Thursday, October 6, 2011

Lots going on ....

Just a short note to my friends who check in every so often to see what I have been creating and posting .... I have had my hands full lately with my husband in the hospital for 3 1/2 weeks then passing away one week ago. During that time we had a flood in our home so I have been living in a hotel so am not able to have my creative outlet - will be back as soon as possible. May God bless each and everyone of you - hold your loved ones close and take this extra opportunity to tell them you love them again - and again - and again. Hugs, Shirley

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Wow, it's been almost a month since I have posted here ... just chalk it up to life - that's all I can say. I will try to do better ....
This is our first Blog Hop for our newly created yahoo group, SUStampingBlogHops. Our home page will be our first stop today -- if you did not start there, you can find it here: Hopping Just for the Fun of it -- you may have started here with me, or maybe you came here from my stamping friend Angela's blog at Life with a Wiener Dog ... and your next stop is Carmen at The Creative Stamptuary - she is a new stamper to me and has some great ideas! A complete listing is at the bottom of this post so come on back here or to our home page ( Hopping Just for the Fun of it ) if you get lost or if any links are not working.
This has been a hard week on us .... my husband had surgery on Tuesday, was supposed to come home Tuesday/maybe Wednesday and had another surgery on Friday and we are praying he does not need a third surgery today. Needless to say, this has been a very long week and I just did not get things done as I would have liked, but I hope you enjoy my projects .... I had fun making them and am soooo glad I made them early! Hope I remember this every month .... This first project came from a friend who sent them to me to possibly use for a Christmas cookie exchange party .... she said she got it from someone else who got the idea from someone else .... lol ... so I went investigating and found the template by Debbie Martin on her Dec 21, 2010 post at cleverandcute.blogspot.com . I hope everyone realized that few of us have the creativity to start from scratch, and it is perfectly o.k. to C.A.S.E. (Copy And Case Everything) .... and it is also good to give credit when we can.
I used a retired Christmas DSP along with Wild Wasabi c/s - because I have some retired Wasabi ribbon to use!! Some of you will remember that I love Wild Wasabi and use it often! The stamp set is Tags Till Christmas, which has some really good images for Christmastime! Each person attending our exchange will get one of these aprons with all the recipes in the pocket! Sounds like I might need to get some help making them, huh. My second project is the one that did not get completely finished to show - I need to buy some more York Peppermints to insert in the pockets formed by folding up the c/s - I went wild and gave one whole bag of candy away at the hospital this week with these. After receiving one in the mail from a friend, I again went searching and found it online by Laura Zaraza at laurastamps.com (on Dec. 19, 2010) and she named them Tip Treats -- the idea is to put your tip inside along with the candy when you leave a tip. I have been using them (without the tip, lol) to give to people as an Intentional Act of Kindness ... kinda like Random Acts of Kindness but with an intentional purpose! I have been paying for the vehicle behind me in drive-thru's, buying balloons for kids, etc and I am having so much fun with this, thanx to Family Life Radio (myflr.org) for the idea!!
I used several colors of cardstock, ribbons and a bunch of retired stamp set images ... I stamped them and have been coloring them while sitting around and waiting at the hospital - needless to say, a lot of people in the hospital have been enjoying a little treat! Please leave a comment and let me know how you will use one or both of these ideas - and one of you will win your own sample of each project! I hope you have enjoyed my post and I know you will have a wonderful time on the rest of your Blog Hop journey. See you next month for another hop, and back here soon, and encourage me to post more regularly!! ~~~ God Bless, Shirley Here is the complete listing of stops for your convenience ... hope my links work, if not, please copy and paste - you'll be glad you did!

Holiday Blog Hop Time

Wow, it's been almost a month since I have posted here ... just chalk it up to life - that's all I can say.
This is our first Blog Hop for our newly created yahoo group, SUStampingBlogHops (open to everyone who wants to have fun with blog hops.) Our home page will be our first stop today -- if you did not start there, you can find it here: Hopping Just for the Fun of it -- you may have started here with me, or maybe you came here from my stamping friend Angela;s blog at Life with a Wiener Dog ... and your next stop is Carmen at The Creative Stamptuary - she is a new stamper to me and has some great ideas! A complete listing is at the bottom of this post so come on back here or to our home page ( Hopping Just for the Fun of it ) if you get lost or if any links are not working.
This has been a hard week on us .... my husband had surgery on Tuesday, was supposed to come home Tuesday/maybe Wednesday and had another surgery on Friday and we are praying he does not need a third surgery today. Needless to say, this has been a very long week and I just did not get things done as I would have liked, but I hope you enjoy my projects .... I had fun making them and am soooo glad I made them early! Hope I remember this every month ....
This first project came from a friend who sent them to me to possibly use for a Christmas cookie exchange party .... she said she got it from someone else who got the idea from someone else .... lol ... so I went investigating and found the template by Debbie Martin on her Dec 21, 2010 post at cleverandcute.blogspot.com . I hope everyone realized that few of us have the creativity to start from scratch, and it is perfectly o.k. to C.A.S.E. (Copy And Case Everything) .... and it is also good to give credit when we can.
I used a retired Christmas DSP along with Wild Wasabi c/s - because I have some retired Wasabi ribbon to use!! Some of you will remember that I love Wild Wasabi and use it often! The stamp set is Tags Till Christmas, which has some really good images for Christmastime! Each person attending our exchange will get one of these aprons with all the recipes in the pocket! Sounds like I might need to get some help making them, huh.
My second project is the one that did not get completely finished to show - I need to buy some more York Peppermints to insert in the pockets formed by folding up the c/s - I went wild and gave one whole bag of candy away at the hospital this week with these. After receiving one in the mail from a friend, I again went searching and found it online by Laura Zaraza at laurastamps.com (on Dec. 19, 2010) and she named them Tip Treats -- the idea is to put your tip inside along with the candy when you leave a tip. I have been using them (without the tip, lol) to give to people as an Intentional Act of Kindness ... kinda like Random Acts of Kindness but with an intentional purpose! I have been paying for the vehicle behind me in drive-thru's, buying balloons for kids, etc and I am having so much fun with this, thanx to Family Life Radio (myflr.org) for the idea!!
I used several colors of cardstock, ribbons and a bunch of retired stamp set images ... I stamped them and have been coloring them while sitting around and waiting at the hospital - needless to say, a lot of people in the hospital have been enjoying a little treat!
Please leave a comment and let me know how you will use one or both of these ideas - and one of you will win your own sample of each project!
I hope you have enjoyed my post and I know you will have a wonderful time on the rest of your Blog Hop journey. See you next month for another hop, and back here soon, and encourage me to post more regularly!!
~~~ God Bless, Shirley
Here is the complete listing of stops for your convenience ... hope my links work, if not, please copy and paste - you'll be glad you did!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Tea Bag Folding Ornament, Part 1

We have a winner .... my blog candy will go to Nichole, who will be receiving my Flower Pots card.  Congrats, Nichole - watch for your card ... and I want to sincerely thank everyone so much for visiting my blog over the weekend and posting comments.  You will never know how much I appreciate your kind remarks.

And on to today's post ... I taught a couple classes last week at VC Rocks, helping the gals learn how to make their own Tea Bag Folding Ornaments ... I am having so much fun making these things - they're soooo addictive (seems like every time I start making something, I can't stop - until something else takes it's place.  Right now, it's these ornaments and a couple other things, which will be in future posts (after I teach another class), so stay tuned.
     
I really need to get to bed now, but I will be posting some directions on making these star ornaments later .... I just wanted to share a couple pix with you for tonight.  Hope you get excited to make your own soon.

Take care and God Bless, Shirley

Friday, August 12, 2011

Let's all get Punchy!!

Today is our last official VC_Rocks Blog Hop for this session of our group.  It is always such fun to renew freindships and make new ones - everyone is so much fun!  I always go thru a period of withdrawal after we close up shop - wow, next week!  Oh no ...

You may have arrived here from Debbie's Blog - www.cleverandcute.blogspot.com - she always has such cute stuff.  Remember, if you get lost along the way on this Hop, you can always go back to our home base - www.vcrocks.blogspot.com

Our theme for this Blog Hop is Punches - somewhere, we are to use our Stampin' Up! Punches on our cards, projects, etc.

My first card was cased - can't remember where I saw it first a couple years ago, but I made a note to make it someday - and .... today is someday!
Here's the recipe, the directions are quite simple and you can figure that out.  I used:  Round Tab Punch; 1 1/4" Round Punch; Whisper White, Melon Mambo and Old Olive cardstock; Signo Gel Pen    I had some green ribbon with stripes down the side but it wasn't the right green so I made my own with the white gel pen - I also made the dots in the center of the flower with the gel pen.    Hope you like it - it's sitting here on my desk with the petals wide open today - thank you, sunshine, for touching my flower.

My second card was a fun one - as you undoubtedly know by now, I do love my punches, so for this card, I used a bunch of them!  
What fun to make this card!  I can't remember all the sizes of round punches I used - I started out with the 2 1/2" Round Punch for the body and went from there ... also:  Ticket Corner Punch, Heart to Heart Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch for the hands and feet and Natural Twine for the tail.  If you want the exact sizes, I can measure the circles and let you know - just send me an email to stampershirley@gmail.com and I will get back with you.

My last card is a simple one but I always forget to use my Pocket Silhouettes stamp set and this was perfect for this.  A friend sent me a card similar so I changed the colors and made my own.  
I used the (retired) Designer Label Punch for the flower pots and cut them down a bit on the ends.  The colors I used are Not Quite Navy, More Mustard and Chocolate Chip; also, Natural Hemp Twine on the middle pot.  So simple and perfect for a flower-loving friend of mine - hope she likes it.

So that is my take on the Punches theme - hope you enjoyed your stop here and here's your next stop ....  Ellen's wonderful Blog - she's the Punch Queen, by the way and you can find her at www,blinkthinkink.blogspot.com - and our home base is www.vcrocks.blogspot.com

Have an awesome day, tell me which card is your favorite and I will draw from the entries and you will receive that card.  Just leave a comment by Tuesday, August 16th.

Hugs and may God Bless you, Shirley



Thursday, August 11, 2011

Bows, Bows, and more Bows

What fun it is to make these bows!!  My good friend Shari taught me how to make them and now I can't stop!  I did change my directions a bit to make a fuller bow - hers were more like flowers but I wanted bows.   You know me, I have to change things once I follow directions.  I even had to buy a bigger tote to hold them all .... but won't they look wonderful on my packages!  I've made way over 30 so far ... and now I need to make a bunch for Christmas.  Just so you know, I used retired Stampin' Up! DSP for all my bows - another great way to use up that big box of retired SU papers!!

They are so easy too - but be warned, making them are addicting!!


Materials:  Glue Dots or Dimensionals; SNAIL Adhesive; Sticky Strip and/or Glue Dots, Brads; 1/16" Circle Punch; 6" x 12" piece Double Sided DSP’’

Cut DSP as follows:  Cut into three pieces, each 4”x6”.  Cut two of those pieces into strips 1”x6”, giving you 8 strips.  On the last large piece, cut 1” off the short end, giving you a 1”x4” strip.Cut the remainder into four strips, 1”x5”.  You should now have:1 strip 1”x4”, 8 strips 1”x6”, 4 strips 1”x5”.

Put four of the 1”x6” strips facing the same pattern up.  Put adhesive on one end of each.  Twist each piece into a loop, attaching one end of a strip to the other side of the other end ...  like if you put an "A" on one end and a "B" on the other side of the other end, then twist and adhere "A" to "B" .... like this:

Hope this picture helps - sometimes the twisting doesn't look right, so I undo and re-loop, so play with it.  Also, I have found where you put the ends together makes a difference in how your bow looks, so experiment.

Do the same for 3 more of your longer strips, then punch a hole in the bottom of each loop and attach the four together with a brad or with some SNAIL to hold them in position.  Repeat the above steps with the other 4 strips of 1"x6", but flip the papers over first to show the other pattern.  Note:  I punch my hole near the edge on the first group, a bit farther up on the next group of 4 loops and a little farther up on the other group of loops - this helps them to next a bit easier.

 Add a few Glue Dots or some Sticky Strip to the inside of the two bows and adhere together, altering the direction of the loops. Make a smaller bow with all 4 of the 1”x5” strips, putting your favorite pattern on the inside.  Punch holes and add brad.  Add Glue Dots or Sticky Strip as before, working the bows together - it's a tight squeeze .... Roll the 1”x4” into a circle loop with your favorite side out.  Adhere with Sticky Strip in the center.  

And there's your bow ... now wasn't that fun??!!!  Let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer.  My email is   stampershirley@gmail.com .... so send me pix of your bows!!

Another option:  If you look closely at the turquoise and gray bow at the top of the picture, you will see that I used all one side for the longer loops, then the other side for the 1"x5" loops.

And here's another picture - I don't particularly like the other side of this retired paper, so I made the whole bow with one side of the DSP.  And it's Christmas paper (well, snowflakes are close enough!)


Hope and pray you are well, and your family also.  My hubby had two procedures done yesterday now he sees another doctor next week to see when the next surgery is, as they had to wait for these results.  We would appreciate your prayers and kind thoughts as we go thru all this.

Not sure I will get a post done for tomorrow, so be sure to come back on Saturday for our last (boo hoo) BLOG HOP for the year ... maybe I better find another group to hop with monthly so I post more often, huh!

God Bless and have a most excellent day!!  Enjoy your creative side every day!

Hugs, Sassy Shirley




Monday, August 8, 2011

Lattice Folding is Fun!!

Hello on Monday ... I have been busy making some things, so hopefully I will have time this week to get some new posts for you.  My hubby has a surgical procedure on Wednesday so I will be taking care of him that day and making him comfortable and feeling loved.  That's my job, you know, and I do love it!

Today's post is 3 Lattice Folding cards ... my friend Robin did an online class on how to do them but I just couldn't get my cards to look as great as hers, so I went back to my old faithful way.  I will keep trying, Robin - it's me, not you .... hope you enjoy these cards.


These are so easy when you do it this way ... if you have some Stampin' Up! Grid Paper, cut a section measuring 5" by 3 3/4".  This is the measurement for my cards because I matted them before attaching to the card.  If you don't want to mat, then cut accordingly to your card size.  If you don't have this paper, use graph paper or make a template - the squares are 1/4" apart.  On one edge of your template, draw a line from the first line diagonally to the 3rd square, then from the next square, draw a line diagonally to the 2nd square.  Repeat in this order down the page until you run out of squares.  Fold your template and your cardstock or designer paper in half, making sure you have a nice crisp fold - use your bone folder!!  Insert your unfolded edge of your paper inside your template folded edge and cut on the lines - how simple!  Make sure you are cutting the lines on the fold of your cardstock or designer paper.  The grid paper makes this soooo easy.  

When you are done cutting, unfold your paper and fold every other triangle up, continuing to the bottom.  
You will want to cut the top one off completely, saving it to attach to the bottom area.  

Tuck each corner under the next corner ... does that make any sense at all?  It will when you make your Lattice Folding card!!


This next card was made with Vellum and I added a strip of red and a strip of black underneath for a different effect, also adding a couple of black and red brads to the corners.  
If you have any questions, just ask and I will try to answer.  I am not the best teacher but I do love to play!!  I have seen cards that cut every other square (every 1/2" instead of 1/4") so you have bigger triangles and not as many.  I purposefully did not add embellishments or sentiments to the cards so you can see their beauty, but you can add whatever you want, wherever you want on your own cards.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot .... you can tape up the cut marks on your grid paper and reuse - over and over if you want!  lol

There are a lot of variations to this card - I hope you enjoyed this little lesson - please share your Lattice Folding cards with me at stampershirley@gmail.com .... I will post all the cards here at a later date and I will draw a name from all the cards in my inbox by this Friday nite, August 12th and that person will receive a little something from me. 

And guess what .... this weekend is our next (and last) VC Blog Hop!!  Trust me, you will NOT want to miss it - some awesome ideas will be waiting for you on Saturday morning.  

Until next time, have fun being creative, take care and 
God Bless you, Shirley

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Baby Boy

Hello on Thursday evening ... I just got home from a very enjoyable evening listening to a large group of high schoolers playing fiddles at our Summer Concert Series at the Amphitheater - it was so nice to spend a few hours outside in this beautiful weather.

Tonight I am sharing a card I made for my beautician who had a baby boy recently - I will see her tomorrow for the first time since and wanted to take her a cute card .... so I came up with this one.  It uses several retired products - but the cardstock is current SU - Bashful Blue and Whisper White.  The paper is called Splash and retired back in 2006 ... remember, I am NOT a hoarder, just a saver ... the onesie stamp is from a 2004 stamp set (A Little Love).  Sometimes the oldies are just the right stuff to use, but I am really loving so many of the new products in the new 2011-2012 Idea Book/Catalog!!  And now, we are getting a hint from people at the Stampin' Up! Convention of some awesome new things .... can we all say WOW!

Anyway, hope you like this simple little card - I think I may make a few more in blue and pink .. and yellow and green ... to have on hand.

So for tonight, sleep tight and I will try to post again tomorrow.

God Bless, Shirley

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Masculine Challenge cards

Over at our VC Rocks group, we had another challenge (every week!!), and this week we were to make a masculine card, like a man would make for a man.  I told Larry what I was going to do and he decided he should have a say in the stamps and colors ... he has always liked an older SU set called Artifacts and we chose Soft Suede as the base so we started there.  This is the card we made ..... the supplies we used are the same as for the next card.

When I started to upload the pix to the group, I read all the details ... to punch it up a bit, we could make a fancy fold card, so after Larry went to bed, I made this one. 
When I started to upload the pix to the group, I read all the details ... to punch it up a bit, we could make a fancy fold card, so after Larry went to bed, I made this one.   Here are some other pix of this card with the directions ... 



First, I cut the Soft Suede c/s:  the base is 8 1/2" x 4 1/4" - score at 5 1/4:"; the inside folded part is 8 1/2" x 3 1/4" and scored at 4 1/4".  I layered the inside part on black c/s cut 4 1/2" x 3 1/2" and I added a piece of Crumb Cake c/s 4"x3" for the writing.  the other side of this flap (the top part of the smaller part (huh???) I layered Baja Breeze cut 4"x3 1/8", and top layer is Very Vanilla stamped with Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Basic Black images from the Artifacts stamp set, then sponged Soft Suede all over to make it 'dirtier', per the man in charge.  The top flap of the larger piece is layered with Baja Breeze and some DSP I had that kinda goes with these colors - not exactly, but looks good.  

So there is my Fancy Fold Masculine Card along with the regular folded Masculine Card for this Challenge ... hope you like them both.  

Hugs and God Bless, Shirley



.  

Monday, July 11, 2011

Monday Morning Moanings .... or not

Well, it IS Monday morning, here in Michigan anyway.  I said on Saturday that I will have another post on Monday, so here it is.

We had a great weekend - Saturday was my hubby's birthday so we went out to breakfast, met friends there ... went out to lunch with other friends, and out to supper with family.  Didn't eat as much as we talked, thank goodness!  Sunday was church then potluck picnic!  Always, always fun and loaded with yummy food.  Got home from that and needed a nap, or at least a rest-time.   And now another week begins, filled with appointments, fun times, a little work around the house and who knows what else.

Since we had ABC (Anything But a Card) as our VC Blog Hop theme over the weekend, I have a couple other ideas to share, so here is today's ....


 
I just love, love, love to alter tins (like from Altoids, but you can buy them to alter) ... the options available are as big as your imagination - you should see what kids come up with!  Here are just a few I have made that I found sitting on my shelf.  I made a new one for a swap but it has not been delivered yet so I will wait on it until everyone has seen their box of ideas - Gifts for a Dollar was that theme.  These tins are yet another super way to use up bits of designer paper and odds and ends of embellishments .... 'cause, anything goes with these!!!



Here are two up-close so you can see some details. No big deal, really, but I know it's hard to see in the other pix.  Depending on the tin, I sometimes add grosgrain ribbon around the outside edge on the lid - it's just the right size width!! - but depending on the color of the tin, you may want to love it as it is. 
The fun part after altering the outside is deciding what to do with the inside - some I have added mini-office supplies (stapler and extra staples, scissors, binder clips, pen, pencil, tape dispenser, paper clips ... all small sizes of course.)  Some I cut pieces to fit inside and hooked them together using ribbons or twill tape, brads, etc. and use them as scrapbooks or to hold kind and gentle thoughts to help you get thru the day.  And of course, the ever popular Gift Cards just fit inside!!  Some I leave empty so the recipient can add what they want - little kids love them for "stuff" - funny thing, I used to ask everyone for empty boxes but I could not speak very well yet, so always said 'hempty' boxes ... my family still teases me about that!  Come to think of it, I still love boxes of all sorts - and my stamp room and the rest of the house look like it too. 

Oh yeah, I don't know if I have mentioned it before (or if you even believe it), but I am not a hoarder, just a pack rat with loads of items just waiting to be used and altered and such.   

Hope you enjoy this idea - try it and I really would love to see what you come up with.  Like I said, I will have a post later with my swap samples and then all the samples I receive - I did two sets, so should have 10 additional "Gifts for a Dollar" to show you!

Have a great day and may God Bless You and Yours!  Hugs, Shirley

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Hey, Today is ABC day

Today is our VC Blog Hop and I am stop #13 .... lucky thirteen out of a total of 35 stops plus one post on our home page, so be sure to visit there on your hop!!  Our theme this month is ABC - Anything But a Card, so the field is wide open and I know the gals have some terrific samples to show you! And I think everyone keeps their Blog Hop up for Saturday and Sunday, so you don't have to do it all in one day - and after Sunday, you can always find today's date for their hop post!

Now, you may have arrived here at my blog from the multi-talented Sharon Field's blog at http://createdbyu.blogspot.com - or maybe you are one of my friends who likes to check in to see if I have posted anything lately - and if I haven't, you hassle me a bit!  All in good fun, of course, because I am always slacking off on my posting here.  At any time during your hopping from blog to blog, you can go to our VC Rocks home page at http://vcrocks.blogspot.com/  and get a complete listing of all the bloggers this month. 

Just a personal note:  if you haven't seen Friday's post from me, check it out - I really would love to hear what you think of this technique. 

 The first thing I will post today are candles - I had a few of these candles left after an event I decorated for, and have been wondering what to do with them.  I remembered doing this several years ago so thought I would try it again.  PLEASE DO NOT BURN THESE CANDLES if you decide to do this yourself.
First you stamp on tissue paper, tearing it around the image works better than straight cutting lines, place on candle and holding in place, apply heat with your Heating Tool just enough to melt the wax to hold the tissue paper in all areas, but not so much that the wax runs down the candle ... tricky sometimes.  I used my Stampin' Up! Upsy Daisy stamp set and markers.  The only difficult one was the dark candle - I tried 3 times before I finally got it right, or as right as it is going to be.  I lightly inked it in pink, stamped on the tissue paper then filled in the flower images with White Gel Pen.  Looks like I wanted it to, but the white never has dried and I made these weeks ago.  lol   Oh well, it looks good on the shelf along with the other two!

Supply List:  Upsy Daisy stamp set; markers: Always Artichoke, Rich Razzleberry, Rose Red; Signo Gel Pen; tissue paper, Heat Tool




The next project is a new one to me that I made with a group, but I thought it is so cute so I am sharing with you.  It is a really different small Scrapbook idea and should really be embellished inside with flat objects and not bumpy ones - you'll see why in a later pix.  This is a great way to use up some retired cardstock and designer papers!   









Opened up this way, it looks quite 'normal' ... but wait until the next pix .....






Now you see the difference, huh!  I used a 12x12 sheet of cardstock, scored at 3 inches on all sides.  Then on one side only, cut thru 3 squares, leaving the 4th square attached.  The next block of squares, turn it around and cut thru the 3 blocks, leaving the end one attached, and then flip it around again and cut thru 3 blocks of squares.  Hope that makes sense, but I am attaching a pix of the pattern.  Before you attach the cardstock on the back, add a length of ribbon to the last folded square - I used a piece about 18-20 inches long - so you can tie it up.  When unfolded, you have 16 squares on each side! Then after you add pix, writings or whatever, it all folds back together, tie it up and give it or keep it for yourself.  If you have a lot of grandchildren like I do, it is great in your purse with all the pictures of those precious little (and big) ones!!





As always, cut on the solid lines, score on the dotted ...... let me know if this is not clear as mud!
 Supply List:  papers and colors of your choice, I used Confetti White, Rose Red, retired Apricot Appeal and Soft Sky; misc retired designer papers; White and Apricot Grosgrain ribbons; misc stamp sets for words, Paper Cutter for measuring, scoring and cutting


Tune in Monday for another Anything But a Card idea from me, but for now ... I have noticed that Angela's blog is not updated as of now, so your next stop is Veronica Miller's blog at http://bluegrassstamperstudio.blogspot.com   And remember, if you get lost on our blog hop, just go back to our VC home page  (http://vcrocks.blogspot.com/) and find your next stop!  Sometimes we have our post ready and set it to automatically post at a certain time and day and guess what, it doesn't happen!  So that is why you may find a blog not ready for this hop on that day.

 Take care, check back and keep me on my toes about posting here much more regularly (hey, it's not like I don't stamp something most days and have boxes and boxes of samples I could post!!!) and have loads of fun on the rest of your hopping fun!!  God Bless, Shirley

Friday, July 8, 2011

Black Beauty

Greetings on a Friday - hurray for the weekend!!  This has been a busy week (aren't they all - for all of us??!!) so this will be quick.  Don't forget to come back tomorrow for our VC Blog Hop where you can visit a whole bunch of blogs and see what we have been up to.

Here's a card I love to make - can be a bit messy (or is that just me??), but such beautiful results can happen with different colors. Let me know which you prefer and I will send one of you that card along with a blank one for you to finish as you like. 

These cards were done with the same color markers but using either   black or vanilla embossing powder - what a difference in the "pop" of the colors.After the marker colors dry a bit, you will see that the color on the embossed parts fades away, leaving the cardstock colored parts showing.  Hope that makes sense ... you will want to softly wipe with a tissue after they dry before you send them or your recipient may get other colors on their hands! 

For these cards, I used retired products - Lovely Lilac c/s and the markers are Lovely Lilac, Almost Amethyst (miss that color!!), Orchid Opulence, YoYo Yellow and (non-retired) Always Artichoke.  I used Mellow Moss for the Black but Always Artichoke for the Vanilla as the other colors were too dark or not dark enough, I thought. 

 For this card, I used current SU colors:  Rich Razzleberry c/s with these markers: Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette, Perfect Plum, Daffodil Delight and I did use Always Artichoke for both cards.

 I added this pix so you can see the shine from the embossing powder as the other pix didn't show it.  I added retired Lovely Lilac Grosgrain and a sentiment using a couple SU Oval Punches.

Send me pix if you try this yourself (at stampershirley@gmail.com) - experiment with your colors and have fun!! This is my fave background stamp to use for this, but SU has and has had many stamps that would work - I still like to use Stipple Rose too.  And no, I am not a hoarder, just a pack rat!!  After all, if I would have gotten rid of all my retired In-Color ink pads, I would have had to purchase some of them again after they came back in the line-up!  See, I saved money ....

See you right back here tomorrow!!  Come prepared to get excited and enthused with all the creations!!

Hugs, and God Bless you all, Shirley

Saturday, June 11, 2011

June Blog Hop is here!!

Welcome to my little corner of the world ... here we go again - it's time for our June VC_Rocks Blog Hop - I am so glad you stopped by to visit for a bit.  You probably came here from Angela Walters' blog "Life With a Weiner Dog" at www.lifewithaweinerdog.com   Our "VC Rocks Home Page" is http://vcrocks.blogspot.com so anytime you get lost or if a blog doesn't come up, you can go there and find the complete listing of 32 blogs.  Be sure to check them all out.


I do need to apologize - last month I offered Blog Candy of one of the cards I posted - I forgot to tell everyone who won:  it is Carolyn Sharkas - I will get her card in the mail early next week .... promise.  We had some family emergencies along with company and being gone from home a lot this past month so that's my excuse/reason but I am so sorry to not have taken care of this before.


Our theme this month is the Big Shot Madness ..... I thought I would not be able to join in the fun this month since I have resisted buying the Big Shot (so far, but I think I will be getting it soon ... all these projects on the blogs are great!!)  I am hosting a swap for the Big Shot - I know that will push me over the edge!!Anyway, my dear friend Shari embossed some cardstock for me so I could be a part of this blog hop - isn't she sweet?!!!  Thank you so much, Shari!!


My projects this month are quite simple due to the fact I didn't have much to work with, but I made these two cards using those embossed sheets.  Hope you enjoy them!  As always, supplies are all from Stampin' Up!

For this card, I used Rich Razzleberry (another of my fave colors!) and Whisper White cardstock.  The front piece was embossed with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder - this will certainly be on my first order when I get the Big Shot!  I used Upsy Daisy Stamp Set and stamped it in Versamark, then embossed with white Embossing Powder.  Then I stamped the same stamp, inked it up with Rich Razzleberry, stamped on Whisper White Cardstock, embossed with Clear Embossing Powder for some shine and cut out the top part, positioning that piece on top of the white embossed image with just a but of the white showing for a shadow effect.  I then used a sponge and Rich Razzleberry Ink Pad to color 2 Paper Daisies (oops, guess this shape is retired) and attached a flat back Pearl in the center. 


 This card uses the same colors but after stamping Upsy Daisy flowers in Rich Razzleberry on Whisper White cardstock and again embossing with Clear Embossing Powder, I used the Scallop Trim Border Punch on the bottom in both Rich Razzleberry and Whisper White.  I reached into my box of retired SU! Ribbons for the Polka Dot Rich Razzleberry Grosgrain.  I do love some of the retired (and soon to be retired) ribbons Stampin' Up! has had in the past.  I punched out 3 flowers from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack, added brads that were silver, I added several layers of versamark, Rich Razzleberry ink and Clear Embossing Powder to get some color on them (I don't have any Rich Razzleberry Brads left after making some swap cards).  I stamped the Hello from Tiny Tags Stamp Set and added a brad to it too. 



Again, I hope you have enjoyed your short stop at my Blog - it tends to be lonely as life gets hectic sometimes, so I am so glad to have these Blog Hops during the Summer, but I will try to be more regular about posting in the future.


Your next stop is Carolyn Sharkas' blog "Inking The Night Away" at www.inkingthenightaway.blogspot.com  - remember that you can always go to our "Home Page" at http://vcrocks.blogspot.com   to get the complete listing of blogs participating this month.


Hope to see you soon ... Hug your family .... God Bless, Stamper Shirley

Friday, June 10, 2011

Surprise, it's Friday !!

Ha ha ... surprise, I'm here again.  Here's a card I made using a bunch of punches - which I do so love to use!  Stampin' Up! has so many versatile punches!  I made it as a sample for a swap, but ran out of time and didn't get to join the swap, so thought I would share it here.  The school colors for the graduate are red and black so this worked great!  Hope you enjoy ....

And here is a little treat for the graduate - a candy bar with a gift card!  I don't have the info handy for making this, but if you want it, just comment here or send me an email at shirlnort@yahoo.com     I made this as a Make 'n Take for our group and thought I would include it here with the grad card.


 

Once again, remember to stop back tomorrow (Saturday) for our VC_Rocks Blog Hop featuring the Big Shot.  See you tomorrow!  Hugs, cherish your family and God Bless, Shirley

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Happy Thursday

I know, I know, it's been a while ... life's been kinda crazy .... basically good but crazy.

Here's a few items I made for a challenge - hope you enjoy them.  Be sure to stop back on Saturday for our VC_Rocks Blog Hop .... with Big Shot our theme!

For this card I used all Stampin' Up! products:  cardstock: Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, More Mustard and Always Artichoke.  I so love the Peace Within stamp set and it seemed perfect for these colors.  I used the Extra Large Decorative Label to punch out all 4 colors of cardstock and layered them (I cut the 3 layers underneath in half and stacked) - added Always Artichoke Brads and More Mustard 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon and added some Always Artichoke extra color with the Color Spritzer Tool (my friend Ellen K got me to spritz!!)

This 6x6 page is my cutie pie youngest granddaughter Ellie - I am soooo far behind in my scrapping of my own girls let alone all the grandchildren - I take gobs of pictures and just store them until I need one - it would cost me a mint and a half to have even the good ones printed!  Plus, of course, all the pictures I took and printed before I got a digital camera!   But that's beside the point, huh .... This page uses the same colors except for Not Quite Navy instead of the Always Artichoke.  Can you tell I love layers???



Don't forget to check back in on Saturday for the Blog Hop.  And who knows, I just may even post something tomorrow too!  Take care, hug your family and God Bless, Shirley

Friday, May 20, 2011

Thursday thoughts ....

It's Thursday ... oops, Friday here in Michigan and I thought I would add another post this week!  It's been a busy week so I will pick a winner for my blog post last Saturday tomorrow sometime. 

Here is a card I just made for my VC_Rocks group for a challenge - we were to use 2 colors from the Subtles collection along with Early Espresso plus another neutral color if desired.  I still love this retired Garden From the Heart stamp set and wanted to use it - a friend deserves a card for being very thoughtful this week.  Hope you enjoy this card - it was fun to make and nothing like a challenge to get the mojo going.   If you want to know what supplies I used, just ask - I'm really tired right now ...


Well, guess I better get some sleep - need to be in Lansing by 9 a.m. ... that means getting up by 6:30 for a shower - that means another night of about 5-5 1/2 hours sleep - again. 

Hugs to all, God Bless you all, Shirley

Saturday, May 14, 2011

VC_Rocks Blog Hop #1 2011 !!!!!

Whoo Hoo .... it's time for our first VC Blog Hop for 2011 - it is always exciting to be back in contact with friends from VC_Rocks every Spring and Summer.

You can start at our Blog Home at http://vcrocks.blogspot.com    - if you came here from Shari Dudak's blog at http://sharisstamppad.blogspot.com, you are in the right place!   Your next and final stop will be our Blog leader Loni Holt at www.loniholt.blogspot.com     If you get lost at anytime during the blog hop or find a blog missing, just go back to our Blog Home at http://vcrocks.blogspot.com and you will find the entire listing of all participants - I think there are a total of 30 bloggers this month!  Awesome time will be had by all - hope you enjoy all the creativity of our group. 

This is my first blog since deciding to no longer be am SU Demo, altho' rest assured, my love for all things Stampin' Up! is still strong!  Sorry to have been gone for so long (again) -- just lots and lots of 'stuff' gong on with family, health, etc., etc., etc.  And don't forget that I'm basically lazy, so that's another reason/excuse.


So, onward to our May Blog Hop - our theme this month is "Color My World" using markers, crayons, etc., so of course I had to go a bit outside the box and not just color an image like I first thought of.  I used an old technique (you didn't think I lost my love for techniques either, did you??) -- it's called "Marker Batik", using markers, plastic wrap, water in a spray bottle and glossy cardstock.


The colors I used are for Card #1
- c/s:   Marina Mist, Cajun Craze, Glossy White and bit of Whisper White for the sentiment
- markers/ink:  Marina Mist, Pacific Point, Cajun Craze, Soft Suede (seems like I use this with most of my cards now!)
- Accessories:  Marina Mist Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Punch set up on Dimensionals;  I also added strips of Cajun Craze with the ribbon


Card #2:
- c/s:  Marina Mist, Soft Suede, Glossy White
- Markers/Ink:  Marina Mist, Pacific Point, Cajun Craze, Soft Suede
- Accessories:  Scallop Punch, Marina Mist Grosgrain Ribbon






The last pix is a background to show you different coloring .... the coloring depends on how much marker color and the darkness of the colors you put on the plastic wrap.  I love techniques and this one is soooo easy!


Now, I will send one of these cards along with an additional card to you if I pull your name out of a basket - just leave me a comment telling me which card you like the best. 


Don't forget - your next and final stop is Loni Holt at www.loniholt.blogspot.com  and our Blog Home is http://vcrocks.blogspot.com

Hope you enjoyed my cards this month ... take care, hugs and God Bless, Shirley