Prairie Paper & Ink

SNEAK PEEK - AmyR Stamps 'All Men' Set

I'm releasing another stamp set! The CC Designs release will be on WEDNESDAY MARCH 3rd at 10:00pm EST!!

I've only made one sample so far - and honestly I had to whip it up last minute!! I've been INSANELY busy lately and yesterday was Veronica's 7th birthday (I can't believe my oldest is SEVEN!! Time seriously flies) so today we're throwing her birthday party and as soon as I'm done typing this post I need to run and start making sure I have everything ready for it!!

SO - if you've checked out and/or bought my All Women stamp set then you will be pleased to know that the new one will be for all the men in your life!!

I have a really hard time finding masculine sentiment stamps, so I wanted a simple set with a lot of possibilities and combinations. I think I covered all the bases with this set! It's a start anyway!

Here's the card I made to give y'all a peek of it:

 

I used some of my Basic Grey Marrakech patterned papers (that I don't think you can get anymore - they retire collections faster than I can use them! I have all these 6x6 packs sitting here that I've barely used and can't be purchased anymore...) along with a couple of my Labels 8 dies.

The "Any man can be a father, it takes someone special to be a dad" sentiment is a favorite of mine. Tim got a magnet from his parents years ago (I think he got it for his first Father's Day after we had Veronica!) with this sentiment and I've always loved it. When I started designing sets I knew that if I ever did a masculine one or one with a Father theme that this sentiment would be included. I just love it b/c it is so true.

I did a little "faux-stitching" on the striped paper strip on the cardfront, added some red brads and sponged the edges of the brown cardstock with white pigment ink and that was it!

I tried to keep it pretty simple b/c #1 guys generally don't like fussy, frilly cards *wink* and #2 my brain is mush right now (too many things going on at once!) and this was the best I could come up with!

I gotta run - but make sure to check out the ATS blog <-----click! to see some more samples using this set as well as get yourself entered for a chance to win this set!!

Your Opinion Needed...

Christine just put up a post asking everyone's opinion on the CCDesigns stamps - it has to do with the foam backing.

If you want to throw your .02 in check out this link to her post:

Your Opinion is Needed..... <-----click!!

Then leave your comment on THAT post (not on here!!) so she can hear your thoughts!! 

Sending my Love - FULL post!

OK here's the full post I promised earlier (that I am now wishing I hadn't promised I'd finish tonight LOL - I had to be up extra early this morning for a meeting and then worked late tonight - I'm beat - but I promised!! *grin*)

So the other day I posted this picture of the Bella images I had colored:

And I said I was planning on making cards with all of them.

I received a couple of comments asking how I planned on using the images and how I would cut them out - and FYI I purposely only stamped 6 images onto the cardstock so that there was enough space between each image for me to either cut them out or die cut them. 

I took a couple of pics showing how I cut out the Jugglabella image:

 
I knew I wanted to cut this out with one of my oval nestabilities so I held up a few different ones to the image 'till I found the size I liked (this one is from the long ovals set - sorry I can't remember which one!).

I then taped the die in place and trimmed around it before I ran it through my die cutting machine.

I saved the little piece of cardstock left that I wrote down all the Copics I used so that I can share that here!

When I color several images at once I usually try to write down all the colors with a pencil near the image b/c I will forget by the time I actually get around to USING the image and making something with it!

So once the image was cut out I fiddled around with the patterned paper (which I also mentioned in the previous post that I had planned on using papers from theAC I Heart You Collection for all these images as it gave me a unified color scheme and something to work with when it came time to make the cards) and made the card:

I stamped the image onto CCD white cardstock and colored it in with Copics.

COPICS USED:

E50, E51, R20, E25, E29, Y15, Y17, RV17, RV19, R27, R29, BG10, W5, W3, W1, W00.

I die-cut 2 scalloped ovals from 2 different colors of cardstock to mat the main image.

The ribbon is also from American Crafts (I had originally meant to use a red ribbon with little hearts on it but I LOVED how the yellow looked so I went with that instead!).

I kept with the yellow theme and added some yellow primas, and I stamped the sentiment from the Love Sentiments set onto yellow cardstock and punched it out with SU's Word Window punch.

It is hard to pick up in a picture but I used some of my Spica glitter pens on the bella - I added some shimmer to the hearts and to her shoes and part of her outfit. In real life it's got a nice subtle sparkle :o)

And then of course on the inside I just added more patterned paper and die cut an oval and scalloped oval from cardstock and adhered those in place and that was it!

  
  

Sending my Love

I have to run to work so I'll be back later tonight to finish editing this post and adding the rest of the pics - but for now here's the card I'll be chatting about!!

The View

Living in Saskatchewan (I get asked where I live a lot - well I'm smack dab in the middle of the Canadian Prairies!) at times can be a bit "boring".

There are no mountains and there's not much of a "view" - however when it's a clear day or even a sunny/cloudy one the sky is pretty amazing - and you should see our sunsets! That's something I could never give up by living in a city - we have a 360 degree uninterrupted view of the sky here!.

Anywho - the weather for the past little while has been pretty off. We get fog at times but it generally lasts for a day or so and then is gone. But for whatever reason (global warming?? Prolly!) we've had fog for like a week (maybe more? It feels like it's been forever) - AND it's made everything white.

Here's the view from my kitchen window:

 

and this is if you turn around and face the house. I took both of these shots when I was leaving for work the other day and thought I'd share them.

AND - just to show that I am working towards making some cards to share - here's what I finished coloring last night:

I stamped several different Bella images onto white cardstock a couple of weeks ago. Some of them I colored at work between clients and I just finished coloring the last 2 last night.

So now all I have to do is cut them out and make some cards!

Oh and in case you were wondering - when I stamp and color images like this I generally pick out some patterned paper or a color scheme ahead of time so that when I DO go to make the cards I have a good idea of what I'm going to use. In this case I had brought along some scraps of paper from the AC I heart You collection since that's what I wanted to use with all these images.

Hopefully I can get something made and posted soon :o) I just wanted to share this randomness before I headed off to work!   

FYI

I just wanted to let y'all know that Tracy (one of the gals that's on the All That Scraps Design Team with me) is selling off a bunch of different stamps and whatnot on her blog - so y'all can head on over there to check them out and see if there's anything that catches your eye!

Here's the link:

Eat, Sleep, Stamp: Making Room Sale!

2 Birthday Girl Cards

Before I get to posting my cards here's a little FYI for y'all:

All That Scraps is having a mid-February release and there are sneak peek's and giveaway's going on on the ATS blog right now! The giveaways are open 'till 5pm EST on Feb 14 (tomorrow) and the stamps will be available on the 15th (Monday) at All That Scraps.

Here's direct links to the sneak peek posts:

Easter Preview Day 1: Hippity Hoppity

Easter Preview Day 2: Spring Elves

Easter Preview Day 3: Baby Bunnies, April, and Peter

I got all the new Easter stamps (along with the March CC Designs sets - woot woot!!) and haven't even had a chance to get them cut out yet - so I wanted to post the links to the samples so y'all can see how CUTE they are!!

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I had made 2 more cards using Balloon Emma and Party Emma stamps:

Balloon Emma card:

I stamped Balloon Emma onto CCD White cardstockthen colored her in with Copics.

COPICS USED:

E50, E51, R20, Y15, Y17, RV10, RV11, RV17, RV19, YR20, YR12, YR14, E25, E27, E29, W1

I used a Spellbinders Labels 3 die to cut out the image (I trimmed around the balloon and her legs before cutting with the die - and you can't tell but I actually trimmed right down to the "knot" in the balloon in order to shimmy the image into the die and omit the balloon and her legs) then matted it with dark brown cardstock cut with a larger die.

I added Yellow Stickles to the balloon so it's all glittery in real life :o)

The patterned paper used on both cards is from the AC stash that I talk about in my video haul HERE <----click!

The ribbon is May Arts grosgrain.

On the inside of the card I added more patterned paper (and the yellow strip is the opposite side of the paper), and a piece of white cardstock that I stamped 'Happy Birthday' onto in black ink.

Sentiment is from the Birthday Sentiments set.

Now for the Party Emma Card:

This card is my favorite of the three I've made using the Sugarplums Party stamps! I was just really happy with how it turned out!

I stamped Party Emmaonto white cardstock and colored her in with Copics.

COPICS USED:

E50, E51, R20, E25, E27, E29, RV10, RV11, RV17, RV19, E43, Y15, Y17, W00, W1, W3, W5, Colorless Blender.

I also added Yellow Stickles to the ribbon she's holding - I love how that just made it POP!

I used a Label 4 die (definitely my favorite set of dies - I always seem to be reaching for this set) to cut out the image.

Again the patterned paper is from the AC collection - a lot of the papers I got can be used all-year-round not just for Valentine's Day lovey dovey (which of course is tomorrow and of course I never got the chance to MAKE anything Valentine's-related this year! It's frustrating....).

I added a bow made from yellow twill by attaching it with a red-line glue dot (I get all that kind of stuff from Jody - AKA Confessions of a Ribbon Addict - all the adhesives she sells are fabulous! And I'm not being paid for this endorsement (or any "endorsement I make) - I'm just a happy customer).

I also added some buttons that are actually from the Basic Grey Indian Summer collection - I found all but the orange ones match perfectly with all theAC I heart You collection so that was pretty cool :o)

The sentiment is again from the Birthday Sentimentsset. I stamped it onto pink cardstock then punched it out with a (SU) oval punch.

On the inside of the card I used the opposite side of one of the patterned papers then added a strip of the polka-dot paper.

The sentiment (another one from the Birthday Sentiments set) was again stamped onto pink cardstock then punched out with a circle punch this time before being adhered.

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I also wanted to add a big thank you to you guys for the get-well wishes on my last post! I am feeling better - still not 100% but not feeling like death as I did last weekend! 

 

Birthday Boy Card

I am STILL trying to beat this cold. I thought I was over it 'till I got to work yesterday and I sit down to do a set of nails and my nose starts running....

Figures.....

I haven't stamped a thing this week - in fact I can't remember when I actually made the card I'm about to show y'all.

I made this one along with a couple others (that I'm saving to share another day - maybe I will actually get another post up tomorrow and surprise y'all by posting two days in a row *wink*!!) - and had them all in Photoshop to edit and add my watermark.

Well the program stayed open for a few days as I tend to work on things when I get a spare minute here and there - and that's not necessarily a good thing when you have a PC that runs Vista (insert major grumbling here).

My computer re-started itself to "install updates" (those of you in my boat with this horrid Vista know EXACTLY what I'm talking about!!) - so I of course lost all the editing and whatnot I'd done in Photoshop and had to re-do it all!

And now - even though I didn't think it was possible to hate Vista even MORE - I finally re-edited the pics and SAVED them so I can finally post something for you guys!!

Here's my Balloon Trevor card:

Sadly I had a hard time with the orange - usually it's bright pinks (and generally reds) that I have a hard time getting a crisp shot with - turns out orange is in the same boat.

Anywho - the patterned paper is more clearance MME papers from my stash that need to be used up or given away since they're retired (I prefer to use up!!) - and I thought the colors on them would work perfectly for a boy card.

 I stamped Trevor onto CCD White cardstock with Memento Black ink, then colored him in with Copics.

And I did write down which Copics I used (on a sticky note! And put it with the card just so I could post it here! Some days I AM that good - ROFLOL!!) - so here they are:

COPICS USED:

E50, E51, R20, E25, E27, E29, R27, R29, B93, B95, B97, W00, W1, W3, W5, YR04, YR07

I used one of the Mega Curved Rectangles dies to cut him out (and I think that was the first time I've used one of that shape since I got them how many months ago?? I really need to get in my craft room more often - there is WAY too much in here that goes unused!), and then punched a couple of holes with my MM Ribbon Slot Punch to thread the ribbon through (bow tying video HERE <----click!).

The little baubles in the lower left corner are from Stamping Bella.

The sentiment is from my Birthday Sentiments set. This particular one is on one line - but I inked up one part at a time and stamped the 'Happy' above the 'Birthday' so that I could punch it out with a circle punch and then adhere it with a foam dimensional.

And it looks blurry (if you click on any of theses pics they pop-up larger in a separate window - that seems to help!) but isn't in real life - but I stamped another sentiment from the Birthday Sentiments set onto orange cardstock then punched it out with SU!'s Key Tag Punch.

I added a couple of strips of patterned paper to the inside of the card, then adhered the punched sentiment and that finished it off :o)

Personal Stuff and Some Cards

**you can scroll down to the dotted line if you want to skip all my personal chatter!**

I have been MIA for almost a week - sorry everyone! 

It's been a crazy week - Tim's parents are on vacation (they got an AMAZING deal and are in Hawaii for 2 weeks) so Tim and I both have had to be in constant contact to make sure one of us can pick up the kids on time from daycare and whatnot (between the two of us we work over 100 hours a week - that's why it is wonderful that his parents can pick the girls up for us when we're working late or when something happens etc).

On top of that both girls have been sick off an on for the past week and a half, and although I tried fighting it I came down with a monster cold and spent all of yesterday on the couch. I still feel pretty rotten but I've got too much to do!!

A lot of you have asked for updates on my mom - she's doing really good. Her toes have healed from where she had the pins (the pins were taken out the week before Christmas) and her biggest issue is not being able to bend them (she's going to work on that to see if down the road she'll be able to but as of right now she can't bend them at all). 

She obviously also can't wear anything with heels - which if you know my mom is a big deal. She prolly owns more than twice as many shoes as I do (heck prolly more than 3 or 4 times!!) and the majority of them are heels (she's on the shorter side (compared to me anyway! I am 4 or 5" taller than her and my sister) so she always wore heels). She doesn't know if she'll ever be able to wear heels again (and if I wore the same size of shoes as her I'd get a sick sense of satisfaction out of it b/c then *I* could wear them BUT she's got way smaller feet than me!) so she's resorted to anything that's flat and COMFORTABLE.

But anywho she is doing good :o)

My brothers are doing good too - my older brother (the one that got laid off right before Christmas) found a good job at one of the potash mines outside the city. There is a chance it could turn into a better job down the road as he has a lot of experience and the person above him might retire soon. And my younger brother and his family got moved into a new apartment and things are settled down and as of right now no more drama!!

OH and yes I had my dentist appointment last Monday for that wonderful root canal and it went fine. My dentist really is fabulous as I didn't feel a thing - it was just uncomfortable as it was in the very back tooth on the top. Then of course I was frozen for several hours after that and had to go to a few places to get supplies/groceries etc etc and I looked like I had had a stroke with one side of my face all frozen.....I got a few funny looks from people but oh well!

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I've made a few cards over the past week and a half and finally finished them, took the pics and whatnot and I'll share these ones with y'all today:

I had stamped out some of the images from Diane's Valentine Critters set ages ago and had colored them while I was at work. I just love all the "critters" in this set - I think they're all so CUTE!!

When I got them home I decided to add red Stickles to all the hearts, then after that had dried I cut them all out (you can check out this post I did on detail cutting (it includes a video) HERE <----click!) 

All of these cards are little 3x3" notecards - I don't have envelopes for them but if I need to I will just make some later on.

I used some patterned paper from the haul I got not too long ago and of course had to use some of the new ribbon too!

(here's a direct link to this exact ribbon I used - Pink with Thin White Stripe)

The yellow paper is just one of the opposite sides of one of the patterns - I really love how this AC collection has this pop of yellow. It's unexpected yet it just works... 

I don't have the list of Copics I used on the bunny image but I do have the ones I used on the bear and the elephant.

COPICS USED:

Bear:

E33, E35, E37, R83, R85, R27, R29.

Elephant:

C3, C5, C7, 0, R83, R85, R27, R29.

I used my circle and scalloped circle nestabilities to "frame" each of the critters, and attached each of them to the circles with dimensionals.

The little pink braddy things are Bella Dots - when I was digging through all my embellishments I came across them and they were the perfect color so I glued three of them to the bottom right corner of each card :o) 

I didn't bother taking pictures of the insides this time - all I did was line the insides with one of the pale pink solid sides of the AC patterned papers and that was it! 

NEW Stamps are Available!

All the February stamps are now availableon the ATS site HERE <----click!

The Spring Sugarplums Stamp Kit is also on for 25% off HERE <-----click!

And here is the set I designed for this month:

All Women

I tried to include every possible combination so that it really would be for ALL women! I hope y'all like it!

Now I have to run - it's super-early Monday morning and I get to head to the city right away for another dentist appointment - today is root canal day - yay me.

I just want to get it over and done with!!