Valentine Cards

Good evening yon invisible comrades in cards....I kinda like that. I won't be doing many Valentine cards, but I do enjoy them...just don't have that many lovers (hah hah) in my life these days.

Tomorrow is the monthly Saturday meeting of the Three Abuelas, as Jeri, Elenorah and I call ourselves. Jeri will be getting ready to go Las Vegas for a fun weekend w/hubby, so we have a sub, Laura who is super talented, but doesn't do the PC thing. She is an artist among many of her talents. She enjoys making cards, but doesn't do it as often as she'd like to. So here are the two cards that I'm sharing with them. We will make one and try for the other one. The trouble is we like to chat and eat, so sometimes, we don't get as much done as we plan to.

My little monkey one is a stamp from Stampendous and the sentiment is from Stampabilities. I used a BG stamp for the strip from Hero Arts. They call them design blocks. The cs is SU's real red & pink pirouette and baja breeze. The ribbon is SU's real red. I used a circle scallop from Quikutz. And the monkeys are stamped on a circle using the Coluzzle.Quikutz dies work in the Cuttlebug, just as well as the Wizard Nestabilities, however the "sandwich" is different. The Cuttlebug folder 'spots and dots' was used on the pink pirouette.The McGill punch is used for the sentiment. I used diamond glaze to adhere the red beads on the heart. Red eyelets (very old ones) are in the corners. I colored with Prismacolors Verithin pencils....I believe I now own about 250 pencils...why do I have to own every pencil set I see??? I used them with Gamsol. Stamped the monkeys in StazOn Brown Timber and the sentiment in SU's Brilliant Blue. Used the white signo gel pen from SU for the dots on the scallop. I'm hoping the photo does it justice.

The 2nd card used a clear stamp set from Inkadinkadoo. I only used the heart. And the sentiment is from SU's Always In My Thoughts...such a versatile little set. The base is SU's real red, then the white mat is SU's whisper white which I ran through the CB using the swiss dot folder. The heart is stamped in Pallette's canvas white onto real red and embossed in detail white embossing powder. NOTE: There is no better pigment white ink than this one. It is highly recommended by many bloggers. And I heartily agree! The trusty Nestabilities was used for 2 of the 3 mats and the SU white signo pen. The prettiest part of the card (to moi) is the Cuttlebug corner dies. The fantastic artist Jeri Jimenez http://jerrikay.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ uses these frequently, so I had to have them. Caught a 30% sale at HL last week. Used my SU punches for the sentiment layering and stamped in SU real red. For the pieces de resistence, I cut out the flowers from some recently retired SU ds paper and added diamonds, stickles, or liquid pearls in the center of various flowers. I hope those touches show up.

Well, I rarely go into detail about how I make a card. Whew, how do my fellow bloggers do it day after day.

I plan on having a great time this weekend and I hope you do as well. Thanks for stopping by.

The First of the Valentines Cards

Blogger is going to sleep and I'm not there yet, so why should it be. I wrote a lengthy blog which is now in never never land, so since it's 3ish (AM!!), this one is brief. I'm makin a few simple cards and then 4 or 5 more elaborate. This stamp set is SU's "For a Friend," a hostess set from a year or two ago. I added a swiss dot ribbon and a crystal heart I found some time ago. Shoulda' got more of these. I used Papertrey's white...love that c.s. Hmmm, hard to believe that when I started out stamping I used Walmart's Pacific white and thought it was great. Groan! What a long way I've come in understanding the machinations (is that a good word) of paper.

Hope you don't mind all the busy-ness around the photo...I rather like it...shows I'm really creative (or, just plain messy).

Thanks for visiting me today. Come back tomorrow for more elaborate cutsy card.

Erica

The New Year Is Here...

And I don't know how much better it will be than last year, but I have high hopes. I'm gonna try to blog 3x a week. And not be tooo disappointed if I get only get a few readers...but GOSH, I'd appreciate it if I could get just a few. Otherwise, this isn't going to be anything other than a diary for me.

So, I did manage to make all my Christmas cards (posted very few) and I made Lauren Meader's "Keepsake boxes." for 8 of my DD's co-workers. I also made 14 calendars that fit into jewel cases and used Lauren's cd covers. They really impressed my Bible Study friends. So, I had quite a productive stamping season.

Now it's on to a birthday card for my pal El, who celebrates on the 10th. She gets a gift card to one of her fave craft stores too.

Here's another one that I might use instead.

Then I'll be posting Valentine cards. So stay tuned. Here's the B-Day card.

All the Best,

Erica

Card for Teacher

Before I get started. I'm elated because Laren Meader read my comment on her blog and checked my design using her fab templates. I was jumping up & down and my husband just didn't get how I could be so excited about some young girl visiting my blog. Ah, he just doesn't get it.

Well, it's back to finishing my clean and simple cards for my grandson's teacher. But I think this one is anything but simple. I've used Markie's Moms' technique here

http: //stampinwithmarkiesmom.blogspot.com/

She loves using dots around the borders and it is very effective on her cards. Don't know if dots do the same for mine, but I gamely tried. I used SU designer paper (current), my CB for the circle & frame, Papertrey for the base and non-descript ribbon, and the white Signo pens. I discovered a less expensive source for these than SU. I buy them in batches of 10. I like to gift them to stamper friends.

Tomorrow, it's the calendar pages. January and then the following months...one on each night. I have to be finished with these by the 15th and I still have to make some tags and lots more of Lauren's Keepsake boxes (see previous post). Whew! Christmas can be exhausting.

Oh, I'm also the first Twilight book. I just had to see what all the fuss was about and especially since Shelli has read it. I just finished reading Edgar Sawtelle...prolly not the smartest thing to do after putting my beloved Westie down. It was good, but not as good as Oprah said it would be. I wanted it to end differently. If you've read it, let me know what you thought of it.

Well, have a great Friday. Can't believe it's here already.

Hugs, Erica

Lauren Meader's Creation

I'm taking a bit of a break from my clean & simple cards here to show you a box template designed by Lauren Meader that can be directly printed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, so cutting and scoring are easy peasy . This was super easy and I plan on using to give milled soap & lotion in to at least 20 people.

It was too late to get a photo outdoors which is where I seem to have the easiest time getting true colors. Let me know what you think.

Lauren's blog. is here: http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/

MoJo's Still Workin'

Well, I went outside and photo'd that 3rd card. White cards absolutely cannot be scanned. I will do the others also outdoors if there is any light left.

Hmm, didn't get to the grocery yet. So what if there's a recession and I should be watching my pennies. Well, that's just it, it's only pennies. Who needs them?

And here's the last one for today, as the light of day is waning.

I've learned a lot today about photoshop...now if only I can retain some of it.

My MoJo is Workin'

The guests are gone and I'm in a bad way...gotta do some stampin and postin. Here I tried the Clean & Simple technique. There is a blog by that name and I will link it down the line. Here it is http://cleanandsimplestamping.blogspot.com/

The next 6 cards are white and they don't scan very well...there are always shadows, but you'll get the idea ( I hope). I'm still working on how to post from my camera. Sometimes I get it right and most times I just don't. I took this one outdoors with a cheapie mesh placement for the backdrop. I made these as a Christmas present for my grandson's teacher. I used Papertrey's Basic White for the base and ribbon for this one along with a retired SU set that I've always enjoyed. The bottom is dry-embossed with a Cuttlebug folder "strip" and the coloring was a mixed bag of SU markers, Bic markers and Sharpies. I think I own some of every coloring medium known to

man. Unfortunately, I'm a master of none. I'm looking forward to when Marianne from Copic http://ilikemarkers.blogspot.com/ visits the AZ Valley...she's scheduled in April '09.

On this card, I used a Michael's dollar stamp and a flower & sequin from JoAnns. Sometimes those $ stamps work and sometimes not. I find that the wood mounted ones are better made and therefore, work best for me. I own about 25 sets of the clear ones but find I don't often use them. I used my Nesties also. BTW, Julie HRR, http://papertrufflez.typepad.com/ is a super duper inspiration too. If you follow her blog, you'll recognize a card from she did this week that I've CASED. I think she's prolly on more blogs faves lists than anyone else!

So much to learn and soooo little time.

On the 3rd, I kept it real simple and believe me, I wanted to add more. Don't know if the scan is showing

score lines at the top (1 line) and bottom (2 scores), but they really set the card off. Again a $ dollar wood mounted stamp. I also put a little something inside each card...tiny flowers or leaves. I plan on decorating the envies too. Then I will make a box from one of the many templates on SU to hold them. I will post the rest later today. I've been at the PC for 6 hrs. and I gotta go shopping. It's senior grocery day here in Phoenix and we get a 10% discount. I know, it's not much but it offsets our high tax-rate of 8.25%.

OK, laptop must be tired...you're not gettin' the 3rd one right now. My poor baby is acting up and I really must get outta these PJs.

Have a blessed day everyone.

Erica