Love this set.....

....the card I made with it.....not so much.  I've seen so many beautiful cards made with this set "Field Flowers" but I certainly was not able to attain that level of beauty with this card.  I tried the spraying your ribbon (seam binding) with water and crumpling it technique which was fun, but my stamping wasn't the best--see the line from the edge of the stamp.  =-(  Oh well....one thing about stamping is, you can keep trying to achieve the look you want as often as you want (as long as you can afford the supplies) Ha!

Hopefully I'll find time to do some stamping this weekend!  I've got a list of things I want to try, now to find the time!

The Box Card!

Somebody recently posted a "box card" on one of the yahoo groups that I'm a member of and I was intrigued by the idea of it!  The tutorial is on Splitcoast Stampers--it has step by step pictures and a video to go with it also.  I used retired paper since I didn't want to ruin my limited supply of current paper (in case it didn't turn out).  I think this paper is either "Spring Showers" or Spring Flowers" from long, long ago....I'd like to experiment with how many note cards and envelopes the box might hold and still lay fairly flat.  I'm guessing not many.   Here's the photo of the box card closed:

And here's what it looks like open:

I've just about reached my end of current creations....must get into my stamp room for more fun.

Ahh--refreshing rain!

We have been without any measurable rain since last June....it has been like a little bubble has covered our farm and any rain that has been in the area has split and gone around us!  So last night after we'd been missed by rain yet again in the morning it was heavenly to wake up to the sound of rain on the roof and thunder echoing!  I was getting tired of all the dust both in my house and out in the fields!  We got a bit over an inch and a half....wonderful!

 On to today's card--I saw a tutorial for a floating window card here and tried my hand at it.  I really like how it turned out and I thank Darlene for the idea and wonderful card to CASE.  Man blogger is giving me fits lately!  I can't seem to get my pictures to download....every post that I've started this past week has taken 2 - 3 days to get posted!  Frustrating!!!

It's hard to see, but the bashful blue showing through is actually the inside of the card.  

Button, Button, Who's got the Button?

I got this stamp set free during the first few months after becoming a Stampin' Up demonstrator....and I didn't know what to do with it.  It basically sat on the shelf unmounted until I saw a card that is almost the same as this one.  It uses all of the new in-colors and I thought it was cute enough to finally mount the set, Button, Button.

Cardstock used:  Blushing bride, pool party, whisper white

I cased this from Mary Davidson at www. stampinwithmary.com 

For this card check out her July 16, 2011 entry.  

Too Cute not to Copy!

Back in the heat of the summer, shortly after convention, this idea started surfacing and then the creator, Lorri Heiling, posted a video tutorial for it!  Oh my goodness---I don't know Lorri, but I want to be her!  If you check out her blog you will see how super creative she is!  Anyway, here's my take on her project....this was just my initial try and I noticed after I was all done the little slice on the top part.  Fortunately this was my prototype--not one to give away.  Enjoy and be sure to check out the link!  You can see it's perfect for a gift card for that coffee drinker in your family!  I'm having a horrible time getting my pictures to download----I started this blog post yesterday and after 4 tries finally got the above picture to download!  I'll keep trying for the insert and post it when I can get the picture.




What did I use?
Texturz plate --large dots
Crumb Cake and Crimper
Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso and Whisper White Cardstock
Stamp Sets:  Four Frames, S.W.A.K., Oval All
Punches: Large Oval, Decorative Label, Scallop Oval, Corner Rounder
Ribbon:  1/2" Stitched Poly-Ribbon

Marvelous Monday....

This morning was beautiful.  I could have kept my class out at recess for much longer than our 15 minute time that's allotted.  Then this afternoon the temperature soared to the high 90's -- AGAIN!  But good news, by Thursday the high is only to be in the low 70's!  I think I can survive!  Okay on to today's card...I saw a card quite similar to this one here and loved the way the pennant punch was used to create a star on the card.  I don't have any current designer paper yet, so I used some retired.  I normally don't make square cards since they cost more to send, but hey--it's got buttons on it so it will take extra $ anyway!  I really like how it turned out!

Stampin' Sunday!

Since I'm usually quite busy during the week with my teaching job my weekends are for stamping--sometimes.  I've had a great weekend as far as stamping goes this week.  I made a lot of cards--at least for me.  I had a large chunk of time that I could devote to my stamping on Saturday!  The first thing I did was work on some watercoloring....I am not very good at it and need to improve since I really love the look of watercolor.  This time I used ink pads and a blender pen with watercolor paper.  I do think they turned out much than some of my past attempts, but I really didn't use any water so I'm not sure I can define it as watercoloring.  I also added a touch of glitter with the new dazzling details....you can't see it here, but the butterfly, rain and truck windows all have a bit of shine.  Look for these as they get made into cards in the coming weeks.

Here's another of the cards I made.....I saw a quick tutorial on how to make the "fancy flower" punch into this flower on Mary Fish's blog.  After watching it I just had to make a sunflower card......I mean, I am from Kansas!  =-)  I used some Crystal Effects on the centers of the flowers and hand cut the leaves.  Just a simple card.

I'll be back tomorrow--enjoy your Sunday evening!

Yippy Skippy--I Stamped!

Finally, things have settled down both at school and at home enough for me to take some time to make some cards and work through some tutorials that I've been wanting to tackle for quite awhile!  Woo Hoo!    I'm so excited because now I have enough cards made to post for 9 straight days!  I've said it before, but I stalk more blogs that I can count and you would not believe the number of wonderfully creative people out there in blogland!  I'm not one to recreate the wheel so as usual---most of my cards are mostly cased with a touch of Dawn here and there.

The card for today uses one of my favorite sets from the new catalog--"Best of Everything."  I got the idea for the fence from "Stamp Nation" which is run by Catherine Pooler.  It uses the tag punch to create the top of the fence line.  I hand cut the birds and the clouds are just half punched from the larger scallop circle punch.

Here's what I used: 

Stamp Sets:  Best of Everything, Woodgrain

Inks:  Soft Suede, Bashful Blue, Calypso Coral, Island Indigo
Accessories:  Retired striped bashful blue ribbon, large tag punch, large scallop circle punch

Don't you love how photos show all of the little problems that you didn't even notice on your card?  This one has a bent corner that I never saw until just now......oh well, I just beat the mailman in crumpling corners.  I'll be back tomorrow--for now I'm off to a football game!

New Catalog Starts Today!!

This is one of the nicest  Mini Holiday Catalogs that I've seen!  There are a lot of accessories that I can't wait to get my hands on.   If you click on the link below the catalog it will take you to my DBWS page that allows you to download/see the catalog (and place an order if you want)!  If you need a catalog let me know!  I have one just for you!  =-)

http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/dhoffman/catalogs

I just got an order in today and can't wait to get my stamp sets mounted and start working with them.  Now to find the time to play!  Hopefully I'll be back with some new cards this weekend.  I think I'm finally getting things settled in my classroom so I can get back into a routine that does allow some time for stamping!