend. For my early birthday/anniversary present my hubby got me a hot tub. And boy is it nice. I can't imagine what we did without one. It's very relaxing and I can see it getting a lot of use.

I'm excited about the new stamps, too! I have them up on the website and for a short period of time they are on sale. Instead of having a challenge today, I'd like to spotlight some of the new stamps.

This is Claire. Claire is an elegant flapper (or whatever else you want her to be).

Meet Jill. Jill is a sultry southern girl.

This is Summer. Summer could very well be a bride, with the right colors.

And the last one for today....

This is Wendy. Wendy is a free spirit. You might find her at the beach, or riding a horse, or working in the garden. She's very versatile.

I hope you have enjoyed the glimpse you have gotten of 4 of the 12 new woman images just released. They are all available and on sale now at My Paper Moon.

See you next week!

Over The Moon Monday - Out of the Box

2010-04-12T10:01:00.001-04:00

Good morning. Hope you had a great weekend. I made stamps on Saturday and spent Sunday reading and relaxing. There is still a cool breeze where I live, so it's nice to be outdoors still (except for the pollen, which is a killer). Summer is only a few weeks away, and it will be brutally hot, so I'm enjoying the cool while I can.

I want to share with you today an Out of The Box card. Although in this case it's an "out of the oval" card. Here is the card:

I used My Paper Moon stamp #276L-10 (Make a Joyful Noise). Here are the details for the card construction.

I stamped the image onto green cardstock, using black dye ink. I decided how much of the image I wanted to stick "out of the box", then used a nestability oval die to cut it out. In this case I didn't want a lot to hang over. If I had wanted a lot to hang over, I would have chosen a smaller oval, but I wanted the words to be on the green cardstock.

I stamped the image again onto white cardstock, colored it in with markers and a white gel pen, then cut it out. I adhered it over the image that was stamped on the green cardstock. Notice how some of it hangs over the edge?

I covered my base cardstock with blue patterned paper that coordinated with the colors I had chosen for the image. I adhered a blue ribbon, the attached my out of the box image on top.

I had colored the bird on the left birdhouse blue, but when I put it against the blue background, it faded away, so I recolored it red. I added a little bling with some glitter on the flower centers.

I was pleased with the results.

I will have new images coming out sometime this week or next at My Paper Moon, so be sure to look for them.

Have a great week!

Huge Blow-out Sale Today Only

2010-04-09T10:46:00.000-04:00

Just a quick reminder that there is a huge sale going on at My Paper Moon. Today only, 50% off unmounted stamps. U. S. customers only - no international shipping at this time. It's not advertised on the site and you don't need a coupon. Just place your order. Prices will be correct at check-out.

See you soon!

Over The Moon Monday - Paper Piecing

2010-04-05T11:01:00.001-04:00

Good morning and welcome to Over The Moon Monday here on the blog. I hope you had a nice Easter. My hubby, who is the cook in the family, fixed a ham, lamb, mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, green beans, crescent rolls, deviled eggs, and for dessert we had fresh strawberry shortcake. Yummy! I think I heard the table groan under the weight. We shared it with my daughter and her family and her mother-in-law. I don't think anyone went away from the table hungry.

Paper Piecing is so much fun, and today I want to share another one with you. The stamps are from Sparkle 'n Sprinkle. And as always, please share a link to your creation in the comment section.

I stamped the rabbit on white cardstock and colored in the parts that would be showing. I stamped it again on the dotted patterned paper, and cut out the dress and the wagon. I used the same patterned paper for the mat. Then I glued them to the stamped bunny. You could also use double sided tape or xyron to attach the dress.

I also cut out the Catch A Falling Star stamp on the patterned paper that was adhered to cardstock (to give it support), then used pop dots to attach it to the background, which is contrasting patterned paper. I sponged coral ink very sparingly around the edges of the white cardstock, then attached it to the dotted patterned paper and adhered to the background.

I used glitter goue for all the stars. I don't think it shows very well, but the background has some glitter also.

I used this card for a birthday card for my stepdaughter. I was very pleased with the way it turned out.

Now that spring is here and the weather is turning nice for those of you who live in snow country, you will be able to get out of the house and enjoy the warm weather. But don't forget to take some time for yourself and do something crafty.

Don't forget to share your creations with us. And be sure to watch the header area for a special one-day-only sale coming up soon. Check back often so you won't miss it.

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2010-03-29T10:00:00.000-04:00

Good Monday morning! How was your weekend? Weekends are always too short for my liking. We need a weekend in the middle of the week. Don't you agree?

Today is my daughter's birthday. I hope she has a happy one. She loves giraffes, and so I thought the card I made for today's challenge would be an appropriate one. I think she'll like it. The giraffe stamp is from My Paper Moon. For the next couple of days, if you enter the code MADNESS at checkout, you will get 17% off your order.

Today we will have a Pick3 challenge. Here are the selections:

Animal
Anniversary
Brads
Brown
Ribbon
Lace

Choose 3 and make your card. Then leave a link here in the comment section and share it with us. I chose animal (giraffe), brown and brads. Here is the card:

If you click on the card above, you will get a larger image.

I used a lot of left overs making this card, which is a good thing. I had small bits of some cuttlebug embossed folders, some glossy cardstock with alcohol ink spots, and some glimmer mist cardstock. They all came together very nicely with the giraffe that I stamped on the piece of oval cardstock. I used browns and yellows to age the oval, which also helped color the giraffe. I used a scalloped nestability die to punch some brown cardstock, which I put behind the giraffe layer. The edge is punched with a Fiskars scalloped punch, then the brown cardstock is layered behind, and I used a brown marker to make the dots. I finished it off with 3 antique brown brads. There is a shimmer to the glimmer mist cardstock that is barely visible, but beautiful nonetheless.

I hope you have enjoyed my card today, and I hope you will post a link to your challenge. If you are reading this somewhere besides the blog, you might be missing out on valuable coupons.

Have a great week. Do something crafty.

Over The Moon Monday - Paper Piecing

2010-03-22T10:53:00.003-04:00

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend. I think spring has finally arrived. I am hearing more birds and things are starting to green up a bit. I like the cool weather, though, and hope it stays this way just a bit longer. I would much rather deal with the cold than the heat. (But not too cold - I am a southern gal after all).

I love to go shopping, and one of my favorite things to buy are shoes. A girl can never have too many pairs of shoes. I have been known to find a comfortable pair of shoes and buy them in several colors (hence the saying stamp). And so, one of my favorite stamps is the shoe stamp from My Paper Moon (03-167J).

Today I am going to use the shoe stamp and paper piecing to make a whole closet full of shoes. (grin)

I simply stamped the cardstock, then stamped onto patterned paper, cut out and adhered to the cardstock. I can make any color or pattern of shoe I want. And then I get to embellish with rhinestones, glitter, beads, pearls, ribbon, flowers, sequins, other paper, etc. You get the picture.

This is a great way to use up scraps. The red shoe used a little scrap I had, then I embellished it with a scrap of holographic paper and some gemstones to give it some extra bling.

The black shoe is almost identical to one I had several years ago. I loved that shoe and wore it out. So when I saw the patterned paper, I had to make the card. The medallions at the top were cut from the same paper and the centers are punched out of holographic paper, as is the stripe on the shoe.

You can click on each picture for a larger version.

I like to paper piece, and this is a great stamp to use because it doesn't have any really small places to cut out.

The shoe stamp is #03-167J and the saying stamp is #01-129F at My Paper Moon. I hope you have enjoyed today's cards. Post a link to a scan of something you have paper pieced. If you are reading this somewhere besides the blog, you need to click here to post a comment. We would like to see your creative efforts.

I hope spring is showing it's head where you live. It's been a cold winter and I'm sure you could use some warmer weather. See you next week!

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2010-03-15T11:00:00.002-04:00

Good morning. Did you have a good weekend? I had a wonderful time this weekend. On Saturday my daughter and granddaughters picked me up and we had a girls day out. Everybody needs one of those every so often. We dropped of my eyeglass prescription, then went to lunch, the flea market, the pet store, Jo-Ann's, and shopping. A full day! But I had so much fun, and can't wait to do it again.

Today we are going to have a Pick 3 Challenge. Those are always fun. Here are your things to choose from. Just pick 3 of them and make your card. Pretty easy, huh?

Metal
Butterflies
Alcohol Ink
The color green
Ribbon
Textured cardstock

I chose metal, alcohol ink, ribbon, and textured cardstock. Here is my card:

The metal is the part that "Dream" is stamped on. I colored it with alcohol inks. When I stamped the Dream stamp, it removed some of the color, which I thought was great. It's a pretty simple, easy card, and doesn't need much explanation. Both the white and blue cardstock are textured.

I hope you have a great week. Take some time for yourself. And as always, if you want to share your creation with us, please leave a link in the comment section. We'd like to admire your work. To do that, you have to come here if you aren't reading this at the website.

Over The Moon Monday - Sponging

2010-03-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning! Welcome to Over The Moon Monday. This is my 250th post!

Did you have a great weekend? The weather here in Florida is finally warming up a bit. I don't want it to get too warm yet. I'm enjoying the coolness. Like I tell my hubby, I can always add more clothes, but when it gets hot in the summer I can't always take more clothes off. I'll take the cool weather any day.

I always enjoy my weekend, but I look forward to Monday so I can share with you. Today I want to share some cards using the sponging technique.

Since so many of you have had lots of snow this winter, I chose to make snow scenes. The stamps are from The Angel Company.

I like to pick 3 colors to use when I'm sponging a sky. And depending on which colors you use, it can look like a morning sky, or an evening sky. Cardstock makes a difference, too. Glossy cardstock can give you a lighter sky.

I think the first card looks like a morning sky. I used post-it notes torn to make a ragged edge as the horizon. Then I sponged my lightest color of ink onto the cardstock. Moving up a bit, I sponged the 2nd lightest color, and finally at the top I sponged the darkest color, being sure to overlap them some to blend. The top card is on glossy cardstock. I punched a yellow circle to be the sun/moon.

On the 2nd card, I used regular cardstock. The colors tend to be darker because it takes more ink to cover the cardstock. This could be an early morning or twilight card. Again, I overlapped the colors to blend them. And again, I used a punch to make the moon.

On the yellow card, this is definately going from midday to evening. If I had reversed the colors on the cardstock, it would have been daybreak.

Instead of using a punched out sun/moon, I used the negative space from where I punched the others, and sponged in the sun. I like the look...it's softer.

The next card, is definately evening/night. I used several colors of dark blue and purple, and they are subtly blended. I used a white gel pen to add falling snow, and added some crystal clear glitter to the snow to give it a glisten. You can't see it in the scan, though.

I hope you have enjoyed the cards for this week. I have enjoyed making them, and if you need any further information on sponging, please don't hesitate to leave a comment and ask.

I hope you have a great week. If you get to try your hand at sponging skies, please leave a link in the comment section. We'd all like to enjoy your creation. And you never know, I might just decide to give out a little blog candy, and you might be the lucky winner.

See you next week!

Over The Moon Monday - Green Challenge

2010-03-01T10:00:00.002-05:00

Good morning and welcome to Over The Moon Monday here on the blog. Did you have a good weekend? I can't believe it's March already and it's still cold. Did you stay warm? If you live in the northeast, I hope your power stayed on and you were able to stay warm and cozy. It's been very cool here in Florida, but I am enjoying it.

Let's do a color challenge this week. Since March is the month for St. Patrick's Day, how about having a green challenge? I know exactly the stamp I want to use. I don't have many St. Patrick's Day stamps, but I have a little guy named Shamrock Sam, and he's a cutie. I have put him on sale for you, too. Go check him out. I hope you like him as much as I do.

To make this card, I first cut a card base for an A2 card (5-1/2 x 8-1/2) and scored it. I cut a piece of medium green cardstock for the bottom of the card, and a piece of patterned paper for the top. You can cut it half and half or in any proportion you want. My patterned paper is less than half of the card, so I used the medium green for the rest.

I thought the plain green was too plain, so I used a Stampin' Up canvas stamp to give it some texture. It still wasn't quite what I was going for, so I added a little drywall tape, then used white gesso and gold acrylic paint and sponged it on the tape, then removed the tape. That gave it more texture, and I was happy with it.

I cut out a piece of white cardstock with a nestability die, then stamped Shamrock Sam in the center. I colored him with alcohol markers. I put the die back on the cutout, then sponged green ink around the image. He's a leprechaun, right? So he needs some gold bling. I found some gold glitter that I've had forever, and it was very chunky, so I added a little glue under the image and put the glitter on. Now it looks like he's gathering gold and putting it in his bags.

Before I adhered the image to the card, I glued a piece of dark green ribbon over the seam where the two papers come together, then adhered the image. I punched 4 hearts out of a lighter green paper, and adhered to the card to make a 4 leaf clover. I used a green marker to loosely outline the hearts.

I don't have a St. Patrick's saying stamp, so the words are computer generated.

I hope you have enjoyed today's card and I have inspired you to create something. If you do, please leave a comment and a link to your creation so we can all ooh and ahhh over it. I hope you have a great week, and you get to do something crafty.

Inky hugs,

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2010-02-22T09:06:00.009-05:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. I hope the weather has been good where you are. It's been cold here in Florida (not that I'm complaining...it's better than being too hot), but Sunday was a lovely day. A true spring day, with birds singing. I sat outside and read part of the day and really enjoyed it. Maybe spring is finally on it's way.

I haven't had a Pick 3 Challenge lately, and Ithink it's time to have another one, how about you? So without further ado, let's get started.

If you haven't participated in a Pick 3 Challenge before, this is how it works: I will pick 6 things. You have to make a card or project using 3 of the 6 things I have chosen. Then post a link to your work here at the website, in the comments section. It's pretty easy.

Here are the list of 6 things to choose from:

Birds
Jewels
Blue
Faux Stitching
Dry Embossing
Birthday

For the challenge I made the following thank you card. This is not a standard A2 card, but is about 3-1/2 x 3-1/2.

I love this little bird stamp from My Paper Moon.

I cut the 6 panels using a Provo Craft die. I embossed 2 with the Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss Embossing Folder. To hightlight the dots, I ran a darker blue dye inkpad over the raised area.
Two of the panels I cprayed with a gold mist spray. These were all cut from a left over piece of cardstock.
I stamped the birds onto a piece of beige cardstock, then colored with Copic markers.
To make the foam of the seashore, I used a white Gelly Roll pen. I added a little glitter with a glitter pen to the sea, making it look like the sun glinting off the waves.
I cut this out using a nestability die, then mounted onto beige cardstock that was cut a little largerl\
I stamped the "thank you" (The Angel Company) onto beige cardstock that I colored with Copic markers and cut out with the Provo Craft die. I mounted this onto a larger piece of cardstock (again fromt he scrap cardstock I used before) that was also cut with a Provo Craft die.
I stamped a faux zig zag stitch onto blue cardstock and mounted the thank you on it, then adhered to the card.

To mail the card, I am using a standard A2 envelope, since postage would be more for a square envelope, and I'm trying to be thrifty. Here is the envelope I made:

Let's see what you have made. Leave a link in the comment section to your creation.

While I had that little sandpiper stamp out, I made another card. I cut a larger piece of cardstock with the nestability die for this one, and I used the faux flower soft (I don't know the name, but I think it's called fluff or something) for where the wave is breaking on the shore. It's made from styrofoam, and I made a bunch. I put it in little baggies and colored it with reinkers. I've never used the real Flower Soft, but this is an economical substitute, and I love the way it looks.

The background swirl stamps are from The Angel Company.

I hope you have a wonderful week, and that you get to do something crafty. See you again next time.

Over The Moon Monday - OWOH Winners and Envelope Art

2010-02-15T06:00:00.002-05:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. Lots to get done today, so let's get to it.

I had so many people visit my blog for the One World One Heart event. Over 500 people visited, with 189 leaving comments. Wow! I was overwhelmed with the response. So, instead of having a drawing for one stamp, I decided to give away 2 of the heart stamps. My granddaughters literally pulled the winning entries out of a box, so without further ado, let me announce the winners. Drum roll please....and the winners are..Brenda Lee and D Schrader. Congratulations to both of you. Both ladies have been notified, and I'm awaiting their mailing address to get their prize in the mail. Thank you to everyone who visited my blog during this event, and to those of you who left comments. I hope to see you again soon. And now, on with the show.....

Do you send out naked envelopes? It always makes my day when I receive a card with an envelope that's all decked out. And it's easy to do. You can use random stamps to stamp a collage on your envelope, or you can keep it with the theme of your card.

This envelope was used to mail out my February ATC for a swap I'm in. I chose to use the Valentine theme for the envelope (it's also the heart stamp for the OWOH giveaway). I used some drywall tape to make the colored corners. I just plopped it down on the envelope, then sponged some red ink on it, then removed it from the envelope. Here's a quick tip: if the tape is too sticky, stick it on your clothes and remove it a couple of times to reduce the tackiness. You can use this tip for any tape.

Here is another envelope I decorated. I think it will be good for mailing something for spring in. I stamped the flowers and dragonflies with their respective colors of ink, then used glitter glue to go over them to give them a wonderful sparkle. Can you imaging how much joy you will give the postal workers who handle this mail, all the way from your post office to the recipient's postal carrier, and then the recipient of your piece of mail will get to enjoy it too.

Here is my final piece of envelope art for today. I made this envelope to mail my sister's birthday card in. I think she'll like it. She keeps everything I send her, so I'm sure this envelope will end up in her collection, too. The only think I added glitter to was the sun, and he's really sparkly. I used Twinkling H2O's directly on the flower stamp, so they have a sheen to them. The grass I drew in freehand with a green marker.

I hope you have enjoyed the envelope art today, and you will decorate your envelopes in the future. Let's stamp out naked envelopes.

Please share any links you have to your own mail art in the comment section below. (If you are reading this from a site other than the blog, you need to visit the blog to leave comments).

Have a crafty week...

One World - One Heart (OWOH) My Paper Moon Giveaway

2010-02-05T19:10:00.002-05:00

Hello and welcome to my blog. This is my first year participating in this event which was created by Lisa of A Whimsical Bohemian. Make sure that after leaving a comment here you go visit her blog for lots more links to great blogs (over 900 of them) and giveaways. I want to thank Marina of Cherry Pie Art Stamps for telling me about this event.

This is a great opportunity to meet new friends, and so I'd like to tell you a little about myself. I live in Florida and I am married to a wonderful man. Between us we have 4 children, 2 grandchildren, 2 cats, various grandpets, and a love for rubber stamping. I own My Paper Moon, which is a rubber stamp manufacturing company. You can see more posts of what I love to do if you read further. Please leave me a comment and tell me a little about yourself.

Just for stopping by I would like to give you the opportunity to win one of my unmounted rubber stamps. I think it's fitting that it be a heart stamp, don't you?

You have to leave a comment and a way for me to contact you if you win. The cutoff time for leaving a comment is February 13th, so please get your comment posted by then. I will be using a random number generator to pick the winner, which I will be announcing right here on February 15th. If you are reading this at a site other than the blog, you have to come here (http://www.becky-mypapermoon.blogspot.com/) to leave a comment.

I'm glad you stopped by and I hope to see you here again.

Over The Moon Monday - Cool Cat

2010-02-01T10:34:00.001-05:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday.

I hope you have had a great week, and you didn't get too much snow where you live.

Today I want to use one of my favorite stamps to make another Valentine. This stamp (Cool cat - #02-134I) is very versatile, and I have a number of sayings that fit into the heart. He can be paper pieced very easily, also.

I have returned to making simple cards. Mainly because I donate a lot of my cards to various causes (supporting the troops and helping special needs individuals), it is easier for them to mail flat cards. So, with that being said, let's get to today's card.

I used the black dotted paper to make the card background. I stamped a piece of red cardstock with a lip stamp, using versamark, so it came out like a watermark (although you can't see it in the scan). Then I tore it and attached it to the background.

I used a nestability die to cut out some white cardstock, then stamped the cool cat in the middle. I colored him with copic markers. I stamped again onto the black dotted paper and cut out the heart, which I attached to the cat. The cat is made so that he's easily cut out, and you could use pop dots to put him onto the background and give him some dimension.

I attached the whole thing to the background. I stamped "I love you" onto white cardstock, then used a red marker to faux stitch the top and bottom. I attached this to the bottom of the card. I stamped a sentiment in the inside and I was done.

I hope you have a great week.

Over The Moon Monday - Valentine's

2010-01-25T09:40:00.001-05:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. I hope you have had a wonderful week. It was a busy one for me at work (which is a good thing), but I didn't get a lot of cardmaking done (which is a bad thing).

I went to Jo-Ann's over the weekend, and their new nestability dies have been flying off the shelf. I did have a 50% off coupon and managed to get one set of dies. The cashier told me they initially didn't have plans to restock them, but since they have done so well, they will be getting more in in the future.

I have added new Valentine's stamps to the store. For a limited time only, I will be offering 20% off any order (U.S. orders only), but you must use coupon code Val20 at check-out.

Let's get started on today's card. I used 2 images from the new stamps: the new Floral Heart and the Friends stamp. You can see all the new stamps here: http://www.mypapermoon.com/store/WsDefault.asp?iNew=New.

I used scraps of patterned paper to make a herringbone pattern for the background. That's a technique with the Technique Junkies and is pretty simple to do.
I stamped the heart image onto glossy cardstock that had been colored red with alcohol inks. I then cut it out and mounted on a piece of red cardstock. I added some glitter to the flowers to give them a little zing. I added some faux stitching (and if you could see my handsewing in real life, the crooked stitches are pretty real looking).

I stamped "Friends" onto black cardstock using a pigment ink, then heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. I faux stitched it with white ink.

I adhered both the heart and the friends to the background, then stamped a sentiment inside.

I hope you have enjoyed today's card. If you have made it all the way here, please leave a comment and I will have a drawing for a couple of free stamps from the new valentine's stamps. If you don't leave a way for me to get hold of you, you will have to check back next week to see if you won. Until next time, have a crafty week...

Over The Moon Monday - New Stamps

2010-01-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. I'm so glad the weather has returned to more normal temperatures in Florida. Everything is brown from the freeze last weekend, but it will mostly come back green.
I am excited to announce that the new Valentine stamps are now available at My Paper Moon. You can see them here. With that being said, let's get to today's card, which is very simple.

Here is a card featuring one of the new stamps.

I inked the Queen playing card stamp by coloring with a red marker, and coloring the outline with a black marker. I stamped it on glossy cardstock and cut out.
I covered white A2 cardstock with the red polka dotted paper.
I rounded 2 corners of scrap red cardstock and adhered to the card.
I rounded 2 corners of some black polka dotted paper and adhered to the red.
I punched 3 small hearts and adhered to the black paper.
I stamped "the" on red paper, cut out and adhered to the background.
I stamped QUEEN on scrap cardstock and punched out with a small circle punch. I adhered them with pop dots.
I adhered the playing card with pop dots.
I stamped a sentiment inside and viola! I was done.

I hope you have enjoyed today's card. I will have another next week. Until then, I hope you get to do something crafty.

Over The Moon Monday - Tags

2010-01-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning! I hope the weather wherever you live is tolerable. I was wishing for cooler weather, but the weather in Florida has been ridiculous. I am currently in Savannah, GA (I've been here since Friday), and I'm having a fabulous time. Alas, I am returning home today.

Today I want to show you some tags I made. I hardly ever make tags, but the Christmas tag I made was a lot of fun, and I just want to show that you can make tags for any occasion. You can click the images for larger versions of the tags.

The first tag I made is for Valentine's Day (or just to tell someone you love them), and features some more sneak peek stamps. I will be releasing these stamps this week.

I colored the tag with cherry blossom walnut ink. The chocolate candies in the center were stamped from the same stamp that did the candies on the bottomm, but were colored differently and cut out and rearranged.

The next tag features stamps that are currently available from My Paper Moon, along with the typewriter key stamps from EK Success Nostalgique line.

I used glossy cardstock to make the tag, and covered it with Ranger Alcohol Ink in Meadow, Stream, and Lettuce. Then I stamped the travel collage stamp on the tag. I stamped it again on glossy cardstock so I could cut out individual pieces. I colored these pieces (pen, watch)with Copic markers. I also stamped the airplane on glossy cardstock and colored it with a Copic marker, cut it out and adhered it to the tag. I stamped the alphabet onto glossy cardstock, colored it, and punched out with circle punch and adhered it, also. I used an old postage stamp to finish off the tag.

I hope you have enjoyed my tags this week. Let me know if there is a technique you would like to see, or a sample. I hope you get to do something crafty this week.

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2010-01-04T10:02:00.000-05:00

Good morning and welcome to the first Over The Moon Monday of the new year. Did you make any resolutions? How are you coming along with them? I have to admit, I'm not doing real great with mine, but I'm trying.

As you know, I am a big fan of the Pick 3 Challenges. I just think they help to jump-start your creativity. At least they do mine. So, with that being said, let's get started.

Pick 3 of the following 6 things to incorporate into your card. You can choose more than 3, but you have to use at least 3:

Valentine's Day image
Brads
the color red
glitter
ribbon
buttons

I chose too use 2 images that will be coming out in the next few weeks at My Paper Moon, so you are getting a sneak peak. I also chose the color red, and the ribbon. Here is my card:

It was rather easy to make, and allowed me to use up some scraps of paper that had been hanging around. I adhered those onto white cardstock to use as the background, then stamped the cupid image onto white cardstock. I used a nestability die to cut it out, then colored it with copic markers. I cut out red cardstock with the larger nestability die for a background. I put the polka dot ribbon between the 2 layers and adhered it. Then I adhered that to the background. I then stamped "Be Mine" onto red cardstock. I punched a scalloped edge with a Fiskars scallop edge punch onto one side of the red cardstock. I used a black marker to do faux stitching on the bottom edge, then adhered it to the card. On the inside I stamped "Happy Valentine's Day" (of course).

I hope you share your creation with us. Just leave a comment with a link to your creation so we call can see. Also, let me know what you think about the new images.

Until next week, take care and do something crafty.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T01:00:00.000-05:00

My wish for you is that you have a happy, healthy, prosperous New Year!

Did you make any resolutions? Leave a comment and tell us what your resolution is this year. On January 1, 2008, my husband and I quit smoking, so this makes my 2 year anniversary. This year I hope to stick to a food regimen and lose some of the weight I gained. So that will be my resolution this year...to lose weight and get healthy again.

See you on Monday!

Free Shipping Ends Soon

2009-12-28T12:13:00.005-05:00

Don't forget the free shipping will end soon. Please accept our gift of Free Shipping for any order placed by December 31st, 2009. Please use Coupon Code SHIPFREE at checkout when it says enter coupon code if you have one (right after it asks how you heard about us).

Over The Moon Monday will return next week. Until then, my wish is that you stay safe, and that you be healthy, happy and prosperous in the New Year.

My Holiday Gift for You

2009-12-21T15:18:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

from My Paper Moon.

Please accept our gift of Free Shipping for any order placed by December 31st, 2009. Please use Coupon Code SHIPFREE at checkout when it says enter coupon code if you have one (right after it asks how you heard about us).

Thanks so much for your support. We hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season.

Over The Moon Monday - Challenge

2009-12-21T09:00:00.002-05:00

Good morning! The kids are out of school here, and preparations are almost done for Christmas, but I wanted to leave you with 1 more Christmas offering. And if you don't have any time to play right now, perhaps you could use the idea for a Valentine. Just tweak it a bit to fit the occasion.

Tags are very popular right now, with Tim Holtz doing his 12 Tags of Christmas, and I have seen other websites that are doing the same, so I thought it would be fun to do a tag.For those of you who know me personally, you know I should be the Grunge Queen, because I don't shy away from getting my hands dirty.

For this tag, I spritzed on brown and pink inks, using a paper towel to smoosh them around. Then I used some drywall tape and gesso to add some texture. It still needed a little something for texture, so I used gold acrylic paint with the drywall tape. Then I spritzed the whole thing with gold.

I stamped the Christmas tree onto watercolor paper, then used markers diluted with water to paint it. When it was dry, I carefully cut it out and adhered it to the card. I used stickles to add glitter to the tree and star.

I stamped "Noel" onto the tag, then went over it with a black copic marker, to give it more definition. I also used green stickles to go over the letters to give it more oomph!

I punched out some pink snowflakes, adhered to the tag and then colored with stickles, and added some faux stitching around the edge of the card. I tied a gold ribbon and viola, I was done. The tag is grungy, but also feminine with the pink colors.

I challenge you to use a tag in your art. When you do, please leave a link in the comment section so we can see your artwork.

With the Christmas holiday I may not have a post for next week. Have a blessed Christmas.

Over The Moon Monday

2009-12-14T11:25:00.008-05:00

Good morning and welcome to Over The Moon Monday. I can't believe the weather here in Florida. It's less than 2 weeks from Christmas, and it's still in the 80's. We truly need some cooler weather.

I did get some Christmas shopping done. We are only buying for the granddaughters this year, as their dad has been out of work for over 6 months, and money is tight. We try to help them out all we can, so money is tight for us, too. But the girls will be taken care of.

I had the opportunity to work on another Herringbone card (I shared an ATC previously), and wanted to share it with you. I love the look of these cards, each one has a different look, depending on the patterned papers you use. And it's surprisingly easy to achieve.

This week I wanted to work with the Layered Star stamp from My Paper Moon. This is a very versatile stamp, as you can see below.

I stamped the image onto the green, pink and red patterned paper and adhered to cardstock. I stamped the image also onto green solid paper and red solid paper. I cut out the triangles from the green cardstock and adhered to the patterned paper. Then I cut the red triangles out and used pop dots to adhere them over the green triangles. I then cut out the red star medallion from the inside of the image, and adhered it with pop dots to the center. I cut out the small green star and the small red star from the very center, and adhered them with adhesive.

I can make another and adhere it to the back, punch a hole, thread some pretty ribbon and use as an ornament for my tree, or I can adhere to a card and send to a friend. Wouldn't these look beautiful with different Christmas patterned paper and used as Christmas ornaments?

Here are some of the ways you can use this stamp:

Just by cutting the stamped image apart and using pop dots, or making cuts and folds, you can totally change the look of this image. I apologize for the smallness of this image, but it was resized for the website.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Over The Moon Monday - Technique

2009-12-07T10:43:00.003-05:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. I hope you had a great weekend. I spent it with my two granddaughters, which was great. We were keeping them overnight so Mom and Dad could go to her company Christmas Party, but decided to get them early and make a day of it. We picked them up, then went to the Flea Market, followed by a late lunch/early dinner at CiCi's Pizza. We did our nails and did card tricks and was silly. On Sunday we watched movies all day. It was great!

For today's card, I chose a technique from the current Technique Junkie's newsletter called Rachel's Coat.

It's basically a Joseph's Coat technique, except you use designer paper for the background. I chose a candy cane striped paper for my background, stamped and clear embossed the snowflakes and saying, then covered it with black ink, removing the ink from the embossed areas. I matted it on a pink cardstock, and used my scalloped edge punch. The whole thing was then adhered to the black cardstock.

I think I will make another, but after matting it on the pink cardstock, I will then adhere it to the same candy-cane striped background paper.

Anyway, the possibilities are endless. I hope you get to try this technique and post a link to it in the comment section.

Happy Crafting!

Countdown to Christmas

2009-12-02T09:41:00.004-05:00

Lisa Vollrath is once again doing the countdown to Christmas, with new images every day from December 1 through Christmas. Click here or go here: http://countdown.tentwostudios.com. You will need to check back there every day for the new image.

Enjoy!

Over The Moon Monday - Digital Images

2009-11-30T09:00:00.001-05:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got some shopping done. Now it's time to sit back with a nice cup of chocolate and relax a bit. The Christmas holidays will soon be upon us, so relax and enjoy it while you can.

I am a diligent reader of a blog called Dear Paperlicious (you can find it in the sidebar to the right). The author is witty and talented, and I enjoy reading her blogs. Last week she had a post about digital images. I rarely use digital images. To me that almost seems like cheating. There is nothing more satisfying that to put ink to rubber and stamp an image. Now, if you are a digital image fan, that's fine. It's just not something I usually do. However. You knew there was going to be a "however", didn't you?

I went to the Daisie Company website, http://www.daisiecompany.com/freebies/xmas.php and downloaded a free digital image. I chose the one of the bank, because I like to make a special card for the bank I do business with, and this one will be more personal.

Here is the card I made.
To make it my own, I used an x-acto knife and cut out the windows and door, then put a piece of clear acetate behind it to look like real window panes, then used glitter glue to make some frost/snow on the panes. I think I will use a black marker to write in the bank name above "Bank & Trust". I used a lot of glitter glue on the card, even though some of it is hard to see in the scan. I think the girls at the bank will like it.

If you use a digital image, why don't you share a link in the comment section?

Have a great week!

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T13:50:00.005-05:00

I am thankful for my family, my friends, my health and well-being. So, from my house to yours, Happy Thanksgiving. I'll be eating way too much turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie to move, but tune in on Monday for a peak at a special Christmas card.

Over The Moon Monday - Challenge

2009-11-23T07:45:00.000-05:00

Good morning and welcome to Over The Moon Monday. I hope you had a great weekend. I went to a cookout for my nephew, who just finished Marine Corp boot camp. He has to leave to go back before Thanksgiving, so this was his Thanksgiving dinner. He wanted a cookout so his friends could come and visit with him.

Let's get started with today's challenge, shall we?

From my beginnings in scrapbooking, I have a ton of stickers. For today's challenge, I want you to use a sticker on your card. I needed a card for a baby shower (where the mother doesn't know the sex of the child ahead of time). Not having many baby stamps, I decided to improvise with what I had.

To make this card, I used:

2 pieces of white cardstock, 1 cut to A2 size, and the other 4-3/4 x 3-3/4
a piece of green cardstock 5 x 4
a contrasting piece of yellow cardstock 3-1/2 x 3-1/2 (you could use patterned paper)
a Mrs. Grossman baby carriage sticker
Stampin' Up canvas background stamp
green dye ink
yellow ribbon
decorative border punch
words are computer generated

I stamped the green cardstock with the green dye ink using the canvas background stamp and set aside. I printed the words onto the yellow cardstock before cutting it out, then placed the baby carriage sticker.

I punched out the edge of the white cardstock, then layered the yellow cardstock close to the edge. I turned back the left edge of the cardstock (in this case by 1/2"), punched 2 holes and threaded my ribbon through it.

I then layered the green cardstock onto the folded white A2 cardstock, and lalyered the white cardstock on top of that.

A pretty simple card, but still looks elegant.

Now let's see what you do with this challenge. Please post a link to your creation in the comment section so we can all enjoy it and be inspired by your creativity.

Last week I got to spend an afternoon with my dear friend, Shelly, and I had a great time. We hardly ever get to see each other, with her illness and my work schedule, so it was really fun to be able to get together.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Don't eat too much turkey, and we'll meet back here next week for another Over The Moon Monday.

Over The Moon Monday - Christmas Cards

2009-11-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. I have been off work for a few days, so it's going to take me a little while to get back in the saddle, so to speak. I had a productive few days, though. I had some stuff that needed doing at home, but with hubby always underfoot it never seemed to get done.

Today I want to share one of the Christmas cards I have been working on. The stamp set is from Dream Impressions. I don't think they are still in business. I got the set used online. I really like it. I stamped the building onto glossy cardstock, and masked it. Then I masked the bottom part of the cardstock with post-it notes. I brayered an aqua blue onto the top part of the cardstock, then blended in a darker blue towards the top. Then I removed the masks.

I stamped the large star in the sky and heat embossed it with gold. I used glitter glue in the center to give off a star-like shine. I used a white gel pen to make stars in the sky.

For the bottom part of the cardstock, I used various brown markers to make the ground. I wanted it to have a sand-like color, and the textures of the markers on glossy were okay for this application.

I stamped the wise men onto regular cardstock, colored with markers and cut out, adhering them to the card background.

How are you coming along with your Christmas cards? Will you be done in time to mail them out? I have found I'm a little behind, so now I'm rushing to play catch-up. But I'll get them done.

Have a great week!

Over The Moon Monday - Technique

2009-11-09T07:12:00.000-05:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. This past week I saw a video on making "fluff" for your stamping. So I decided to try it out. It's really quite simple to do, and the results so far have been great.

I have left mine white, so far, and it looks like snow! It has a little sparkle to it, just like real snow. I put it on the large snowflake below. I wish you could see it close up. But, according to the video, you can color it with reinkers to get any color you want, and you can use it for flowers or grass (or anything else you can think of).

To make this wonderful faux product, you simply need white styrofoam balls. I got a bag of them at Michaels so I could try this technique out, but you can get them at any craft store. Then I simply rubbed them together, and they come apart. Do this over a sheet of paper, then transfer the rubbings to a zip lock bag. I left all mine white, but can take out any amount I want to color them for flowers, or grass. It goes a little quicker if you use a kitchen grater with very small holes.

Anyway, the video is here. Or here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_tz3P9NOcY

If you try this out, let me know what you think. I have never tried Flower Soft, so I really can't compare, but leave us a comment with your observations.

Have a great week!

Over The Moon Monday - Faux Marble

2009-11-02T07:30:00.002-05:00

Good morning! I hope everyone had a safe Halloween. The consensus with most of you was that you liked the green background on last week's card.

I hope everyone remembered to set their clocks back this weekend. Daylight Savings Time is my hubby's biggest pet peeve. He says it gets his body and his routing all out of sync, and he complains for at least 2 weeks when the time changes. He's not as bad in the fall as he is in the spring.

Let's get on with today's card. I used the Faux Marble technique, which can be found in this month's Technique Junkie newsletter. If you aren't a member, you should check it out. Pat always has lots of interesting techniques, and I like the fact that it comes to you at home in a colored brochure, and there are lots of samples and bonus tutorials online. Instead of using a marker to make the marble veins, I used a cube stamp (Stampendous)I had had for awhile. I used 2 colors of brown inkpads with scrunched up waxed paper to make the marble. I really like the way it turned out. Just wad the waxed paper up and tap it on your inkpad. I did the light color first, then re-scrunched up the paper again and tapped it into the darker color. There is still plenty of the background showing through, so you don't need to feel like you have to get color on every little bit of cardstock.

The Autumn stamp is from The Angel Company. I used a nestability punch to punch out the white cardstock and the background. I colored the stamped area with copic markers.

I matted the whole thing onto copper stardream cardstock. I was pretty happy with the results.

Have a great week. And craft something.

Halloween Card #2

2009-10-27T10:48:00.003-04:00

Good morning! This is the re-make of the halloween card I showed you yesterday. This time I used a green background and put yellow behind the windows. I added some "mist" to the sky and put a spider in the upstairs window.

Which do you like best? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Happy Haunting....

Over The Moon Monday - Halloween Challenge

2009-10-26T07:41:00.001-04:00

I hope you had a restful weekend. One of my favorite holidays is coming. Can you guess what it is? If you guessed Halloween, you are absolutely right. My husband and I usually dress up to hand out candy to the little trick or treaters, although I don't think that's going to happen this year. We have also been known to attend a party or two (and even win prizes), but that's not going to happen either. We have made some pretty elaborate costumes over the years, and always enjoy it.

Anyway, I wanted to share a card that I made using my cuttlebug. As usual, after I finished the card, there were a few things I would have done differently, but I still like the way it turned out.

To begin, I ran a sheet of white cardstock through the cuttlebug, using the haunted house template. Then I smeared purple ink over it. (This is one of the things I would do differently - I would just use purple cardstock next time.) Set this aside to dry.

Then I ran a piece of black cardstock through the haunted house embossing folder. I took an exacto knife and cut out all the windows and around the door, and I cut out the basic haunted house shape. I smeared white Brilliance ink on this to give it a grungy look.

I put green cardstock behind all the cut out windows, and put a little glitter on it to give it some shine. Then I adhered the black cardstock to the background.

I cut out the moon with an exacto knife from the purple background. I put a piece of yellow cardstock behind the cut out circle, and added some depth and shading with copic markers.

While I was at it, I colored the bats black, and used a white gel pen to make white dots for their eyes. When the white was dry, I colored over the white with red marker, making them have red eyes.

I took a gold gel pen and colored in the fence on the roof and also to the left of the house. Also, the balls on the top of the house.

I used a silver gel pen to color the stair rail on the right side of the house. I also colored in the shutters.

I stamped a ghost border from My Paper Moon, and cut out a couple of the ghosts. I used pop dots to make them stand out.

I used a white gel pen to write "Happy Halloween" on the bottom of the card. (I had a small stamp, but it didn't look quite right.).

All in all, I like the way this turned out. I think I might make one with a bright green sky background and see how that looks.

I hope you have enjoyed the card today. If you have a halloween card to share, please post a link in the comment section.

I have added some more cards to the gallery at My Paper Moon. I hope you have some time to take a look and let me know what you think. If you have any cards that use My Paper Moon stamps and would like to see them in the gallery, please email me or post a link in the comment section. I'd like to see them, too.

Have a great week!

Over The Moon Monday - Technique

2009-10-19T13:27:00.007-04:00

Good afternoon and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday.

I am totally enjoying the cooler weather. I have the windows open and the air conditioner turned off. Can I tell you how much energy I have with the cooler weather? I feel like "spring cleaning".

I am having internet issues, so I will go ahead and get on with today's card. I like this card because you can cut 3 from a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock, and the finished card fits in a #10 envelope.

Anyway, to get started, you will need a piece of cardstock cut 4" x 12". I used a color that coordinated with the background paper I was going to use. On the 12" side, go in 3" and score so that you can fold the flap over. (This is the part that "To A Very Special Friend" is attached to.) Next I cut a piece of light olive cardstock 8-3/4" x 3-3/4" and adhered it to the base cardstock. I cut a piece of coral cardstock 8-1/2" x 3-1/2" and adhered to the olive cardstock.

For the outside flap, I cut a piece of patterned paper 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" and adhere to the flap. I stamped "To A Very Special Friend" (Hero Arts) onto light olive cardstock with lettuce dye ink. I trimmed to fit and adhered to the patterned paper.

Using the same patterned paper, I put a piece onto the coral cardstock.

I brushed white gesso on a piece of white cardstock, and left brush marks. While this was still wet, I applied pearl-ex in a gold and interference green to give it some shine. The texture is great, also.

Then I stamped the birds on a limb (Inkadinkadoo) with black permanent ink and trimmed the cardstock. I used a needle to punch holes in the ends of the cardstock, and ran a black inkpad around the edges, then adhered to the patterned paper.

When you are finished with the card, there is room to open the flap and write a note to the recipient.

I hope I have inspired you to create something this week. If you do, please post a link in the comment section. Happy Crafting!

Over The Moon Monday - Sponging Tips

2009-10-12T09:30:00.002-04:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over the Moon Monday. Did you have a good week? The weekend was great...too short, but great. I am having computer issues, and it's driving me nuts. For the last year I have used both McAfee Virus Scan and Webroot Spysweeper together with no problems. I had to renew my McAfee and now I learn they are not compatible, so I have to decide which one to use. I like them both. If you have any experience with either one, please email me or leave me a comment on why you like it.

Today I want to give you some tips on sponging. It's a very simple technique, but can give you lots of interesting results. In the card sample below, I have used a couple of different sponging techniques.

I sponged a light blue onto the background cardstock (with the swirls). I sponged the sky and also the grass. I used a green marker to draw in the distinct blades of grass.

Types of sponges:

cosmetic/facial sponges
porous everyday sponges
natural sponges
bathtoy sponges

Methods of use:

cut or tear sponges to get different textures.
use sponges either dry or slightly dampened with water.
use different amounts of pressure to get darker or lighter effects
tapping, smudging, smearing and circular motions are all ways to get different effects and textures.

Stamping tips:

sponge around paper masks which you have cut or torn to create cloud-filled vistas. Then sponge on a bit of light blue, pink or violet to accent clouds.
sponge through paper doilies, lace, or netting for a delicate Victorial look. You can also make borders using sponging and masks.
for beautiful grass, sponge on shadings to lay down base colors of greens, blues and yellows. Then use a grass stamp for distinct blades (or use a marker to make blades). Stamp it over and over without re-inking to add depth.
sponge over nautical designs to give them the impression of being under water, in fog, etc.
use the full width of the sponge for large areas or backgrounds or cut your sponge into your own design, such as a star or heart. For example, you can create a brick wall by using a small rectangular piece of dry sponge.
use your sponges slightly damp instead of dry, for a softer, more blended look.

I hope you can use some of these tips. You can leave a link under the comment section on this blog.

Have a great week!

Over The Moon Monday - Technique

2009-10-05T09:36:00.001-04:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. I hope you had a great weekend. Did you do anything fun? Just leave a comment and let us know!

Today we will be doing a technique with striped paper. This gives you a whole new way to use up that striped paper you didn't like, and I think you will like the results. I happened to need a birthday card, and wanted to try out the technique anyway, so I just combined the two. Let's get started, shall we?

Supplies you will need:

striped patterned paper
stamp of your choice
coloring media of your choice
embellishments to compliment your design
adhesive (the xyron works great for this)
cardstock base (to adhere the strips)
cardstock for the card

To begin with, you will need to get out your striped paper. You will need more than the standard 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 because you are going to turn the paper at an angle to cut the first set of strips. You can cut these strips as wide as you want. I chose to cut mine about 3/4". After you cut 3 or 4 strips (depending on the width of the strips you cut), turn your paper 90 degrees and cut 3 or 4 more strips. As you can see on my first attempt at this technique, I didn't get my paper turned a whole 90 degrees, but I like the effect anyway.

Now you will adhere your first strip of paper to the cardstock base. Next pick a piece of the paper that was cut on a 90 degree angle and adhere it next to your first strip. Now pick up a strip like the first one and adhere it, so that you form an alternating pattern with the strips.

When you are finished, trim off any excess paper that is hanging over the edges, and adhere to your card. You could change the degree you turn the paper, creating different looks.

Now you are ready to finish your card using an image of your choice.

Share your creations with us by posting a link...and enjoy the rest of your week!

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2009-09-28T11:25:00.006-04:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. I hope you've had a great week. It was a busy one for me, but I got to enjoy some good barbeque at Q-Fest this weekend, so that was a lot of fun. My oldest granddaughter has had the flu and been out of school all week and she had cabin fever, so she spent Saturday and Sunday with me, and we had a great time.

This will be another Pick 3 challenge this week. I love the variety you get when you have multiple things to choose from. So, without further ado, here are the 6 things for you to choose from:

Webbing Spray
The color purple
Glitter
Ribbon
Something nautical
Cuttlebug folder

That's a pretty eclectic group of items. And you only have to pick 3 for your creation.

For my card, I chose the webbing spray (I always forget I have this), ribbon, and something nautical (stamp from TAC).

This is a card I made for a friend's husband, who had been ill. Masculine cards are sometimes difficult to make, but this one came together nicely. To begin, I took a piece of light blue cardstock and sponged some blue ink on it randomly. Then I sprayed gold webbing spray on it. I always forget I have the webbing spray, and I love the way it looks when I do remember I have it.

I used alcohol ink in denim and stonewash on a piece of glossy cardstock, then stamped the ship with permanent ink. I let it dry, then distressed the edges. I mounted this on white cardstock for a fram, and distressed the edges of that cardstock, also.

I punched out a buckle from a scrap of white cardstock, and embossed it with white embossing powder to make a white buckle that had some texture. I threaded a piece of navy ribbon with white polka dots through the buckle and adhered to the webbed cardstock. I mounted my ship on top of that and I was done. It looks much better in real life.

Why don't you choose 3 items from the above list, make a card, and share a link with us here in the comment section. I'd love to see what you do with it.

I also want to mention that I am creating a gallery on my website, so you will be able to see card samples made using My Paper Moon stamps. Check it out here. If you have a card or project made using stamps from My Paper Moon, and you would like to see it in the gallery, please send me a scan and I will be happy to upload it. Check back often, as I am just getting started uploading the cards, and it takes awhile...

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2009-09-21T09:08:00.002-04:00

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend. I am so wishing for cooler weather. I am tired of the heat...by this time of the year I am so over it. I'm thinking it's kind of the same as some of our northern friends being over the winter, only in reverse.

Did you do anything fun this weekend?

Now, on to the weekly challenge....another Pick 3 Challenge. In case you haven't participated before, here is how it works. I will give you 6 items to choose from. You need to pick 3 and use them on your card. Then, you can post a link to your creation in the comments section so we can all enjoy it.

Here are the items to choose from:

a rectangle shape
a buckle
anything with stripes
frame of any kind
buttons
chipboard

That gives you a pretty wide variety of items to choose from. The three I chose were the rectangle shape, stripes, and a frame.

The card is pretty self explanatory. The striped paper is a patterned scrapbook paper from the Dollar Tree. The rectangle shape and the frame are red cardstock that have been punched with a nestability scalloped rectangle die. The image is Jimmy Pin Drop from My Paper Moon. The whole thing is layered on a red card.

I made this card for my great-nephew, who is enduring Marine boot camp. I thought the guy with the big ear was perfect, since I hadn't heard from him yet and I'm "all ears" waiting on a letter.

Come on, share your creation with us....and have a great week!

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2009-09-14T09:00:00.001-04:00

Good morning, and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. I hope you had a good weekend.

I love the Pick 3 Challenges. I think they give you a lot of lattitude, yet still have some confines. And the possibilities are endless. So, today we will have another Pick 3 Challenge. Are you up for it?

Okay, let's go. Today's options are:

The color purple
Gemstones (crystals)
Ribbon
Border Punch
Pearl Ex
Leaves

I have chosen the color purple, ribbon, and a border punch for my 3 choices. Below is the card I made:

The coloring is off because I used pop dots to raise the cat sitting in the window. It doesn't really look like I singed the paper in real life

I used a Copic Marker to color the ribbon the same color as the night time sky. I used a white gel pen to make the centers of the stars, and I used a Martha Stewart border punch to punch the bottom of the patterned paper. I used tiny pearls to make a collar for the cat, just to give it a little pizzaz.

I hope you take the time to do something crafty this week.

Over The Moon Monday - Technique Challenge

2009-09-07T09:54:00.006-04:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday.

Happy Labor Day! I have the day off, and I hope to spend it doing something fun. Yesterday we had a cookout with my daughter and her family, and that was a lot of fun. We don't do things like that often enough.

I've had intermittent issues with the internet, and so I won't be spending much time surfing the web.

Today I want to share a technique called Double Cuttlebugging. If you like the shabby chic look, you'll like this one.

To begin, I chose a cuttlebug folder (d'vine swirls) and ran my cardstock through it. I used a blue colored cardstock. When it was embossed, I ran a black inkpad over the raised area, which highlights the swirls. When the ink was dry, I took my bone folder and ran it over the cardstock so that it was flat again.

I ran the cardstock through the cuttlebug again, this time using a floral embossing folder. I again ran a black inkpad over the embossed area.

I added some irridescent sprays to the cardstock to give it a shimmer.

I stamped "Wish" (TAC) onto a piece of shimmery paper, rounded the corners on one side, and adhered to the embossed cardstock with 3 brads.

I trimmed and mounted the embossed piece onto a light brown cardstock.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday today...

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2009-08-31T11:29:00.005-04:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. We had some pretty bad storms during the night, and the electricity went off often. Which means every time it went off, I had to get up and reset the alarm clock. It's funny that I would wake up when it went off, but I guess with all the rain and lightning and thunder I wasn't sleeping the best. Anyway, I did manage to get up on time this morning.

Several years ago I became friends with a salesman that came into the office where I work, and after he retired, he still kept in touch with us. I'm sorry to say that he didn't get to enjoy his retirement very long before he became ill, and I used to send him cards frequently from all of us here at work. His wife told my brother that he enjoyed those cards immensely and always kept them where he could see them. I'm sorry to say that George passed away recently. He was the kind of person who always had a smile and a joke, and he will be greatly missed.

I wanted to make a special card for his wife, so I chose the Fossil Stone technique for the background. I love the way the background always comes out different, but beautiful. I don't think I have ever seen a bad background, even if you use funky colors. For my card I wanted to use muted earthy colors, so I used browns, yellows, tans, and greens.

I squirted small amounts of those colors of reinkers into my "fossil folder" (a page protector that has been cut upon on one side to allow easy access), closed the folder and squished a bit with my fingers just to gently blend the colors. Then I cut my glossy cardstock into 6 pieces. I put the first set of pieces back to back and put into the folder and pressed, making sure I got most of the cardstock covered with color. I did the same thing with the other 2 sets of cardstock. As you can see, each successive time a new set of cardstock went into the folder, the colors became more muted and muddied. After they have dried, you can use them for fabulous backgrounds.

I like the fact that any imperfections (bubbles, lines, etc.), will show up in the colors, hence the name fossil stone. It looks like little fossils in the paper.

I chose to use the last set I made because of the muted colors.

I used a dark brown cardstock as the base of the card. I stamped a large dragonfly onto my fossil stone background. I mounted this onto a dark green carstock. I tore the bottom edge of the green cardstock, and used a black inkpad to go over the torn edge to give it depth. I stamped "With Deepest Sympathy" (from Hero Arts, I believe) with a pigment ink and then heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. I mounted this onto the dark brown cardstock and I was done.

I hope you have a crafty week!

Over The Moon Monday

2009-08-24T16:24:00.007-04:00

Here it is, another Monday. Where does the time go? The weeks go by so quickly, and sometimes it doesn't even seem like I had a weekend. Do you ever feel that way?

The granddaughters started back to school today. I think they were very happy...they were quite bored there at the end. I can't wait to get home and see how their first day went.

I have a new blog award, thanks to my friend Andrea!

A big thanks for the award.

With this prestigious award comes the fine print: In order to accept this award you must:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog

3. Link the person who nominated you for this award

4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting

5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers

6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate

7. Leave comments on all 7 blogs letting then know you nominated them

Here are my 7 Kreativ Bloggers:

Paper Friendly

Inky Hugz

Amazing Paper Grace

Stampin' with Markie's Mom

Mel Stampz

It's All Rosy

Artistic Extras

And my 7 ”interesting” things about me:

1. I love pizza.

2. I can tie the stem of a cherry into a knot with my tongue.

3. I work during the day as an office manager in an automotive repair shop.

4. I own my own rubber stamp company

5. I met my husband on the internet.

6. I play the piano.

7. Sweet tea is my all-time favorite beverage. (No lemon, please)

Thanks for all the inspiration ladies! Keep it up! Love you all!

I received a beautiful spirelli ornament from a lovely lady who I had the pleasure of doing business with. I ordered some stamps (imagine that!), and she undercharged me on the postage. I sent her a check for the difference, and she told me that nobody had ever offered to pay the difference when she undercharged them. And she sent me this lovely spirelli ornament.

(I didn't get the picture cleaned up too well).

Have a creative week!

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2009-08-17T12:32:00.005-04:00

Good afternoon! Wow, what a weekend. My dear hubby was ill and I didn't get a chance to stamp all weekend! I think I'm having serious withdrawals. He never gets sick nor complains of being sick, and when he got me up at 3 a.m. Saturday morning to go to Wal-Mart to get him something for the pain, I knew he was really ill. It started with a sore throat, and he stayed home from work on Friday (another thing he NEVER does). He told me later he almost had me take him to the emergency room, that's how severe his throat hurt. He's allergic to doctors, so I can only imagine how sick he really is. He's home again today, but I went to work.

Anyway, on to our weekly challenge. Today is another Pick 3 Challenge. In case you are new, this is how it works. I will list 6 items and it's your job to choose 3 and make a card or project using those 3 items. Todays items are:

something night time
swirls
buttons
the color yellow
corner punch
jewels

I chose something nighttime, the color yellow, and jewels. I stamped the nighttime window stamp from My Paper Moon onto white cardstock. Using copic markers, I colored the moon and sky. I used a glitter pen to color the stars. I stamped the same image again, and cut out the cat, which I adhered with pop dots.

While I was at it, I used tiny jewels to make a collar for the cat. I put crystal glitter glue on the moon, which added a little pizzaz. I matted the image onto yellow cardstock, which I then matted onto light blue cardstock. I stamped and cut out the sentiment (from Sparkle and Sprinkle), colored the star and outlined the banner. I used pop dots to adhere it to the blue mat. I then matted this onto black cardstock.

On the white cardstock, I stamped a swirl stamp from The Angel Company (retired), and mounted the whole thing onto a black card.

It's your turn. Stamp something using 3 of the above items and share your creation with a link in the comment section. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Hope you have a crafty week!

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2009-08-10T13:12:00.004-04:00

Happy Monday! I'm glad to see you join me for another Over The Moon Monday Pick 3 Challenge.

But first, I want to tell you about my couple of days with my granddaughters. We had a blast. We went swimming, shopping, had lunch out both days, and saw G-Force, which is a delightful movie. They had a really good time, and they are all set for going back to school, since we got both school supplies and school clothes. Their dad was laid off from his job recently, so I was happy to be able to help out.

Also, I am thinking of renaming the blog. I would like you to submit names and maybe we can have a contest to pick out the new name...post your suggestions to the comment section.

Now on to the challenge.

It has been soooo hot lately, and I wanted to stamp something that was cool. I have these stamps that I got some years ago at a convention, and I have the sheet that goes with them, but there isn't a name on it anywhere (and I didn't think to write it down at the time), so I have no idea who makes these stamps. But they were perfect for my purpose.

For this weeks challenge, pick 3 of the following:

acetate
lace
beads
circle punch
the color orange
brads

Here is my creation, using acetate, the color orange, and beads.

Now, let me tell you how I made it. First I stamped the citrus stamp on white cardstock for the background. I randomly stamped it with yellow ink, orange ink, and lime green ink. Then I colored in the images with their respective color markers, leaving some of the white show (like in real citrus).

I stamped the margarita onto white cardstock, and colored it with markers, cutting off the top part of the image (where it's supposed to be the clear glass). Then I stamped the whole margarita onto acetate, using black staz-on ink. Be careful in this step because it will have a tendency to slide. I let that dry, then glued the colored margarita onto the back side of the acetate. Now it looks like I have a real margarita in a glass.

I applied glue to the top edge of the margarita glass and adhered clear glass micro beads and let dry. This looks so much like the salt on the rim of a margarita.

Next I stamped a section piece of citrus and colored it to look like a lime. I used pop dots to adhere the lime and the margarita to the front of the card, giving it a dimensional look. I matted it onto yellow cardstock and lime green cardstock, and stamped "Cheers" on the inside.

Now, let's see what you came up with...post a link in the comment section to your creation so we can all admire it and get inspiration.

Have a great week!

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2009-08-03T09:55:00.004-04:00

Good morning! Welcome to another Over The Moon Monday here at the blog.

I was a little disappointed that I didn't have any suggestions for having a fun time with my granddaughters, but we will manage to have a fun time anyway. I plan on taking them to the beach (even though I hate the sand), one day, and to see G-Force and school shopping at the mall another day. That way both are happy. :-) It's sometimes hard because of the age difference (one is 6 and the other 12), but I think we will all 3 have a good time.

It's another Pick 3 Challenge day, so here are the choices:

flower
scalloped edge
the color pink
a person stamp (man, woman, child, etc.)
newsprint or a page from an old book
something lacy

Here is my creation. I used some cardstock by Basic Grey, and although you can't tell it, I sponged brown ink on the left side of the card also. The cardstock already contained the writing.

I love the Rachel stamp, and use it quite often. Today I stamped her on a page from an old book I had previously altered. I used Tattered Rose Distress Ink on the page before I stamped the image, so it would have some color. I colored her in with alcohol ink markers. I stamped a flourish from Cherry Pie Art Stamps and took a tiny hole punch and punched some holes in the flourish so the cardstock underneath would show through. I then stamped "dream", a stamp from My Paper Moon. I also tore the edges and applied brown ink, then matted it on a scrap of cardstock that had previously been run though the cuttlebug with an embossing folder and distressed. (If you visit Cherry Pie, tell Marina I sent you).

I mounted the whole thing onto the distressed Basic Grey paper and adhered a golden rose at the corner. It turned out really nice. I like the way the printed paper comes through the stamped images.

I hope you take some time this week to play. I will be playing with my granddaughters for at least a couple of days, and I'm sure we'll have fun.

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

2009-07-27T09:50:00.004-04:00

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I'm trying to figure out when to take a few days off so I can spend time with my granddaughters before they head back to school. I'd like to do something fun and special with them, but something that doesn't cost a lot of money, so if you have any suggestions, please leave a comment, and I'll let them choose a winner next week. And I'll send the winner a little something, so please leave a way to get in touch with you, or check back next Monday to see if you've won.

Today I thought we'd do another Pick 3 Challenge, since we haven't done one in a while. Just choose 3 of the following 6 items, then when you are done with your creation, please post a link in the comments section and share with us. Here we go....

Button
Flower
The color Yellow
Cuttlebug embossing folder
alcohol inks
Ribbon

I actually used all of the above on this card, although the ribbon is actually a ribbon stamp (from The Angel Company).

I used the alcohol inks on a glossy cardstock, then stamped the images. On a separate piece of cardstock, I ran it through the cuttlebug and then smooshed a brown ink onto the raised part. I layered the glossy cardstock onto the embossed cardstock, then layered that on to the top left corner of the background cardstock. I stamped a ribbon stamp with brown ink onto a brown cardstock and cut it out. I put those onto the background cardstock in the lower right corner at a 45 degree angle. I put a silk flower in the corner and used a button that I had colored yellow as the center of the flower.

Don't forget to give me any suggestions for a fun time with my granddaughters, and have a great week!

Over The Moon Monday - 1 Stamp 3 Ways

2009-07-20T16:03:00.000-04:00

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. It's hot - hot - hot here in the sunshine state. I could use some of that cool weather that some of you have been getting. :-) We had a really bad storm on Sunday night and our power went out from 5 p.m. until after 11 p.m.

I recently sent some stamps to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine for their design team to play with. The results were featured in the article, 1 Stamp 3 Ways in the June issue. I love how these turned out. Let's look at them one by one, shall we?

First up are cards using the stamps Becky and Billy and My Life Is... by My Paper Moon.

Stamp Artist: Tanya Lamo

I love the way Tanya made these into a patriotic card.

Stamp Artist Mitzi Koons

I like the colors in this card. The scalloped edge adds to the panache, I think.

Stamp Artist Tami Bayer

Another very pretty card with a unique border. I like the purse...nothing like friends and shopping (except maybe chocolate).

The next cards use the Sheep Dog stamp, which is part of the Moe Wubba collection.

Stamp Artist Tanya Lamo

I really like this card. It just screams dog, what with the collar and the dog prints on the background.

Stamp Artist Mitzi Koons

I like the background on this card. It surely does remind me of the outdoors. I expect a sheep to come wandering through at any time. :-)

Stamp Artist Tami Bayer

And last but not least, we have this card, which is cute.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at these cards from some very talented artists. If you haven't already done so, head on over to Scrapbooking News And Review and the SNR Card Universe and look around. You'll be glad you did.

Next week we will get back to our regularly scheduled programming.... Have a great week!