Girlie Girls © Flip Up Book

I made a Circle Flip Up Book from a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers that you can find HERE. I used two stamp sets from the Girlie Girls © line from Clear Artistic Stamps--Bubble Time and Hearts and Lace.

Here is the book unfolded:


And here is the book after it is all folded up:


If you would like to see photos of all of the pages, you can go to my gallery on Splitcoast Stampers by clicking HERE.

Have a good Tuesday!

Thanks Santa!

In my quilting group we did Secret Santa, which was so much fun! My Santa was Betty from TN, who sent me this gorgeous table runner. The hearts are embroidered, each one a different pattern. It's just breathtaking, the photo doesn't do it justice! She also gave me a pretty Bible bookmark. Thank you so much Betty!

Mom's Quilt

My first bed quilt! I've been working on this quilt off and on for about two years now, and just finished it two days ago. I gave it to my Mom for Christmas and she just loved it! The quilt is made of 20 different blocks, all from Quilter's Cache. I used different shades of blue and yellow, along with a white-on-white.

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

We're On Vacation!

If you're wondering why you haven't heard a peep from me this week, it's because we are in Orlando having fun! But, of course, we take our computer everywhere and stay connected.

We are having lots of great "Kodak Moments" down here, it being the holidays and all. I thought I would share a few with you right away.

You'll Love These Stamps!

Here are the two new stamps sets released last night from Clear Artistic Stamps. I think just about everyone knows a "girlie girl" or is one herself!

And there are two great deals involved:

First, if you purchase both sets, you receive a pretty pink gift bag.

Second, Clear Artistic Stamps is offering FREE SHIPPING for the month of December!

Have fun girlie girls!

Finders Keepers!

If you've been following the story on In The Cottage Studio, you know that Belinda has some new paintings that she has made into stamps--and they are being released Tuesday! The stamps are part of the new Girlie Girls © collection, and you can tell by the name that they are really cute.

And now you're wondering, "Why is there a picture of a rabbit at the top and what's that got to do with new stamps?" Well, Belinda's studio is being overrun with rabbits (sort of a Beatrix Potter situation) and she is terribly distracted. She hid the new paintings from me and the other designers so we wouldn't show them on our blogs before Tuesday.

But, well, I sorta found one of them sorta kinda accidently and I sorta "borrowed" it and somehow it ended up on my blog. Do you see where it is? (pssst--look on the side down near the bottom) Isn't it great?

I hope Belinda doesn't see this! Maybe she'll be too distracted by rabbits to read my blog this week.

Check This Out!

Colorado weather must stimulate great thinking. Why do I say that? Because two of my online friends who live there have some great blog entries that you will want to see.

First, check out Lee's blog for some gorgeous cards. She used a non-Christmas stamp to make a Christmas card, which is always such a clever thing to do.

Then, go to Etha's blog to look at her organizational system for clear stamp sets. She found a way to keep track of them easily and also keep them out of the sunlight. Brilliant!

Thanksgiving Sale Starts Today!

Clear Artistic Stamps is having a HUGE Thanksgiving sale that starts today and goes through November 30th. Lots of great stamp sets that are regularly $11.95 are on sale for only $7.95! It's a great deal, so check it out here:

Stamp Special!

Onto some scrapbooking:

For the past month I've been ill or I've been taking care of someone who is ill, so I haven't had much time for my papercrafts. But I did manage to put together a couple of scrapbook pages with school pictures that my girls just had taken. I found a great paper stack from DCWV and couldn't decide which paper to use first. I will have to come up with some more pages just so I can use more of the papers. They are all so great.



I also used some chipboard shapes from Stampin' Up to do journaling. I just covered them with cardstock and wrote on them. Kind of a fun way to add dimension to the page.




I used some of the same elements on both pages, such as the stitched flower stamp, to add coherence so the pages would "go together".

Thanks for looking!

P.S. Go HERE for a great Thanksgiving pic.

The "Sketch Something" Challenge

I made this card for the card challenge at the Stamp Something website. You have until Thursday evening to make a card using their sketch to be entered into the drawing for a wonderful prize package.

The designer paper is Green Tea from Stampin' Up, which I just can't get enough of. I just love this palette of Old Olive, Certainly Celery and Baja Breeze. The stamps are from the Shadows of Memories stamp set from Clear Artistic Stamps. I actually just stamped a portion of each image stamp on each tiny panel (which is so much easier to do with a clear stamp!)

Have a good Monday.

PS. We are getting snow flurries today. Early for us!

Intrigue Christmas Box

I found a fun tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers that shows how to fold a simple little origami box from cardstock. I used patterned paper from Stampin' Up, which is just a little thinner than cardstock and perfect for folding to make sharp creases.


I tied on some scraps of pretty ribbon, and then made a little ornament as a special decoration. Here's a better look at the ornament:



I took a clear acrylic tag and stamped with Versamark Clear Ink and heat embossed with black powder. The area around the image is painted with a gold paint pen, and the flower is colored with Prismacolor markers.

The stamp is from the Intrigue stamp set that will be released on Tuesday from Clear Artistic Stamps. To see more ways that this stamp has been used, look here.

Wouldn't this be an easy and pretty way to wrap a small gift, or maybe a gift card?

Have a good Sunday all!

I'm Back!

Well, well, well....

After a long hiatus of doing nothing even close to stamping or scrapbooking (for reasons we won't go into :-}) I actually sat down to make a card with a new stamp set that will be released on Tuesday the 18th from Clear Artistic Stamps. I used the two sets in the Misty Lane Cottages © stamp line, as well as Moonlight Christmas with the Sparkles ©.


The shimmery stuff on the roof and elsewhere is Fantasy Film that I stamped on and cut to fit. What a fun little cottage to accessorize for different times of the year!

There is lots being done on the Cottage Studio blog with this stamp, check it out!

NEW STOCK MARKET TERMS

I know financial problems aren't funny, but laughter is good for the soul.

CEO -- Chief Embezzlement Officer.

CFO -- Corporate Fraud Officer.

BULL MARKET -- A random market movement causing an investor
to mistake himself for a financial genius.

BEAR MARKET -- A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance,
the wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.

VALUE INVESTING -- The art of buying low and selling lower.

P/E RATIO -- The percentage of investors wetting their pants
as the market keeps crashing.

BROKER -- What my broker has made me.

STANDARD & POOR -- Your life in a nutshell.

STOCK ANALYST -- Idiot who just downgraded your stock.

STOCK SPLIT -- When your ex-wife and her lawyer split
your assets equally between themselves.

FINANCIAL PLANNER -- A guy whose phone has been disconnected.

MARKET CORRECTION -- The day after you buy stocks.

CASH FLOW -- The movement your money makes as it disappears
down the toilet.

YAHOO -- What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for
$240 per share.

WINDOWS -- What you jump out of when you're the sucker who bought
Yahoo @ $240 per share.

I Finished my Quilt Blocks!

OK, first order of business:

Clear Artistic Stamps will release two new stamp sets on Tuesday October 14th. They are called Birds of a Feather and Herbal Thoughts. You can preorder on the Clear Artistic Stamps site right now. The release is at 9pm Central time, with a chat beginning at 8pm Central time (click HERE to go to the chat room).

P.S. Go to this page to play some games to win prizes during the chat!

Now, my quilt blocks. I finally finished all 20 blocks of my blue and yellow sampler quilt. I made the last 4 blocks at a quilting retreat last Tuesday. Soon I will find the time to piece the quilt top because I want to have the quilt finished in time for Christmas.

Here are the last four blocks. All patterns are from Quilterscache.

"State Of Illinois":



"Basket Weave":


"Contrary Wife":



"Arrowheads":

Recycled Shopping Bag!

This week I made a card using the card sketch CPS85 from Card Positioning Systems. And I also made it fun by using a shopping bag that I received at the hairdresser. I even used the handle!

Here is the bag:



And here is the card:


I used the black and white pattern on the outside for the background on the card (turned it upside down so you couldn't tell that it is a cursive B). Inside the bag is a great orange design that I stamped on. Of course the orange and black reminded me of Halloween, so I used my Autumn Treats stamp set from Clear Artistic Stamps.

Have you ever considered recycling something made of paper into a card? Try it--it's fun!

Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek of a new stamp set coming out from Clear Artistic Stamps:


The set is called "Birds of a Feather" and it will be released on Tuesday, October 14th. You can see how Etha used this set HERE and HERE.

Thanks for looking!

Ready, Set, Go!

On the first week of school, I was able to capture a great series of three photos of my kids and our neighbors waiting for and running to the bus. I decided to keep the journaling to a minimum since the pictures tell the story. The black and white alphabet tape is from 7 gypsies.

Two Sophies!

My brother and sister-in-law got a little chihuahua/terrier mix puppy and named her after my Mom! So now we have two Sophies in the family. I couldn't resist using that as the theme of my scrapbook page. My mom and my girls just loved playing with the little four-month-old Sophie, who is just too cute for words.

This is a pretty simple page. The only stamp that I used was a heart-shaped paw print from Jessica Lynn Original. A pink ribbon to match my girls' dresses is the only embellishment.

Thanks for looking and have a great Saturday!

Another SC195

Here's another try at the SC195 sketch challenge on splitcoast stampers. I just got this cute penguin stamp from Jessica Lynn Originals and then I realized that I had the perfect sentiment for it, by Firecracker Designs. I'm still not sure about all of this layering--I guess I'm just not the layering type. (But I thought I was!)

SC195

I made this card for the sketch challenge on Splitcoast Stampers SC195. I made an alcohol ink background and then stamped over it with black dye ink and blue pigment ink. Then I added butterflies and the sentiment to the back panels.

I received some black flowers in a scrapbooking kit and was wondering how in the world I would use black flowers. Well, I got the chance here! I added a charm and a fuzzy green brad to the center of the flower to give it some pizazz.

The stamps are from the Secrets of Butterflies set from Clear Artistic Stamps.

Now, I'm off to work on painting my daughter's bedroom--two shades of bright pink! Enjoy your Friday!

I'm Quilting Again

I haven't been at my sewing machine for a while, and boy are my projects piling up. I'm very behind on my blue and yellow sampler quilt. I made one more block for it yesterday, and only have four more to go.

All of these patterns are from Quilters Cache.

This block is for the blue and yellow quilt. It is called Vermont. I love this block. Someday I might make an entire quilt from it.


The other block that I made yesterday is for a Block of the Month in my quilting group. It is called Schoolhouse. The bottom part is just pieced, but the roof is paper pieced.
That's all the sewing for now. I think I will work on some card sketches today.

They Got Me!

I've been tagged by two people, Belinda and Teresa. I usually don't follow up on these tagging games, but in this one you are supposed to tell 7 interesting facts about yourself, so I thought I would go ahead and spill some quirks that I have.

Here you go:

1. I'm the youngest of 5 children, four boys and me. My oldest brother is 20 years older than me.

2. I had my first child at age 34. My second at age 37.

3. My husband and I met in a chemistry lab where we both worked when we were in college. He still thinks I look cute in a white lab coat.

4. I teach a Sunday school class at my church. It's for kids kindergarten through second grade.

5. I walked a full marathon (26.2 mi.) in January 2006, one day after I was up all night in the bathroom with a stomach virus.

6. I was a picky eater growing up--if my Mom didn't cook it, I didn't want it. Now I am the opposite. I love all kinds of food and will eat just about anything.

7. TV shows that I don't like to miss: The Office, 30 Rock, Real Time with Bill Maher, Kitchen Nightmares, Ghost Hunters.

There now, doesn't that give you a little insight into my artistic tendencies???

CPS 83

Here is my interpretation of the card sketch CPS 83 on the Card Positioning Systems site. I used the Moon Dreams stamp set from Clear Artistic Stamps for the images. The backgrounds are made with alcohol inks dabbed onto glossy paper. I can't tell you which colors I used, mainly because I used so many! I can't believe it didn't get muddy brown. Cardstocks and black dye ink are from Stampin' Up. The card base is made from marvelous magenta, which is a color that SU retired quite a while ago. But, of course, I still have some around. I almost never throw out craft supplies!

Love Soup

Looking for a holiday gift idea? I turned a "gift in a jar" recipe into a "gift in a bag" recipe so I could do some stamping on the paper bag! For complete info on how to make this bag of Love Soup, visit the In the Cottage Studio blog HERE.

Thanks for looking, and TGIF!

Sketch Challenge

This is the card that I made for the Split Coast Stampers sketch challenge SC194. I used the Moon Dreams stamp set from Clear Artistic Stamps, which was just released this week. This card looks so much more complicated than it really is--it just involves cutting some paper and stamping the image and sentiment. Very quick and easy. The beautiful designer papers are from Prima's Just Us collection. I love those colors!

The kids go back to school today after three days off due to no electricity (see previous post). There are still some in our little town that have no power, so we are really counting our blessings.

Have a great Thursday.

Hurricane Ike--In Ohio?????

You'd think that here in SW Ohio I wouldn't have to worry about hurricane force wind gusts from a hurricane in the gulf. Wrong! There is quite a bit of damage around here and we were without electricity for almost 24 hours. Fortunately, my husband is "master of the grill" and could cook eggs and bacon outside for our breakfast. I cheered when the power came back on!

Big Stamp Release--Clear Artistic Stamps

Tuesday September 16th

Chat will begin at 8pm Central time.

To chat go HERE.

On 9/11: Remember Our Military

OUR KIDS IN THE MILITARY

The average age of the military man is 19 years. He is a short haired,

tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy. Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to

buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country. He never really cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father's; but he has never collected unemployment either. He's a recent High School graduate; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away. He listens to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and 155mm howitzers. He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk. He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him, but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less time in the dark. He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must. He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional. He can march until he is told to stop or stop until he is told to march. He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity. He is self-sufficient He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other. He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry. He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts. If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low. He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands. He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job. He will often do twice the work of a civilian , draw half the pay and still find ironic humor in it all. He has seen more suffering and death then he should have in his short lifetime. He has stood atop mountains of dead bodies, and helped to create them. He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed. He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away' those around him who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking. In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful. Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom. Beardless or not, he is not a boy. He is the American Fighting Man that has kept this country free for over 200 years. He has asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding. Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood. And now we even have women over there in danger, doing their part in this tradition of going to War when our nation calls us to do so. As you go to bed tonight, remember this shot.. A short lull, a little shade and a picture of loved ones in their helmet Pray for our military... "Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen." Please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our ground troops in Afghanistan , sailors on ships, and airmen in the air, and for those in Iraq. Of all the gifts you could give a US Soldier, Sailor, Coastguardsman, Marine or Airman, prayer is the very best one.

Moon Dreams CD

Ready for a sneak peek at a great new stamp set? I knew you would be!




I made this card using the new stamp set Moon Dreams from Clear Artistic Stamps. The set will be released on September 16th. What a beautiful and elegant collection this is.

To make this card, I used an old cd and applied color with alcohol inks. I then stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with gold powder. This is the first time I have ever done a card with a cd, and it was really fun!

And here is some great news that you will be glad to hear:

Free Shipping

for the entire month of September at Clear Artistic Stamps. That's right! You always save money on gas by buying online, and now you will save the shipping costs too! What a deal!

Happy Tuesday everyone.

Lighthouse Pages

I finished scrapping some photos of a lighthouse that we took during our vacation to Hilton Head Island, SC.


I had large photos that I didn't want to crop, so I went to 2 pages. Since the lighthouse is red and white, I decided to stick with primary colors. The photos really stand out against the blue cardstock. And I matted with colors from the photos. On the left page I used red matting and on the right I used green. Underneath the photos I put a line of black stars that extends across both pages to bring them together visually.

Have a good Saturday.

Two More Cards

Okey, Dokey--Here are the last of my cards from the set of cards I made using Teacup Fairies and I'm Just Saying from Clear Artistic Stamps:





If you would like to see the complete set of cards and the gift box that I made for them to go into, just go to Belinda's blog.

Thanks for looking!

Reds and Greens

Ready for some Christmas cards? Of course, in the crafting world, it's always Christmas time, right?

Here is a card that I made for a "Light Me Up" challenge:


The stamp is from Clear Artistic Stamps Joy of the Season stamp set. The real red and glorious green cardstock from Stampin' Up really makes this card cheerful.

Here is another card that I designed for quick and easy mass production--I always need lots of Christmas cards!



These stamps are from the Papertrey Ink Believe stamp set. I used very vanilla, handsome hunter and bravo burgundy SU cardstock for an elegant look.

Have a great Wednesday!

My Four-Legged Kids

Mooch

"Can you guess how I got my name?"

Daffodil
"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful."

Now that my kids are in school all day, this is who I spend my time with!

More Teacups

I made another card (see previous post) using the Teacup Fairies stamp set and the BasicGrey paper. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Clear Artistic Stamps I'm Just Saying. I've recently made three cards using the Teacup Fairies set, which means if I make two more, I will have a set of five to give as a gift. Sounds like a good project for the long weekend!

I don't think that I ever posted this card on my blog:


This is the first in the installments of my Teacup Fairies cards. Now you've seen all three! If you've never seen this card before, it must be that you aren't visiting In the Cottage Studio, which is Belinda's blog, where I also post my work. Check it out!