Leaf Sympathy

I have a hard time making sympathy cards. I think most people do. How much is too much and how plain is too plain? What's a good color scheme? If the card is for a man, that just makes it even harder. Some really good friends had a death in their family and it was on the husband's side. I'm sure he wouldn't have minded if I sent him a card with flowers or butterflies on it, but he would definitely have known I didn't make it for him. Leaves seemed like the perfect choice. Still natural, but not as girly. A Year of Leaves has some gorgeous ones.

The Clean and Simple challenge on Splitcoaststampers was to use red, brown, kraft, and ivory, with optional orange. The Create blog challenge was to make a card with leaves. I wanted to go clean and simple anyway, so this was a perfect choice. The card is A2 size with a kraft base, dark chocolate mat, and a vanilla woodgrain panel. The woodgrain impression plate is so useful. I'm not really sure how I ever made cards without it. I stamped over the impression in Memento Rich Cocoa ink. There were a few blank spots and I was able to fill those in with a Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip marker. So happy about that! The leaves are colored with Copics and trimmed out. I purposely did not glue the tips down so it looks like the leaves are just resting on the card. I think I will make up a few of these to have on hand for the future.

Supplies: Stamps - Stampin' Up! Sincere Salutations, GinaK Designs A Year of Leaves

Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa

Paper - Papertrey Ink kraft, Dark Chocolate, GinaK Designs Pure Luxury Ivory, Georgia Pacific White (for leaves)

Other - Copics (E33, E35, E37, YR62, YR65, YR68, R22, R24, R29), Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip marker

Win Melanie's New Set!

Yay! Look what I found on
Melanie Muenchinger's blog!

"Melanie Muenchinger is releasing a companion to her "A Year of Flowers" called "Buds and Vases", a die cut stamp set filled with brand new flowers and containers, this Thursday night, September 30 at 10 PM CST from Gina K Designs! Be sure to check out her sneak preview of the set on her blog and enter for a chance to win the set!"

She has some GORGEOUS samples of this new set! You can comment for a chance to enter and blog about the giveaway for a second chance to win! How cool is that?! And look at all the cute stuff that fits in the jar from other sets? (That's Melanie's picture, btw, - used with permission of course - I never even thought about coloring strawberries that pretty!) Can't wait for this! So, quick! Go enter!!!

Papertrey September Blog Hop Challenge

It's Papertrey Blog Hop time again! And in true fashion, I'm squeaking in at the last second! Good times! The challenge this time is to use a tip or technique we've learned from another stamper. Wow. There are so many amazing artists who have taught me so much! Someday I would love to do cards for all of them. This particular card uses a couple of things I've gleaned from Nichole Heady herself combined with all the fabulous colorists out there who have taught me so much about Copics: Debbie Olson, Theresa Momber, Sharon Harnist, and, of course, Colleen Schaan to name a few. Nichole rocks the white on white so much and I never would have thought to use the square punch to make the notch on the sentiment if she hadn't shown it on her blog. Now, I can't stop doing it! I really cannot say enough about the tips and tutorials and inspiration I have gotten from these crafters, but did I mention it's the last second?

Supplies: Stamps - Papertrey Ink In Bloom, Daily Designs Sentiments
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Palette Noir
Paper - Papertrey Stamper's Select White, Lemon Tart
Other - Copics (Y00, Y11, Y15, Y17, YG91, YG93, YG95, YG03), Basic Grey half pearls, square punch, Papertrey Woodgrain Impression Plate, lots of foam tape!, Cutterbee scissors

Candy Winner!

The winner of my blog candy, as chosen by random.toddler, is Denise! Yay Denise! I'll get in touch with you on your gift certificate asap! Thanks eveyone for the sweet comments. Happy last day of summer!!

The Unpublishable!

It's coming right for you! Run, run for your lives! It's...the Unpublishable! Cue B horror movie music. Yes, I do amuse myself. Thanks for noticing. ;) I just had a card published and it was super exciting! And it was on my first try even! Since then, however, I've been submitting and not having any success. But that's ok! I love the cards I've been making (well, mostly) and I learn something everytime I go through the submission process. And I'm really excited to share these rejected cards because I think they're pretty cute. And I bet you've made some pretty cute cards that haven't turned out to be contest winners, or published in magazines, or maybe haven't even gotten many comments. So let's all stop being mean to ourselves and saying things like "Oh, I'm not very good."It's just not true.

This sweet little reject was made for the Cards: All Occasions call. I was trying to come up with an unusual color combo. I like these colors together. SU's Basic Gray and Old Olive, PTI Hawaiian Shores, and some incredibly heavy base weight GinaK Ivory. The butterfly was stamped on PTI white and colored with Copics then trimmed out. I ran a black marker around the edges at the suggestion of a friend, but I don't think I will do it often. I totally get why you should do it, but I don't have a very steady hand for that kind of thing and it just seems fraught with peril. The grey (or gray, I guess, since that's how they spell it) is scored with a Scor-Pal. I love doing this! GinaK has a great tutorial on StampTV. Basically, you place the cardstock on your scoreboard with two corner points on the same line and score at 1/2 inch intervals across the cardstock. Flip it so the opposite two corner points are on the same line and score again creating the diamonds. I matted the gray with the Hawaiian Shores. The olive border is the SU open scallop border punch. I stamped 'thank you' on a strip of olive and cut out the notch with a square punch. I only adhered the straight side so it looks a little bit more like a flag banner. I thought about sewing it but was too lazy/nervous. I've had great success sewing on paper and horrible failures and since I was stamping this the night of the deadline I didn't want to risk it. The butterfly is popped up on pop dots. I'm almost out of those things. Must get more.

Anyway, there you have it! Look for more rejected cards coming soon! :)

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs Hope is Faith, Inside and Out
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - GinaK Pure Luxury base weight Ivory, Stampin' Up! Old Olive, Basic Gray, Papertrey Ink Stampers Select White (for coloring)
Other - Copics (BG10, BG45, BG48), Stampin' Up! Border Punch, Scor-Pal, Square Punch, pop dots

Clean and Simple Coffee

Say what? Two posts from me in one day? The insanity! ;) But I really wanted to make another card for the design team challenge at GinaK this time. And I know it's simple, but I love this card.

So the challenge is a favorite fall memory. This one is from October 2005, post-Hurricane Rita. We lived in Beaumont at the time and were very blessed. We evacuated with family, had places to stay, and, while we suffered some damage, our house was pretty much intact. Two houses down the whole place was crushed. Our yard and patio were wrecked, but that was just fine considering! Jeff did get to leave with us, but had to come back to the tv station the day after the storm hit. It was two weeks before I made it home and that's still the longest we've been apart. (A big thank you to all the military families and other families that deal with long absences for their jobs. I know two weeks is nothing to some of you and I hate that.) It was a very hot October and of course no one had power but I was so ready to be back! A cold front came through that night and we sat on the porch the next morning eating chocolate croissants and some self-heating mochas I had brought back with me so thankful to see each other, have a home, and feel an autumn breeze. Who cares if there are so many tree branches in your driveway you can't see the car parked there when you're eating pastries with the love of your life. ;) Guess who's getting this card? :)

There's not much 'splaining to do for this. I stamped the mug from Warm Winter Wishes, die cut it, left it in the die and sponged it with the blue. Then I stamped the mug again on a cardstock scrap, colored it with copics, cut it out, and glued it on. I am obsessed with cutting out the white in the handle for some reason so I just make a quick x-acto cut on the straight side and then use fine tip scissors to finish it. I grabbed a large green scrap and impressed it with my PTI woodgrain impression plate. I stamped the sentiment after impressing it and glued it all down.

Please look at all the wonderful entries on Gina's blog! Thanks for looking! (Oh, and you can still comment on my blog candy through Tuesday!)

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs Warm Winter Wishes, Thanks a Million

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Tempting Turquoise

Paper - Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White, Stampin' Up! Kiwi Kiss, Georgia-Pacific White (die cut and mug)

Other - Nestabilities Labels One, Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, Copics (YR02, YR04, YR07, R22, R24, R29, E35)

Pumpkins, Apples, and Cheese

Do you ever have a crazy idea that no matter all the better ideas you come up with you absolutely must choose the crazy one? It's Design Team challenge time at GinaK and this month's challenge is to make a card of a favorite fall memory. I LOVE fall! I love sweaters, I love cider, I love back to school (which comes in summer now, but still feels like fall). My birthday is in fall, Renaissance Festival is in fall, Thanksgiving, the High Holy Days, all in fall! I've been to Israel twice in the fall and Disneyworld twice. Then there's the kids. My son just turned 1. He's technically a very end of summer baby. But much like back to school, it feels like a fall event. And the feeling is what's important with memory anyway, right? Choosing the birth of my second child as my favorite fall memory is not crazy. Using my handwriting and a cheesetastic pun is. :)

I love a good pun. I really do. And I think it's genetic because my mother does, too. I'm not at all sure this qualifies as a good pun, but I could not shake it! And when inspiration strikes after midnight I try not to argue too much. ;) The sweet onesie is, of course, from Wee Tees. I cannot tell you how much I love that set. I'm ready for a companion set, Melanie. Just when you have time. :) I colored it with green and red Copics. The apple is from Whimsical Autumn. Thank you, Cammie for making a single apple! I colored the apple on scratch paper and cut it out. That way I don't have to be careful when coloring the onesie. It's the lazy way. I'm all about that, hehe. The pumpkins are from the Signs of Autumn set. Love them. They made me buy this set. Everything else is in it is fabulous too, but the pumpkins sang the siren song. The handwriting is, sigh, mine. I bought a craft book once called Love Your Handwriting, but it apparently only works if you practice, which if I'm going to keep doing I need more than one decent pen. But I do love my goofy, cheesy little card. Not nearly as much as my little fall fellow, though. ;)

Do yourself a favor and check out all the entries in this challenge. There is some gorgeous stuff! You can see everything on Gina's blog. I might even have a chance to make a card for one of those other memories. :) Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Whimsical Autumn, Signs of Autumn, Wee Tees

Paper - Papertrey Ink Kraft, Stampin' Up! Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Georgia-Pacific White (for coloring)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Pumpkin Pie

Other - Copics (YG03, YG06, YG09, R22, R24, R29), Copic Multiliner 0.5 mm

Happy with Candy

Oh my! I am so happy, excited, and grateful right now. First off, Holiday Cards and More Vol 5 from Paper Crafts officially goes on sale today and I have my first (and so far only) published card inside! Page 77 if you happen to have one! ;) I have yet to see it in an actual store. That is going to be really cool. :) I hope to show you my card soon, I just need to double check the rules and see if that's ok.

Second, and far more important, those sweet little feet in my profile picture are going to be 1 year old tomorrow! I can hardly believe it! He is a crazy little monkey, too! He sings and dances and screams like a happy little nazgul. ;) It seems like just yesterday we brought him home but I can hardly remember what life was like before him. Memory is so weird.

It's kind of full-circle that Holiday Cards and More goes on sale today. I took Vol 4 with me to the hospital to pass the time before my C-section. It still has the hospital tag on it so it could find its way back to my room. (Did you know they don't let you bring stuff into surgery?) So when everyone but me was sleeping I was flipping through the magazine instead of focusing on why the hospital would not bring me real food. (Next time I'm bringing my own cooler. For real.)

There are a million other things I'm grateful for and happy about ranging from the other two fabulous men in my life to scor-tape to all my online friends to Glee to toffee mocha lattes at Starbucks to a LOT of other things large and small. So to celebrate all this happiness, I'd like to have a little blog candy. :) I will give away a copy of Holiday Cards and More Vol 5 plus a $10 gift certificate to the winner's choice of Papertrey or GinaK. (Btw, this is not in anyway affiliated with any of the giveaways on Paper Craft Connections or Moxie Fab World, although you should totally check them out. I'll be going to Hobby Lobby or Barnes and Noble and buying a copy. The one in the pictures is mine and already much loved. Yours will be new and unfondled.) ;) To enter, just leave me a comment telling me something you're happy about! That's it! This will stay open until the 21st and I'll randomly pick a winner on the 22nd! Be sure to leave me a way to get in touch with you - email, scs or stamptv user name - or remember to check back.

Thanks so much!