Meeting Fellow SCSers and a Beauteous Box!

This past weekend I worked the Rubbernecker (RN) Stamps booth at the Rubber Stamping Show in Novi, MI. I had so much fun demonstrating, meeting people, and showing off the fabulous RN stamps! Not only did I get to meet the owner, Rubbernecker Dave (sorry, no photo of Dave, per his request), but I also met and worked with Juliana (on the right--known as Julesiana on SCS), a fellow RN design team member. Here she and I are wearing our Ranger aprons (mine was personally signed by Tim Holz!!!). Isn't she just the cutest?  She is such a sweetheart; I really enjoyed chatting and working with her.

And then......I heard this sweet southern voice behind me.....I turned around and lo and behold Christine (aka whim6915) was standing there!!!  Christine and I had chatted on line a couple times and knew that we lived a little over an hour apart.  I had told her several months ago that I'd be working the RN booth and that I hoped to meet her.  At that time, she didn't think she would be able to make it to the show due to another commitment, so imagine my surprise when she showed up and introduced herself!   What a delightfully charming personality she is!!

Now.....onto some project work....

My boss had ordered a set of 10 greeting cards from me.  When I realized that they weren't going to fit into the usual clear box I use for gift cards, I decided to make my own box.  I split open an invitation envelope box and traced the template onto 12 x 12 black cardstock (thinner than Stampin' Up's so I could fold and crease it).  I added Stampin' Up's beautiful Soft Sky designer paper punched with this floral border punch.  Then, I made these beautiful paper flowers following a tutorial I found on line.  I don't have the link with me right now, but I will add it later.  These flowers were so easy to make!!!  I added just a touch of turquoise stickles to some of the petals.  I made three of them and grouped them together onto the top of my box.  I hand cut the leaves and crimped them, adding darker green ink for shading.  I then sprayed gold shimmer mist onto the flowers and top of the box for added shimmer.  All ten cards and envelopes fit into this box with enough extra room to allow for added embellishments.  I was a happy girl!

Here's a closer view of the flowers.  Sorry about the poor photo.  It was late at night when I took this and I struggled to get my lighting right.  I finally gave up at almost 1:00 a.m. because I was so tired and needed to get to bed.  I already gave the box of cards to my boss (who loved the whole thing), so I can't take another photo.

Shane the Dane

Meet Shane the Great Dane. Shane loves baseball but has a little issue with confidence in his ability to be a great baseball player. You see Queenie the Weenie is a tough, macho daschund who heads up the team and was barking orders to Shane the Dane to hit a home run for the team. Shane's tender heart just couldn't stand all that barking.

Enter Dwyer the Umpire giving Shane hugs of encouragement to run the bases as fast as he can, telling him to follow the paw prints. Now Dwyer knew he shouldn't play favorites among the baseball players, but he knows how soft hearted Shane the Dane is and his feelings are easily bruised whenever Queenie the Weenie barks at him. Therefore, Dwyer the Umpire felt compelled to run out to give Shane puppy hugs of encouragement and love, telling him that he could do it.

Armed with this love and support, big ol' lumbering Shane the Great Dane put that baseball stick in his mouth and hit the ball outta the ball park on the first pitch! Woo-hoo! He turned his baseball cap backwards and ran those bases with his head held proudly high and his tail waggin' to the beat of the band. When his paw touched the home base, scoring the 42,000th run for his team, he cried tears of joy. He jumped up and placed his paws on Dwyer's shoulders, knocking him to the ground, and slobbered him with wet doggie kisses out of gratitude.

I made this card as a part of Teapot Tuesday on Splitcoaststampers for a ten year old boy, Andrew, who  has multiple brain tumors and is not doing so well right now. He loves baseball and loves his fellow team members. And they love him! They are so good to Andrew that they all shaved their heads in his honor and are referring to themselves now as the Elm Grove *Bald* Eagles! 

If you'd like to play along, check out the details at Teapot Tuesday.  Bertie plans to be there flingin' hot dogs to all the fans.

My baseballs were made with the 1/2" circle punch, and I drew the stitches with a marker.  The bases were made with the spiral punch with the ends snipped off.

Stamps:  MFT

Cardstock:  Creamy Caramel, Garden Green, Whisper White

Ink:  Memento Black, Cherry Cobler, Denim, Chocolate Chip

Accessories:  Copic markers, blender pen, 1/4" and 1/2" circle punches, ticket corner punch, double rectangle punch, spiral punch, dimensionals, marker

How's It Waggin'?

Hello!  How's your day waggin' so far?  I hope it's totally "woofy!" 

August brings a new challenge hostess to our CCEE challenge group.  Tosha (aka stamps4funinca) has given us some really unique and cool sketch designs.  Check it out:

I found this cool Woof Woof clear stamp set by Recollections on sale at my local Michael's store.  Isn't this dude tough looking?  I colored him and his bones (yes, I cut out the bones) with Copic markers.  My designer paper is Stampin' Up's chocolate chip dp.

Here's a close up of his jowly mug:

We hope you can find some time to play along with us.  You can see all the cool creations my friends Tosh, Joanne, Shirley, Frances and Cindy made, as well as get the details, on our CCEE blog.

This card also qualifies for the Stampin' B's challenge.

WOOF!  WOOF!

Snowy Starry Nights and a Goal Achieved

I did it! I did it!! I finished all 33 Dare to Get Dirty challenges hosted by the Dirty Dozen for Fan Club members! Woo-hoo!  After work, I spent a lot of my spare time working on these, and I just feel so doggone good that I achieved my goal. :-)

I also decided to try and give my brayer another try. I so love Zindorf's stunning scenes she creates with her brayering technique. I've never had the opportunity to take one-on-one instruction from her, but I just tried to follow along with tutorials she has done. I found it easier to use the sponge brayer roll that SU use to sell rather than the smoothy brayer roll. After I brayered the various colors, I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up and stamp these pretty Rubbernecker Kittie Kits trees. I added snow to the tree branches and the sky with a white gel pen. I used my Going Gray reinker and a blender pen to add the shading under the trees. All of my stitching is faux as are my buttons.

Since I didn't quite capture the texture of the beautiful starburst transluscent white paper I used, here's a close up.

Now, it's off to claim my DTGD Queen crown from SCS!!  Giggle.

I hope you're having a terrific day!

Kraft and Wings

Have you participated in any of the Dare to Get Dirty challenges on Splitcoaststampers? There are 33 of them and, if you are a Fan Club member, you have until August 1st to complete them. As much as I have tried to participate in these challenges in the past, I have been unsuccessful in completing them for one reason or another. It's been my goal this year to do ALL 33 and I am soooooooo close. The card I have to share today completes 32 of the 33 challenges for me, and I hope to make #33 either tonight or tomorrow.  So, if I haven't been to your blog or your on-line gallery lately, it's because I've been a stampin' fool in the little spare time that I have.  I'll be back to see what you've been up to soon, though!

I white embossed the Polka Dots & Paisley flowers onto kraft cardstock and added pink brads to the dotted portion under the bloom.  Isn't this kraft tafetta ribbon pretty?  I just had to order some when I saw it was on the Stampin' Up retired list, and I wish I would've ordered more than one.  It is so pretty and works well with the Bow Easy. 

Cardstock:  Craft, Pink Pirouette, Pink Pirouette dp
Accessories:  butterfly punch, circle Nestabilities, pink brads, distressed stripes embossing folder, pink liquid pearls, kraft tafetta ribbon

Woven Floral

Joanne (JoJot) gave us a beautiful woven sketch design challenge this week with flowers as the twist for our CCEE challenge.  The flowers can be the image, the background, an accent, on the ribbon, or any combination.   I love my new (new to me) Fifth Avenue Floral set and this flower image, in particular.  It's fun to stamp directly onto colored cardstock or patterned paper and sponge the edges for depth.


If you would like to play along all you have to do is create a card using the above challenge and upload it to your blog and/or to your SCS Gallery using the keyword CCEE1030. Please check out the beautiful creations my friends Joanne, Cindy, Shirley, Tosh and Frances made on our CCEE blog.

Stamping Machine!

I was able to spend some time stamping this weekend and participating in more of the Dare to Get Dirty challenges that the Dirty Dozen gals from Splitcoaststampers are hostessing for Fan Club members.  These challenges varied in theme, sketch, color, and technique.  So, here you have it.....from country life to yummy birthday cupcakes to Christmas and back to a summer floral garden.....

Stamps:  Rooster Sunrise by Anna Griffin, Chicken Wire bg by Rubbernecker

Cardstock:  Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, gingham dp

Ink:  Memento Black, Riding Hood Red

Accessories:  gingham ribbon, circle Nestabilities, circle punches, modern label punch, scalloped border punch, dimensionals, paper piercer, black marker

Stamps:  Well Scripted, Party Hearty
Cardstock: Only Orange, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Real Red
Ink: Memento Black
Accessories: orange and brown polkadotted ribbon, circle punches, Sweet Treats Cricut cartridge, dimensionals, swirls embossing folder, candy sprinkles

Stamps:  Christmas Punch

Cardstock:  Blue Bayou, Soft Sky dp, Whisper White

Ink:  Blue Bayou

Accessories:  large tag punch, white eyelet, ribbons, scalloped border punch

Stamps:  Rubbernecker
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Regal Rose, pink dp
Inks:  Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Old Olive
Accessories:  olive ribbon, butterfly punch, sponge, dimensionals