Saturday, March 31, 2012

Sympathy card

Another card that was a take-off from Rachele Funk's card . . . this one uses Dreamin' papers and colors with the brand new stamp set "Just For You". It looks complicated but didn't take long to make. Thanks again, Rachele, for the great ideas!!!

Today Steve and I went to the Arizona Jewish Theater and saw a play called "The Blessings of a Broken Heart". It was outstanding - the actress was amazing and the story profound. I'm really glad we went.

I've been cleaning closets and doing laundry - I need to get into the studio and make some more cards, so I'll keep this post short! What fun things are you doing this weekend?

Hugs!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Birthday!

There never seem to be enough birthday cards - but I'm not complaining! I love making them - and this one was very fun! It's another "inspired by" card - this time it was Danielle Taebel from my CTMH unit. Did I tell you what my unit sisters did for me? Since I was on my honeymoon when they met last time, they plotted to fill up the new catalog swap so I couldn't participate and instead, they all made one extra card and gave me the entire swap! I was so surprised - and thrilled! Their cards are simply awesome - I'll try to photograph their versions and post them (should have done that already, really - my oops!).

Open Stamping was a load of fun! We had a lot of people and got some things done . . . even stamping! Mr. Bilbo Baggins (a.k.a. Babycakes or Kitty) entertained everyone with his party trick (he likes to play fetch). He loves the scrapbookers (lots of pieces of paper to steal). . . and is even learning to not be so skittish around them.

Today was back to work for me but it was a busy day so the time literally flew by! Steve and I had dinner out at one of my favorite places tonight and now we're settling in for the night.

I'm making a request for prayers - a loved one is having major surgery on Wednesday. Please keep Melissa and her healthcare team in your thoughts.

Hugs!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

March Open Stamping Technique(s)

This is a rather late "sneaky peek" at the project my dear friends will be doing at Open Stamping tomorrow. I wish I could have posted it a week ago . . . but you-know.

I'm loving the new Stella papers. I didn't think I would but once I had them in my hand, the richness - boldness of them just WORKS! This card is supposed to highlight a technique which turned out to really be several techniques! I should add that it was inspired by another CTMH consultant; Rachele Funk. Rachele is uber talented and when I got her card for our new catalog swap I knew I needed to show my friends how to make that awesome flower!

1) The flower is dimensional - this is achieved by stamping the petals on the flower image on colonial white cardstock, then stamping extra petals and adding them glued flat at the center but up on foam tape out at the end of the petal. Three of the petals are "popped up" like that.
2) The card base itself is a new CTMH product - it's die cut on the flap end - very cool! And it comes with it's own perfect envelope. It would make a wonderful way to send cash . . . if anyone does that any more.
3) The flap of the card was stamped with a background stamp on a diagonal. There are a couple of tricks to doing this (masking, and lining up the stamp to fill in the gaps). Good things to learn.
4) I lined the envelope to match. I love the richness it gives a card.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend! I'll post more after my awesome day with friends! Hugs!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Someone I know likes "orange"!

This was made for a dear, sweet friend for her birthday - I know she likes the color orange so I pulled out the pretty new CTMH papers called "footloose" and really let the color take over! I used just a small touch of the "water" pattern, and painted a die-cut shell with pearl paint tinted slightly . . . I like it (and more importantly, she did too!).

This week Steve's grandsons brought their parents to visit us from Minnesota. We've been playing and playing - they are so much fun to have around! Work has been just "ok" - but that's because I have somewhere I'd rather be. Just look at these boys - wouldn't you, too?!

Enjoy life!
Hugs!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Technique - Sea Turtle!

I didn't "technique" the Sea Turtle, exactly - the technique for our Open Stamping was the little bit of ribbon (color-ready seam binding) that we dyed to match our papers! The card is very simple, and the seam binding is awesome since I can now dye it to match any of our beautiful colors of paper (ink). For this example, we mixed a few drops of re-inker in a small spray pen and sprayed a piece of seam binding. Because we're always in a hurry, we used the heat gun to dry the ribbon. Perfect!

Hi everyone! I've missed you! I've been watching your blogs occasionally - and have been into the craft room only to make more thank you cards for wedding remembrances - not that I'm complaining! I am so happy!!! You'll laugh - I haven't been able to post for the last three weeks because I couldn't find the cable for my new camera. Honestly! Today I made a concerted effort . . . tore apart my craft room, emptied all my purses, even checked the console in the car! Nope. Well, I found it beside the computer. It was black, not gray. I was looking, all this time, for the wrong cable! (oh dear!) In my defense, this is the first time I've downloaded from my new camera other than when we slipped the memory card into Steve's laptop while on our honeymoon.

Hope you are doing well! Oh! And here's the hint about how to pronounce my new name: "Schait" rhymes with "gate".

Hugs!!