Ditch Lilies

Christmas Emporium Necklace

2011-12-01T17:08:00.001-08:00

I just love Graphic 45, don't you? I'm such a paperholic and they just keeping feeding my dependency. So Naughty of them. Santa probably will still visit them though, because they are awesome.

I was working with their Christmas Emporium Collection, making this incredibly layered juicy flip book I learned off of YouTube (another addiction, and Pinterest...there really should be a Crafter's Anonymous) when I dropped everything (left a big mess in the middle of the crop room) to run off to Galena for my second ever all day workshop over at Vintaj. Oh my gosh and goodness. I learned so much. Tons. And I drug along Michelle my scrappy chum/business partner/aunt who had never made so much as a friendship bracelet before. Bless her, she is always game for a wild hare brained new idea:-)

To dip her toes into the waters of jewelry making, I signed both up for a basic stringing class over at Galena Beads the night before. While Michelle was whipping up a necklace that has to probably win the Best Necklace by a Complete Novice Ever Award, I whipped up my own necklace from some beads and (yes!) Vintaj pieces.

I had all those great warm Christmas Emporium Colors that reminded me of Christmas at home percolating in my head. I wanted the necklace to look like the old glass garland my mom used to put on our tree in the big bay window of old Victorian house. Reading in old green tapestry chair by the fireplace with a cup of spiced cider and making pomanders out of cloves and oranges to put on the buffet with the Christmas cards. Amazing how many memories a few mossy greens, rich reds, and aged brass beads can bring up, hmmm. I even added a little mistletoe on each side of the magnolia leaf bead cap ;-) and a "wreath" closure. It gives me warm fuzzies and makes me want to sing Holly and the Ivy (which I will do despite not knowing all the words, be forewarned). Go make yourself some holiday cheer!

Kudos and Typos

2011-11-10T15:05:00.001-08:00

I'm so excited! Why? I'm now a famous blue ribbon farm girl cook. Faaaamous. In Iowa anyway and some of Nebraska. I just got a two page spread in Iowa Farmer Today. You can see it here. Well, I guess you will next week. This week Kay Wohlenhaus is having her moment in the sun :-) Those oatmeal cookies sound good, might have to try them.

Tim came by right on the heals (like the day after) we had our big scrapbook retreat at the Dairy Barn. I did most of the cooking for that, plus ran a couple classes. I was a little crazed at the end. And then I made 6 dozen filled cupcakes in 3 different flavors, chocolate chip cookies, gingersnaps, chicken vegetable soup and foccacia. Maybe manic might be a better description than crazed, lol. Unfortunately that meant I had to delegate something, in this case, typing recipes so this lovely man could take them back to his paper fell into my grandmother's lap (bless her heart for helping). But you know every cook changes something as they go... yep, so my margin notes didn't make it into the final copy.

The recipes are good as they are, but I like the way I do it :-) So here you go if you want to be awesome and faaaamous in your state.

1) I was born in Iowa, and grew up on the Kansas-Oklahoma border. On the Kansas side. I went to college in Oklahoma. I like cowboys, okra, and ranch dressing and picked up a little accent that I've kept, 'cuz it's fun. I point this out so nobody in Kansas thinks I'm putting on airs. This postcard is about 2 blocks and a hundred years from where I lived. Hmmm, hasn't changed much.

2) Like I said, I was a bit manic and making food. I took a shower, but didn't have time to do my hair or makeup before caught in action making focaccia. Sorry about that photo. Most days I look like this:

3) I did not make Irish Car Bombs for Tim. He just thought they sounded good. Which they are. I did make Tuxedos (devils food filled with raspberries and frosted with white chocolate) and Daisies (sour cream yellow cake filled with from scratch lemon curd and frosted with lemon white chocolate) plus the Pumpkin Spice (which need cute name suggestions). We weren't done chatting 'til lunch so we had my favorite chicken vegetable soup, focaccia, all those cupcakes, plus my BLUE RIBBON!!! winning Gingersnaps. I'm just a little in love with those gingersnaps. Alfie (the dog) likes them a lot too.

4) The Irish Car Bomb and Pumpkin Spice Cupcake recipes are actually perfect. I had them on file because I made them up and I have a rotten memory for measurements. Bake them. You won't be sorry. Unless you are in AA. In which case, leave out the booze, you will still be happy.

Now Margin Notes from the Delegated Recipes

5) Chicken Vegetable Soup: Corrections

Feel free to substitute canned vegetables for fresh. It's winter. You aren't getting fresh corn on the cob and if you do you are going to hell for not being a locavore and your punishment will be having corn that tastes like cardboard. Just sayin'. ;-) But realistically time and effort is an issue for everyone. I try to use home canned tomatoes, but when time and pantry don't allow, I reach for the Rotel. See that part about growing up on the Kansas-Oklahoma border. Only ingredient better in the whole wide world than ranch, is rotel.
I sometimes throw in pesto instead of fresh basil, because my basil plant is usually naked stems because I made pesto. It's an addiction, but I don't smoke so it must be okay.
I use leftover chicken in my soup. And sometimes canned. Shhhh, don't tell.
Pickapeppa sauce = Tabasco sauce. I like a bit of spice. You can leave it out.
I don't blanch my zucchini. I just peel it and cut it up and toss it in the pot with the corn. This is an excellent soup to use up the giant zucchini that got away from you in the garden. Most people eat it and think it's celery.
I don't ever thicken it with cornstarch. That is what crackers are for.

6) Focaccia: Corrections
I think this is my dear grandmama's recipe. It isn't mine or at least not one I've made in the past decade. Pesto is involved so it's got to be good. I'll put a link to my current fave (the one I'm chopping rosemary for in that oh so lovely photo) here just as soon as I retype it, sounds like a goal for tomorrow morning.

Oooky Spooky Class

2011-10-10T16:46:00.000-07:00

This is a class I'm teaching in a couple of weeks. It's all sold out (I ran out of castles!) but if you can snag the supplies, I've got clear shots of each page if you'd like to make one :-)

You'll need:

Pink Paislee's Hocus Pocus Line, embellishments & papers

Walnut Stain Distress Crackle Paint

Kaisercraft Beyond the Page Castle Album

Black Vine Ribbon

Black Sheer Ribbon

Tim Holtz Rosette Die

Scallop Border Punch

Glue (I like Zip Dry)

Make a pocket on the first page

Make another pocket on the back of the page as well

Punch holes in one of Hocus Pocus clear cards and use it as a page.

Punch holes in another one of Hocus Pocus clear cards and use it as a page.

Paint the rooftops with crackle paint. When it dries go over it with distress ink.

Now go back through the book and apply stickers. Fun and easy! Just don't watch spooky movies while you are making it like I did. I've got the heebie jeebies now! I think I'll throw a Young Frankenstein Party and put the pictures in this album...

hehehe

Fall Magic WCMD 2011

2011-10-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday, everyone! It is a beautiful fall day, the leaves have changed, the mums are blooming, and the scarecrow is the next thing on my to do list :-)

It is the perfect day to announce the winner of this Fall Magic Box Kit!

Drumroll please.....

The winner is Pamela Young! Your name literally fell in my lap during the drawing, lol. Please e-mail me at donya at backroadsplumcrazy.com with your contact information by October 17th, 2011.

I taught this as a class this time last year at Door County Rubber Stamps in Egg Harbor. We had so much fun! Everybody made such beautiful boxes. I think the most popular part was making the paper rose and coloring it with Twinkle H2Os.

Here are the instructions for everyone who wants to try this at home: Fall Magic Box

Well I hunted and hunted for the diagram I had made for folding the sturdy little origami box that makes up the heart of this project to no avail. But hurrah! Splitcoast Stampers are the best :-) they had a step by step list of how to make it.

Just go here:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/origami_box/

Supply List Details:

Stamps are all available at Backroads Plum Crazy or directly from Door County Rubber Stamps
I used decorative paper from Cosmo Cricket Flueriste Paper (Vineyard & Dew Drops) & Cosmo Cricket Flueriste Cardstock Stickers on the inside of each notecard
I used the Marvy Embossing Oak Leaf Punch and the McGill Designer Series punches to make the foilage out of vellum. Since then Spellbinders has come out with some really excellent foilage dies that I would highly recommend.
I stamped my main image, cut it out with Spellbinders Nested Maple Leaves (S4-228), colored the girl and branches with Copics, then created sky and leaves with a blending tool and distress ink.
Brown Vine & the Antique Gold Silk Ribbon are from May Arts and are to die for. Swoon.

That's all for today folks! If you have trouble with any of the steps or questions, don't hesitate to shoot me an e-mail. Have fun and thanks for visiting!

World Cardmaking Day 2011

2011-10-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

Yay! It's World Cardmaking Day! Time for some swag! I'm on the road this weekend, so no card making for me, bummer! I was up until the wee hours making these card kits. Leave a comment for your chance to win a kit and the stamp I used on the top of the box!!!

each kit contains materials to make a beautiful one sheet wonder gift box and a handful of 4x4 notecards. Everything you need is included (well, except glue)

Tune in Monday morning and I'll post the winners names plus instructions for making your own!

Harvest Glow

2011-09-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

It is another rainy Monday, but the leaves are starting to change, and I have a bushel of honeycrisp apples and a gallon of apple cider. Things to be thankful for. I think I'll go heat a cup of that cider while I tell you about this pretty thing.

It's hard to see in the cloudy gray light, but the card base is a deep plum. The rest paper is from the Harvest Glow collection by Reminisce. I love Reminisce because #1 they are from Iowa, like me, and are therefore super cool, and #2 Reminisce is eclectic. They have more than one style in their bag of tricks so you never, ever say Oh, yep, that again. #3 and final is that they made Harvest Glow. People just about fall over when they see this one in person at Backroads Plum Crazy. It is so beautiful!!! Now there's pretty paper and beautiful paper, this is the latter. It glows (hence it's name) and is just lovely, classic, and warm like apple pie. Ach, just impossible to describe so you better just go look here at Reminisce's site. Or better yet, go buy some. Because it's better in real life, believe me.

The stamp is of course, my favorite Door County Stamp. I used Memento Cocoa Brown to stamp her so the lines wouldn't be so prominent after I colored her in with copics. I think if I make more of them for card club, I'll try it in Potters Clay so she just looks painted.

To make the frame cut and emboss Spellbinders Classic Frame, but leave it in the die. Stencil Aged Mahogany distress ink through the openings in the die, then pop it out and go over the whole frame with Vintage Photo. Looks like the Classic Frame must be discontinued since I don't find it on the Spellbinder site. Pity, it's very useful. Hope you have one already :-)

Supplies used:
Memento Cocoa Brown Ink
Copic Markers
Kaisercraft mint flowers
Door County Stamp- Blowin' in the wind
Spellbinder Classic Frame Die S5 012
Glitz Teeny Letters
Reminsice Harvest: Harvest Plaid (just one sheet front and back)

Mmm, warm spiced cider and crunchy maple leaves. Hello fall!

Hot Stuff

2011-09-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

It was a rainy day and I couldn't bring myself to venture out to the shop to finish my crafty project for today. So instead I slept in incredibly indulgently wonderfully late. And then I baked.

You really must try these. So Yum. Every one of them.

Double Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies

at Epicurious

Rustic Raspberry Peach Pie

at King Arthur Flour

Rosemary Shortbread

at Epicurious

I also highly recommend you have one of each with a cup of Berried Treasure tea from the Tea Source. Mmmm. I love trying out new recipes for the bed and breakfast.

Burlap is the New Black

2011-09-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

I ordered in these awesome stretched burlap canvases from Canvas Corp for the shop. Having made this project, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to be able share the boxful. They are awesome.

I had fun in the cornfield taking pictures of my little project. So handy. Hope the renter doesn't mind if I bent a few of his ears are artistically arranged.

Supplies Used:

Canvas Corp 12x12 Burlap Canvas
Prima Alder Regent Flowers
Prima Pearls and Roses Swirl
Tea Dye Distress Embossing Powder
Graphic 45 Magic of Oz Paper- Scatterbrained Scarecrow, The Magic of Oz, There's No Place like Home
Alphabet Stencil & Black Paint
Vintage Photo & Black Soot Distress Ink
Foam Dots
Dried Wheat

Directions:


1. Fussy cut out Scatterbrained Scarecrow paper. Stencil the burlap canvas with black paint.


2. Add a little distress embossing powder in a pleasing manner.

3. Add some pearly swirls

4. Give the Dorothy quarter of There's No Place Like Home Paper a little rough love.

5. Then a little rub with distress ink to make it all better.

6. Fussy cut out Dorothy and the Scarecrow. While your are at it cut out the Magic of Oz banner from The Magic of Oz paper.

10. Glue the red No Place Like Home square you just distressed to the Magic of Oz banner.

11. Tuck a little wheat behind.

12. Add the straw colored flowers and a little more wheat.

And there you have your very own! Have fun :-)

Magic of Oz

2011-09-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

I grew up in Kansas. It wasn't black and white. Sometimes it felt pretty sepia toned, especially when I was in high school. I have to say I'm glad to be living in full technicolor now. I think that Iowa (where I live now) might still be stuck in an episode of Green Acres. That isn't all bad, what with quirky characters and the occasional adorable pig. But sometimes, just sometimes, it's time to run away to Oz.

Handily, I ust got the new Graphic 45 Magic of Oz paper. Sometimes you need one of everything. Especially Graphic 45 anything. In which case you might need two of everything :-)

I made me some home decor. I think Dorothy is your happy medium of happiness and good wholesome Midwesterness. And then like little good and bad angels on each shoulder, you've got your witches.

Glinda makes my teeth hurt. But you have to give her points for character. Not just everyone can carry off a crown that big. Takes serious Personality (with a capital P)

The Wicked Witch rocks. Everybody loves a bad ass :-) and the flying monkeys. That's just genius.

And of course you must have fabulous shoes. Must.

Supplies Used:

Graphic 45 Magic of Oz Collection-

Parcel Post
Goblin Gazette
The Magic of Oz

Door County Rubber Stamps-

Trick or Treat Witch
Trick or Treat Fairy

Misc.-

8x10 Oval Mat
Tim Holtz Rosette Die
Ruby Stickles
Vintage Photo Distress Ink

I don't have a Work Desk this Wednesday

2011-03-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

Last night I got the Spring Cleaning bug. I think they look a lot like ladybugs, but they bite. You know the cleaning urge that hits about the same time as the sun comes out and temperatures reach the 50 degree mark. So I don't have a work desk today. Today it is buried beneath things that used to be on the store displays. Lots and lots of things. It should be put back together soon, freshly scrubbed, vacuumed, and rearranged in a more Feng Shui manner.

In the meantime I'll share my work desk from this weekend at Vintaj:

Alcohol (ink) was involved.

Polymer Clay Bezels and Faux Enamel & Patina

My inky pieces. Two of these are polymer clay we modeled from the metal. So cool.

Shortly after this I got so involved I forgot my camera, so, you'll just have to be patient while I assemble al the pieces into finished works and post them :-)

You can see more class pics on the Vintaj blog HERE. I'm the one with the crazy buns and the green shirt. Or to see some arte metal hammering mayhem (about 20 people hammering at once) check this video out.

A great experience. If you ever get a chance to take one of their workshops, jump at it. It was about a semesters worth of art jewelry technique in one day.

Bonus! Finished Project from last Wednesday:

I'll be teaching this May 8th at Backroads Plum Crazy. If you're in the area, stop by! If you are not in the area, I know a great bed and breakfast, haha (I live and cook there, if you are new to the blog ;-)

To see more fun work desks, go to the Stamping Ground and join in!

On my work desk; a Summer Fantasy

2011-03-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

Has it been a week already? Craziness. I've been a busy bee this week, making banners of various forms out the whazoo. I did manage to back off from having taken over 4 tables and a counter at the shop and am back down to my usual two. Definitely an improvement. Gold star for me :-) !

The banner on the table is the last one to be finished of a seasonal series I'm going to be teaching at Backroads Plum Crazy. This one is Summer.

Antique Linen Crackle Paint makes pretty good sand!

The Old Lace Glimmermist on the canvas word doesn't show up too well in person or in the photo. I may paint over it, or maybe leave it as is, with the barest hint of glitter. More is less and all.

A few pretty beachy flowers. Positively minimalist compared to the other seasons, but it helps keep the airy feel. None of this is glued down yet as I ran out of hot glue and wasn't brave enough to ransack the office in search of a fresh stick. I get the urge to organize whenever I go in there. And by "organize" I mean take everything out of the lawn like a TLC show and put a great big "Free to a Good Home" sign on it. I'll try and sweet talk Michelle to get me one out later today.

In other news, this weekend I'm going to Galena. What is in Galena you ask? Nothing less than Vintaj, darling! Oh, and a lot of other cool historic things, but mostly (for me) Vintaj. I'm going to take their Art Metal Workshop.

And maybe a dash over to a stamp store ;-) I'm so, so, so, excited.Plus I'm staying a the Irish Cottage Boutique Hotel (ooh lala) which has a fairy ring and Woodchuck Cider on draft. Perfect for just before St. Patty's day.

Lil' Sprout

2011-03-07T09:18:00.000-08:00

Here's the baby cards for card club, made just in the nick of time. I was drying the stickles with a embossing gun just as the first car rolled in, lol.

The stamps are from Rubbernecker, a great little stamp company. I especially like their Goddess stamps. They remind me of Alphonse Mucha paintings. Lovely and unusual. Now that I think about it, I bet they'd look great with Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante collection. Anyway, train of thought back on the rails, you can check out everbody else's cards here.

Workdesk Wednesday

2011-03-02T20:05:00.000-08:00

Here's what my table looks like today and most days :-) This is actually the second table I'd made a fine mess of. I'll be doing an uber ten second tidy before card club tomorrow for sure!

I'm working on a banner for Door County Rubber Stamps, where all these little girl stamps are from. Oscar in Door County is a few weeks behind me here in northern Iowa, seasonally so I thought she could use a Happy colorful Spring banner. I need it, too. I clued in about 7:00 when my fingers started getting really cold that the furnace had been out for about 2 hours. Brrrr! I must have gotten a little wrapped up in my project if I didn't notice a 10 degree temperature drop.

My iPad playing an old Live With Prima show while I work. If you haven't watched these, go, do, they are so amazing. So much technique it makes me a bit giddy with inspiration when I watch.

Panel 1 was pretty much together already, I just added some flowers today.

This is my favorite one so far.

I had planned to use these flowers on another project, but they fell on this one and I kinda loved them and glued them down, so I'll be needing another package. Darn! (hehehe)

Put it all together and whaddaya got? HAPPY!

I'm planning a little kite flier for the last panel and am toying with the idea of some stripy paper ruffles and lace along the bottoms... It's so hard to stop embellishing!

And here we have what I had really meant to work on today- Baby themed cards for Card Club tomorrow night. Don't they look great? lol. I guess I know what I'll be doing tomorrow if I can tear myself away from that darn banner!

Love Notes

2011-02-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

My first fling with Cricut Design Studio. Oo la la, the romance, it has begun!

Weld the shadow from LOVE from Home Accents with the square from George.
Add a few wings from Indie Art to a Door County Girl to turn her into a sweet little cupid.
Dangle the smallest scallop heart from a string.

Katy Cat

2010-04-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

So this layout gave me fits this morning. Ever have those moments when you feel like you are putting together a puzzle and you don't know what the picture is? Yah, that feeling. Sometimes followed by grumbling and a trash can. Ok, no trash can. That's too much Prima goodness to give away. Luckily my frustration/need to take a nap level maximum coincided with the noon hour. An, Lo, the benevolent gods of scrapbooking did smile upon me- Prima posted their April Build A Page sometime during the morning. I love their Build A Pages. I have folders full of their sketches and samples. Oodles. And this Build A Page was perfect for what I had already laid out on my table, plus a few leftovers from my Raspberry Tea Album kit (which I'm teaching May 8th, if you want to have lots of good leftovers too) Inspiration, such a Good Thing. Thanks Prima!

Oh- and ridiculously cute cat, that's my adorable Katy, who is currently attacking my laptop case.

Made with Love

2010-03-20T01:46:00.000-07:00

The challenge is use only cardstock and the papers from a Basic Grey paper pack I've had in my stash for about a year. A friend of mine was also feeling uninspired by the Scallop Heart Nesties she had bought, so to make things interesting, use this set of dies on every. single. one. Turned out limiting your supplies is a great way to get inspired.

I stamped the my little baker twice. Once on the oval and then on a scrap so I could cut her out and layer her over everything with foam dots, making it look like her little kitty is behind her skirt. Ah, I love dimension. Speaking of dimension, if you haven't used liquid pearls may I highly recommend them to you. The red makes great little holly berries, or in this case, cherries and the other colors have a ton of uses too (perhaps a line of ivory pearl buttons marching down the back of a Victorian girl's gown, which you can see larger if you click on the image below). I don't empathize with this stamp, nope. Have you checked out Joy the Baker today? Or the Cupcake Bakeshop? Stamping and complex carbohydrates, there really is no better combo in my book. Plus the occasional adorable cat trying to trip you and make off with the goodies.

Card number 11:

Supplies:
Door County Rubber Stamps Holiday Baking
Inkadinkado Sentiment
Ranger Ivory & Red Liquid Pearls

May Arts Burgandy Silk Ribbon
Copic Markers
Kaisercraft Pink Rhinestone, Rhinestone Strips
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack

Spellbinders Classic Ovals, Scallop Ovals, Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts

Hearts Desire

2010-03-18T02:06:00.000-07:00

I used a silver paint pen on these scallop hearts, to gussy them up a little and accent their ruffles, plus then you don't really need to layer them up with the straight edge heart nesties sine you have a two tone look already. Sweetness.

Card number 10:

Supplies:

Krylon Silver Paint Pen

May Arts Two Tone Ribbon
Copic Rose Pink Marker
Kaisercraft Rhinestone

Crafty Secrets Lucky Wishes Stamp Set

Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack

Spellbinders Classic Ovals, Labels Four & Scallop Hearts

Shine On

2010-03-16T02:09:00.000-07:00

I used pens to add just that last little touch to accent this card. Spicas add a tasteful hint of sparkle and color to the sentiment and a gold paint pen makes the one little rhinestone into a great focal point. You could make tons of these cards for pretty minimal money if you think about it. I mean, just think how many rhinestones are in one of those Kaisercraft packs.

Card number 9:
Supplies:

Marvy Uchida Fine Point Gold Paint Pen
Copic Spicas
EK Success Postage Border Punch
Kaisercraft Rhinestone

Crafty Secrets Christmas Stamp Set

Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack

Spellbinders Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts

Onions have Layers, Ogres have Layers

2010-03-14T00:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, so no ogres, or onions. But there are layers, lots of heart layers, and more Ellie Pooh paper, which ogres must surely approve of.
Card number 8:
Supplies:
Ranger Inkessentials White Pen (my favorite to date)
Crafty Secrets Kewpie Stamp Set
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
Ellie Pooh Paper
Spellbinders Classic Ovals, Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts
You could stitch this, but setting up my sewing machine means cleaning a space. I'm not a big fan of decluttering, so I use faux stitching. Just use a white gel pen to create a dashed line border all around your card. I was really pleased at how well the Ranger pen worked on the super fibery Ellie Pooh paper.

Two Hearts, One Love

2010-03-12T01:00:00.000-08:00

I stamped a sentiment on vellum that layered over my patterned Bittersweet paper so soften the look and really make my two scallop hearts show up. I made the vellum top layer just a tad longer than the pattern paper mounted them flush together and then attached the two together to the card base with foam dots making it all floaty and romantic. The card base is made from Ellie Pooh paper, which is really cool and earthy but not so romantic when you know it's made from elephant poop!

Card number 7:
Supplies:
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
Ellie Pooh Heavyweight Paper
May Arts Two Tone Ribbon
Inkadinkado Sentiment
Spellbinders Scallop Hearts

Hay

2010-03-10T00:50:00.000-08:00

Here's one for all my rural homies especially the ones who've ever bottle fed a calf. There are few things sweeter than those big brown baby cow eyes peering up at you. Except for maybe if those big brown calf eyes are peering at you out of George Clooney's face ;-)
This pun is courtesy of River City Rubberworks, makers of probably some of the funniest sentiment stamps ever.

Card number 6:
Supplies:
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
May Arts Two Tone Ribbon
American Crafts Thickers
Door County Rubber Stamps Best Pals
Spellbinders Doodle Parts, Classic Ovals, Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts
Kaisercraft 12" Pink Rhinestone Strips

A Paisley Heart

2010-03-08T01:01:00.000-08:00

You can click on the pictures to see larger versions.
I'm normally not a big fan of paisley, but.... I just love this marbled paisley from Bittersweet. It just makes everything so lush. I heart it, like I need a full 25 pack of it just for me. Candy.
It's a bit hard to see, but I used Spellbinder's Impressabilities on the bottom half of the card base. I like the look and I love that there aren't any edges from an embossing folder because there is no embossing folder, but I'd really prefer a deeper more dramatic emboss. I think some experimenting with cardstock shims may get me the look I'm going for. How fun is having a pink inside of your card? Totally fun :-)
Card number 5
Supplies:
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
Spellbinders Impressabilities & Scallop Hearts
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick & Tea Dye

May Arts Sheer Organza Heart Ribbon
Look Ma! No Stamps! (shocking I know)

Yippee!

2010-03-06T01:07:00.000-08:00

You can click on the pictures to see larger versions.
Distress Ink is really handy to have on hand. It's cheap and adds such a nice finish to things. I keep my blending tool out all the time. And I do mean ALL. A cosmetic foam wedge would probably work for most of what I do with it, which is going over my paper edges. It makes things look just a tad more well, I don't think "polished" is quite the right word, I guess I'll go with "distressed" lol.
This card is an inside joke with Michelle from the shop in addition to being a pretty little thing.
Card number 4:

Supplies:
Crafty Secrets Kewpie Stamp Set
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
Spellbinders Nested Flowers (discontinued), Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick & Tea Dye

SEI Rhinestone Brad
Scor-It Board (used to create embossed lines on the card base)

Jewel of my Heart(s)

2010-03-04T01:01:00.000-08:00

You can click on the pictures to see larger versions.

Card number 3:
Supplies:
Cosmo Cricket Mr. Campy Green Velvet Scallop Ribbon
Crafty Secrets Sentiments Stamp Set
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
Spellbinders Classic Ovals, Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick & Tea Dye
Kaisercraft Silver Rhinestones

Sending Love

2010-03-02T01:01:00.000-08:00

This one is one of my favorites and I completely scraplifted it off of another person here (lots of great inspiration, really you should go check it out)

Card number 2:
Supplies:
Martha Stewart Lattice Arch Border Punch
Crafty Secrets Kewpie Stamp Set
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack

Spellbinders Classic Ovals & Scallop Hearts
You could use a template or a cricut to create a little envelope, but I just folded in the corners of a scrap square of white cardstock to make mine. Easy peasy.

Heart Attack

2010-02-28T00:58:00.000-08:00

Well I'm home sick today (the shop is open Sunday afternoons) with what is hopefully the last grand headcold of the season, so I'm all curled up with my laptop, my laptop cord munching kitten, and watching glorious weather reports of rain. Rain! So exciting to have rain not snow :-) and it's not even going to be FREEZING rain. Spring is definitely on the horizon. So I'm going to spread the love and catch up with you, my bloggy buddies, with a series of hearty cards.
The challenge is use only cardstock and the papers from a Basic Grey paper pack I've had in my stash for about a year. A friend of mine was also feeling uninspired by the Scallop Heart Nesties she had bought, so to make things interesting, use this set of dies on every. single. one. Turned out limiting your supplies is a great way to get inspired.

Card number 1:

Supplies:
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
Mark Richards Rhinestone Alphabet (X &O)
Spellbinders Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts
Kaisercraft 12" Pink Rhinestone Strips
The Greeting Farm Pirate Anya (I think she's been discontinued, but there's lot's of other great characters there that would look just as cute, like this sassy little number)

Oh Boy!

2009-02-18T11:37:00.000-08:00

Paper:          Daisy D, Anna Griffin
Die Cuts:      Elephant & Balloons by Cricut
                   Label 1 by Spellbinders
Stamps:        Brayton Alphabet by JustRite

Sorry for the blurriness of the photo. Every have one of those days where no matter how you sweet talk your camera, it's not going to take a good shot? Today was one of those days.

This card was made for a Baby themed card swap, but since all my friends (and I) are lining up to be Old Maids, I thought I'd come up with something that could swing for birthdays or other festive events as well, preferably ones that involve cotton candy. I love cotton candy :-) What you can't see due to excessive blurriness, is that I sanded nearly every square inch of that card and then rubbed brown ink over it in an artistic manner. Even the elephant, who looks way cool distressed, btw, like an 1950s storybook about a circus that was very well loved.

Spellbinders Designer Spotlight

2009-02-17T04:02:00.000-08:00

In case you want to feed my narcissistic tendencies and show Spellbinders how my public loves me ;-) Here is a link the design team spotlight on moi.
http://spellbinderspaperarts.com/blog/designer-spotlight-on-donya-schroeder/
I'll be back tomorrow with a few new projects. Ciao dahlings!

Might as Well be Spring

2009-02-06T03:56:00.000-08:00

Hooray, hooray~ It's up above freezing today! The birds are singing and the dog is chasing them all the way to the neighbors farm. Definitely something Springish in the air, groundhog be darned. Here's a pretty little card to celebrate:

This is an uber simple card, easily replicated for masses of Valentines or birth announcements, you don't even have any major coloring to do, just stamp the main image (Crafty Secrets) in Versafine Black ink. Normally I stamp images with Tsukineko's Archival Brillance Graphite so I can color them with Copics and not worry about bleeding, but with really detailed images you need that Versafine or you are going to wind up with a blob. A very sad blob.

I did this card once using Marvy punches and one with Spellbinder Nestabilities in what I suppose could be called a cardmaking version of the WWF Smackdown. Guess what? Nesties won, hands down. They just look way more polished, especially when you are working with vellum, like on the background scallop here. One other thing you can't do with the punches in that reverse stenciling technique to create a border (you can see a how to on reverse stenciling a couple of posts back, the blog party post). Nope that's not an extra piece of tan cardstock behind the main image, I just inked up the die itself with a light brown fluid chalk inkpad.

Winner!

2009-01-25T08:55:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Patty, winner of the Tire Swing Stamp! Here's what she wrote:
"I’m so excited! How awesome…I won something…I’m weeping so it is difficult to type or see what I’m typing. I’m so new to all of this and this ole dog is trying to learn all this new blogging, posting, and stamping stuff. Thanks so much for blessing me with this precious stamp."
Patty also had some great memories of swinging with her friends at recess when she was a girl:
"It reminded me so much of when I was a child however; we didn’t have a car much less a tire to use as a swing. At school during recess, my friend and I would swing all during recess. I loved that you colored her hair reddish brown as that is my hair coloring. Believe it or not, my hair was almost that long"
Personally, my hair was never long. I was one of those kids who cried when I got the tangles combed out of my hair (it's curly underneath the top layer, so evilly prone to tangles!), so my mom decided I was a pixie cut girl, lol. I always envied those long locked beauties!

This is my "tire swing"- an old rope that goes out over the quarry. Not for the faint of heart. There are picnic tables, old cars, and TADPOLES (eeee!) lurking under the surface of that water.

Bless you, too, Patty! And I hope you have tons of fun with your new stamp!

XO
D

Bone Idle

2009-01-24T09:45:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh, the sweet calm has arrived after the storm of preparing samples for CHA. In some ways I'm sad that I'm not going this year. I don't get to hang out with all my awesome crafty friends and do awesome crafty things...oh and I don't get to go to Disneyland! But... I get to breath! And I don't have jet lag! Boy howdy, is that ever a good thing! So today, as a treat I did ab-so-lute-ly nothing. Nada. It was gorgeous :-)

Part of doing nothing was going out with Alfie to chat with the horses, Red and Bud.

They are total posers, lol.

Then Gabby the cat and I curled up on the sofa and (finally!) watched the newest Indiana Jones movie. Harrison Ford is still a looker in my book.

Hope everyone is a having a similarly delightful weekend and don't forget you have 'til midnight tonight to enter for a chance to win the tire swing stamp!

XO
D

A big THANK YOU!!!!!! and Blog Candy!

2009-01-21T03:30:00.000-08:00

I got a lot of great comments on the tire swing stamp I used on this yellow card (also seen at the bottom of my Spellbinders reveal entry) She's a Door County Kid made by Door County Rubberstamps. We sell them at Backroads Plum Crazy, but if you can't get here or to Oscar's shop in Door County then do visit their website- their stamps are so adorable and work great with Copics!

I figured while we were "in the swing" (har har)) of giving away fantabulous things, I'd throw out some more blog candy! E-mail me by Saturday (the 24th of January) 11:59 PM CST at donya@backroadsplumcrazy.com and put "tire swing" as your subject line for a chance to win your very own!

Stamps: Tire Swing by Door County Rubberstamps
                Live by Inque Boutique
Ink:        Tsukineko Brilliance Graphite
Paper:    Buttercream Cardstock
               Yellow Gingham Paper from my stash bought eons ago
               White Cardstcock
               aged teal scrap
Extras:   Copic Sketch markers, Spellbinders Classic Circle and Pinking Circle dies, Pop Dots

A Special Message from Spellbinders

2009-01-21T02:56:00.000-08:00

The 5th Anniversary party for Spellbinders Paper Arts is nearing its end. Spellbinders’ staff is hurrying-- scurrying to get all the little details finished for the big “party” in Anaheim at the Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show. You still have until 11:59 CST, January 21, to enter Trudee Sauer’s http://trudee.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ blog contest. Then Spellbinders will be drawing for the Grand Prize Winner, and will announce the Grand Prize winner on the Spellbinders Blog on January 31.

Today, Stacey Caron, Creative Director and Co-founder of Spellbinders Paper Arts shares a special message for you, so check it out here http://spellbinderspaperarts.com/blog/a-special-message-from-stacey-caron/

I also want to thank everyone so much for their comments and e-mails! Hope to see you all around :-) and good luck!

Spellbinders Blog Frenzy

2009-01-17T15:00:00.000-08:00

"Thanks to everyone who entered the Spellbinders' 5th Anniversary Party to win my Die Template release. You can no longer enter to win my release. Please check out Linda and Trudee's blogs for two more chances to enter the contest.

Check the Spellbinders Blog for the announcement of Daily Winners. Grand prize winner will be announced on January 30th."
PLEASE NOTE: Commenting on this post is (very!) welcome but does not enter you into the contest. This contest is sponsored directly by Spellbinders Paper Arts. Please read the post to find directions for entering the contest. If you have any questions, please e-mail ContestQuestions@spellbinders.us.
Oh! I love this time of year! Everybody is coming out with all of their new lines for the year, but I think Spellbinders has topped them all for their 5 year Anniversary! They came out with some really excellent dies this time around (I love, love, love the ones I got!), plus Spellbinders is celebrating their 5 year anniversary by sharing 16 days of sneak peeks, with LOTS of drawings for dies!! Today there will be a drawing for the die I am showing you (the perfectly perfect Polka Dot Frame) and the previously revealed dies during the Spellbinders 5 Year Anniversary celebration. Each day an additional die is added to the daily giveaway list for a grand total of more than16 dies on the 16th day of reveals! Holy Smokes, that’s a LOT of prizes!

You’ll want to be sure and catch the two remaining sneak peaks!
JANUARY 19: Linda’s Works of Heart by Linda Duke
[http://lindaduke.typepad.com/lindas_works_of_heart/]
JANUARY 20: Follow Your Bliss by Trudee Sauer
[http://trudee.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/]
Winners will be announced on Spellbinders blog at http://www.spellbinderspaperarts.com/blog
And don’t forget you have until 11:59 PM on January 18th, 2009 to sign up for the give-away on Sally Lynn’s Blog [http://inkyheart.typepad.com/]!

The die template I’m revealing today is the Polka Dot Frameability. I love Polka Dots! They are so fun! I mean can anyone just think “Polka Dot” and not smile :-) ? The new Polka Dot Frameability is super versatile, skipping from fun and kitschy, sweetly vintage, or even elegant with just a switch of papers and ink.

Here’s the information you’ll need when it comes time to hunt this little number down: Polka Dot Frame: SKU # S5-016, MSRP $24.99
This die is a natural for all fashions of paper artsiness, it would be lovely on a scrapbook page, great on a card front, and lends itself to off the page uses as well. When I got mine in the mail, I’d just come home from having New Year’s brunch at Chez Colette (a wonderful little casual French restaurant at the Sofitel in Minneapolis). With La Vie en Rose stuck in my head and café au lait humming through my veins, I thought I’d make a little gift bag any lover of French couture would be proud to receive.

This project is surprisingly green; you only really need two pieces of paper, everything else is from the thrift store or *ahem* rifled from your grandmother’s sewing room.

For the bag you will need:
A die cutting machine (I love the Wizard and think it gives the best results)
Polka Dot Frame Die Template
Webster’s Pages Bloomin’ Beauty Paper
Worldwin Light Totally Tan Cardstock (this about the color of antique book paper which you can use if you aren’t concerned with your bag being acid free)
Silk and/or satin ribbons (yum!)
Two buttons
Old Sewing Pattern (preferably some size small horror that no one in their right mind would ever want to actually use)
Sewing Machine
Foam Dots
Craft Glue (I love Beacon’s 3 in 1 Craft Glue, dries super fast and strong)
Charcoal Gray or Black Ink Pad
Copies of a great old photo

The bag itself is blindingly simple. Score and fold the red polka dot paper in half. Tape or pin a length of black satin ribbon on each side to make a handle. Then stitch the ends shut with a zig-zag stitch on the sewing machine.

Using craft glue or some heavy duty double-sided tape, attach a ribbon band around the entire bag.

Now here comes the fun part! The frame! The pictures here are using the Wizard, which I find to be the best machine on the market (I do own another machine but it is a very dusty and unused thing), and we are all about quality, no? ;-)

Here’s a step by step of how I created the frame, if you are new to the Wizard or want to see how to easily use the Spellbinder dies in whatever machine you have at home, I’ve included a video demo by Stacey Caron at the bottom of my instructions.

Put your Polka Dot Frame (the biggest one) rough side up on the magnetic spacer plate (or white spacer plate if you have the Purple Wizard).

Place your tan colored paper on top of your die.

Put your second white mat on top, and run it through your machine to cut the base frame out.

Now here’s where the die starts getting special. Keep your paper in the die but remove the spacer plate and put the tan embossing mat on top of your paper.

Put on the top white mat, and run the sandwich through your machine. You now have lovely embossed polka dots… but wait there’s more! We’re going to stencil through the die!

This step works really well with smaller ink pads, but daubers of various kinds (example: cotton balls) work too. Rub the ink pad all over the open spaces in the die.

Wow! Check out those perfect little charcoal colored polka dots! No way could I have done those by hand! Now trim your photo to fit your frame and mount them together.

Repeat the above cutting and stenciling with the smaller polka dot frame die. Use this frame around your sentiment.

Okay, now you’ve got regular stenciling down, let’s kick it up a notch. Reverse Stenciling! This time ink up the smaller quatrefoil (clover shaped) die itself.

Then cut/emboss like normal. Pop the paper out of the die and you’ve got a perfect border!

Now just top it with a button.

And attach it to the smaller Polka Dot Frame.

Now put it all together on the bag with a little foam tape or pop dots.

I made a simple pin to attach to the bag handle, using the new Peony (S4-193) die template set and an old sewing pattern. Haute couture!

If you’re feeling like you want to go on with your Polka Dot Party, create a card to go with the bag from some leftover tan cardstock. I really like how you can create the look of a shaped card with this die simply by making your card base slightly smaller than your frame (a 3.25 x 9.5 strip folded in half is about perfect)

While I was creating this project it started snowing again. So I decided to take my own advice (Warm Wishes!) and make a summery little card using the same basic technique.

Here are the videos I promised: http://spellbinderspaperarts.com/videos

Now the important stuff- CONTEST RULES!!!!!!

Spellbinders 5 Year Anniversary Celebration
Sneak Peek Party Drawing Information

Spellbinders will randomly pick one entry from each of the 16 Spellbinders Sneak Peek Blog reveals as stated in the “Rules”. This name will be drawn to receive the die being revealed and any other dies listed as a part of said blog give-away. These entries must follow all rules stated below to be valid for the drawing.
Entrants visiting all 16 Spellbinders 5 Year Anniversary Celebration Sneak Peeks Blog reveals and correctly entering their information into the 16 separate drawings, as described below, will automatically be entered into a GRAND PRIZE give away of a full set of all 28 NEW RELEASE dies debuting at the Winter Craft and Hobby Association Show in Anaheim, California, on January 25-28, 2009!

Rules

Any participant wishing to be included in the daily drawing for the Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peek die give away must adhere to all of the following rules:
1. Participant must click on the provided link on Reveal blog to enter each individual drawing on sneak peeks between January 5 and January 20, 2009.

2. Participant must type in the subject line the name of the die being revealed.
3. Participant must send their entry for this blog before 12:00 midnight Central Standard Time on January 19, 2009.
4. Participant is only allowed to enter each of the 16 Spellbinders sneak peek blog give away drawings one time per sneak peek. Participant must use the same email address daily to be considered for grand prize entry, no exceptions. Please consider whether you will have access to the same e-mail from January 5th through the 20th and plan accordingly.
5. Spellbinders Design Team members and employees are not eligible for drawings.
Any participant wishing to be automatically entered into the drawing for the Spellbinders 5 Year Anniversary Celebration Sneak Peek Grand Prize drawing, must enter the drawing from all of the 16 blog reveals and follow all the above rules.
Please note:
*Spellbinders will only use email information to contact the winner.
*Spellbinders will not share this email address with any other parties.
*Spellbinders will not use this email information for advertisements or communications other than to contact the winner.
*If you wish to be included in further communications from Spellbinders, please go to their homepage SpellbindersPaperArts.com and sign up for their newsletter.
For more Spellbinders product release information go to www.SpellbindersPaperArts.Com
If you have any questions regarding the contest, please e-mail ContestQuestions@spellbinders.us

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, hope you are feeling inspired by all the great projects, and good luck!
-Donya

Sistah

2008-12-22T02:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, now everyone is going to think all my family listens to nothing but Metallica and Marilyn Manson (in truth it's more likely to be Cole Porter) but here we go. My sweet 16 year old sister. Yo.

She pretty much is hardcore, her favorite movies are Domino and Tank Girl... and this is what she wore to Homecoming this past fall. Whereas you could not have paid me enough to go to homecoming. Ever.

I cut a slit behind her arm and tucked an ornate white wing into it. The wing is actually a corner cut from the Storybook cartridge. I really wanted it on the page and couldn't figure out where to put it, then had one of those AHA! moments.
The pink lotuses are cut from Amy Butler's Lotus Tea Box paper. Background paper is Bobunny (same as yesterday's layout I did of my mom) and strip of skull paper is a sheet from DCWV's Rockstar line.

Rock on Mom

2008-12-21T02:59:00.000-08:00

This is my wonderful Mother :-) I think seeing this one might be able to see how I became who I am :-) This picture is a self portrait taken when she won a contest for a copy of the book Scrap City (totally awesome book btw) that I kinda sorta stole until she forced me to give it back, lol.

Find some good punky paper (the paper I used is by Bobunny)
Mat a black and white 5x7 with white cardstock and then black.
To make the title I used Flirt glitter alphabet stickers by Reminisce, but you could just as easily use red cardstock and the new Blackletter cartridge. I cut a guitar out of red cardstock using the Indie Art Cricut cartridge and tacked it on the end.
Voila on hardcore mama in 15 minutes or less :-)

I used to be Snow White

2008-12-20T02:57:00.000-08:00

...but I drifted- Mae West

The view from my front door. Part of that snow drift is the driveway...the black part is my car. Oh well, at least I have all of my Christmas shopping done, so I don't need to go anywhere. UPS delivered the last yesterday. I feel so sorry for those drivers, our poor guy has to go out in weather that would turn my hair and my knuckles white. Now I've got plenty of time to decorate, wrap, and bake, and no excuse! (like I needed one) Oh the weather outside is frightful, inside is so delightful....
One thing that I don't have to wrap- Merry Christmas to me! A new Copic Block Stand for all my Sketches. Oh, the organizational glory of it!

PLUS! I got new stamps from JustRite!!! and new dies to experiment with from Spellbinders for CHA!!! Oh heck, I may just have to dig my car out and head down to the shop after all. Then again, maybe after a cup of hot chocolate.... It just started snowing again.

Shock and Awe

2008-11-22T02:02:00.000-08:00

Harvest time is here again, the time of year when I rush out the cornfield with a machete to harvest corn for decorative shocks before the renter comes with his huge and much more effective machines.

Unfortunately Alfie had his own idea of what shocks meant.
I stumbled across the (not so) Urban Hennery while hunting up information on raising your own chickens (my two hens have started laying teensy little eggs!) Laura had a neat challenge going: Dark Days. The goal is to fix at least one meal from 90% local ingredients per week. I'm lucky enough to live near Sugar Creek Farm, a large Mennonite population, and a lovely grandmother who taught me how to put up corn and tomatos this past summer, which means lots of locally grown food is available. We also harvested and pickled bucketloads of BEETS which I have no love of. I decided to participate and see if the Dark Days participants can inspire beet tolerance even in this most prejudiced of persons.

Pssst

2008-11-21T01:29:00.000-08:00

You should head on over to the newly unveiled Spellbinders website http://www.spellbinderspaperarts.com It's really great, very pretty and most importantly-much, much easier to use. Check out the Inspiration Alley to see large images of projects or check out the new Blog for neat techniques and giveaways!

Mooooooo

2008-11-05T14:55:00.000-08:00

At long last! I downloaded my camera and snuck a few moments to scrap the new stars of The Dairy Barn B&B (aka my residence) Meet Thumper and Bumper, two new steers destined to be fabulous grass fed steaks. A bit unsentimental of a view perhaps, but I am very fond of ribeye and I'm trying to be a stronger locavore. They are very sweet calves. They like their ears and chins scratched just like big dogs :-)

Thumper and Bumper were actually being raised in secret by one of my uncle's friends. We've been talking in code about them for about 6 months before we suprised Grandpa Don with them. The lack of shocked reaction was kinda dissapointing, but that's a stoic old farmer for you. Don't let him fool you, he's just goofy over those two cows. Probably likes them even more since he doesn't have to get up at 4 am to milk them.

See Alfie. See Alfie the cow dog "gaurd" the strange new additions to the farmyard.

PS- Isn't that paper pretty? I just discovered Webster's Pages, I'm completely in love with them. It's Anna Griffin meets Basic Grey and them made 10 times more wonderful. Go check out their sample pages here - http://websterspages.ning.com/ I promise you'll be inspired!

Alfie

2008-08-24T05:22:00.000-07:00

Meet Alfie, the newest member of the Dairy Barn family. He's a 10 week old labradoodle whose favorite hobby so far seems to be chasing chickens.

Coming next week sometime are Thumper and Bumper. Nope, not rabbits, something a bit bigger :-)

Big Ole' Chandelier part two

2008-08-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

Here is the second half of that same chandelier overlay and two of my goofier friends (they were playing dress up in the mall's prom section). The background was too busy in the photo, so I just enlarged
it and then cut the girls out.

I am still very, VERY frustrated by Cricut's Opposites Attract cartridge, it eats up so much paper and the script letters don't flow very nicely into one another. All this could be solved by their design software, I know, but I have a Mac and and I don't know if I can really justify buying a whole 'nother computer just so I can make one cartridge behave better. Sigh. On the other hand it was just the look I wanted, so I just grumbled and trimmed the cricut cut letters by hand.
Caveat: I cut glitter paper with the Cricut. DO NOT DO THIS unless you are sure that the glitter on your paper can't come off. I think they call that style thermography or something similar. DCWV glitter cardstock, for instance, is safe (that's what I used) and Doodlebug's Sugared Cardstock is not safe. One of my friends used the sugared cardstock in her Cricut Expression- scary grinding noises ensued.

Big Ole Chandelier part one

2008-08-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

I stocked these really great hot pink chandelier overlays by Hambly in our shop, oh, two years ago? And I hadn't done a single layout with them, was totally stumped by their size and because I really, really didn't want to cover any of their coolness up with some lame-o photographs. Then I realized "oh, duh, I can cut them in half!" Since overlays are on the more expensive end of specialized papers, making the stretch through more projects is always good. Dontcha just love two-fers?

Just a quick FYI, if you're going to be journaling on overlays or other acetates, you are going to either need a Slick Writer or an Identipen. I really like the Identipens better because they are double-ended with one thick nib and one fine. Once again stretching one tool further. Yay!

Italian Herb Overnight Bread

2008-08-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

This recipe is based on the Mezzaluna Bread from one of the Dairy Hollow House Cookbooks, Soup and Bread, I think. That was a killer cookbook. In fact all of Crescent Dragonwagon's cookbooks were pretty awesome. I lived too close to Eureka Springs growing up to ever really justify staying at the Dairy Hollow House, but I'll always be a little sad I never did before they retired.

The background paper is some relatively old 7 Gypsies from my stash, the stems and title mat are cut from Flair's Fresh from the Vine paper. That sunflower that's really too big for the page but I love anyway is one of the new Spellbinder dies :-) very "under the tuscan sun".

Serendipity

2008-08-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

I know serendipity accounts for sudden fortuitous events, but I don't know if it can account for these midnight cupcakes and what ever I was channeling because I swear I didn't intend to swirl the frosting into roses. Just weird.

These were just ordinary chocolate cake mix cupcakes that I stirred some kirsch soaked dried cherries into, then topped with a buttercream that had a little ground fennel in it. Pretty tasty...and prettier than my usual slap and dash frosting methods :-)

The Envelope Please....

2008-07-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

And the winner of a lovely new set of Spellbinder dies is......

Julie Talford of Wisconsin

Julie's comment was.......

The spellbinder dies can be
used for so many various projects. Now that they have added so many new
dies the possibilities are truly endless. Thank you for a wonderful
product.

Congratulations, Julie! Hope you have tons of fun with your new toys!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone who visited, hope you got some great ideas!

Lucky #13

2008-07-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome to day #13 of the Spellbinders Sneak Peak! I know I’m all-a-flutter over the new dies. How about you? I get to share the new Shapeabilities Nested Set Butterfly (S4-171) MSRP $19.99 today! Woo hoo!

I know Wendy would have loved to have gotten her hands on this set for her butterfly challenges! Butterflies are so great, completely versatile, just like Nestabilities. Coincidence? I think not. One of my favorite things about nesties (other than the basic whole wonderfully perfect stacking ability) is that they can handle cutting through lightweight chipboard…or a couple of layers of cardstock, meaning you can make SHAPED CARDS really easily, which is what we’re going to do today.

You could do this with either of the two largest sizes of butterflies, maybe even the third smallest one, but that would be about the size of a gift tag for Barbie. This one is made with the largest die of the set.

You just need a regular sized card base (4.25 x 5.5 inches)

Place the tips of the wings just above the fold of the card, so they won’t cut through. I hold it in position with a bit of low-tac tape, so it doesn’t shift during cutting.

Here you can see how the cutting edge of the die is just above the fold.

Run the butterfly through the Wizard to cut.

Pop the paper out of the die. Oooooooh, aaaaaaaaaaah, a butterfly shaped card base :-)

Take that same die again, and this time cut out your card front. Isn’t it neat that the die is made so you can see through it and position it to capture just the right flower in just the right spot? Love that.

Now we need some circles nestabilities for the center embellishment (see perfect stacking ability)

Look ma! Perfectly Centered! I’m the sort of person who stares at the place were the wallpaper seams don’t quite match up, so this is important to me.

Tie a little twine around the center of the card for some texture, layer the circles with foam dots.

Throw on a couple rhinestones to just finish things off in a nice way and you’ve got a great Butterfly Shaped Card thanks to the brand new Spellbinders Shapeabilities Nested Sets: Butterfly. Tres cool.
Oh, and the pretty paper is from Fancy Pants and the cardstock is from Prism (that is GOOD cardstock, not flimsy ‘at all)

If you want to watch how to run these dies, here’s a video. I always find it’s easier to get things when you can see it being done.

Now here’s the important stuff- How to WIN your own set of these nifty little Nesties or, if you’ve been following the sneak peaks, then the whole shebang.

Spellbinders Birthday Celebration
Sneak Peek Party Drawing Information

Spellbinders will randomly pick one entry from each of the 14 Spellbinders Sneak Peek Blog reveals as stated in the “Rules”. This name will be drawn to receive the die being revealed on said blog. These entries must follow all rules stated below to be valid for the drawing.
Entrants visiting all 14 Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peeks Blog reveals and correctly entering their information into the 14 separate drawings, as described below, will automatically be entered into a GRAND PRIZE give away of a new RASPBERRY WIZARD and a $500 retail value die package!
Rules
Any participant wishing to be included in the daily drawing for the Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peek die give away must adhere to all of the following rules:

1) Participant must click on the provided drawing link on blog to enter each individual drawing on sneak peeks between June 30 and July 13.
2) Participant must type in the subject line the name of the die being revealed.
3) Participant must send their entry for this blog before 12:00 midnight Central Standard Time on July 13th.
4) Participant is only allowed to enter each of the 14 Spellbinders sneak peek blog give away drawings one time per sneak peek. Participant must use the same email address daily to be considered for grand prize entry.
5) Spellbinders Design Team members and employees are not eligible for drawing.
6)For official
answers to questions regarding this contest, e-mail kim@spellbinders.us.
Any participant wishing to be automatically entered into the drawing for the Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peek Grand Prize drawing, must enter the drawing from all of the 14 blog reveals and follow all the above rules.
Please note:
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CLICK HERE TO ENTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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and paste this address to send your entry to: NewDierelease@spellbinders.us)

Happy Happy Happy

2008-07-11T05:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Everyone for all the Happy Birthday Wishes (and ice cream!)

Say When!

2008-07-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

Just a quick reminder that this weekend's Cupcakes and Copics Workshops at Backroads Plum Crazy are full. Can't wait to see everyone!

Strawberry Angelfood Cake

2008-07-08T04:53:00.000-07:00

This is a wonderful summery cake that I got from the Food Channel's website. I think that may be #2 in the Top Ten Things I Miss from Living in Town- ie that I don't get to watch the Food Channel or TCM anymore. PBS is wonderful, in fact I have a button that says "A PBS mind in an MTV world" I think that's a pretty good motto for life :-) but it just isn't the same without being able to flip from Emerill to Cary Grant.

If I had it all over to do again, I'd probably re-do the font of the recipe and center the title, but I ran out of the letter R in my Anna Griffin rub-ons, and they were to neat looking to sacrifice, kwim? I do love my Angel Strawberry though!

A Tisket A Tasket

2008-07-04T03:55:00.000-07:00

My first hanging basket:

I am so sad that I can't get the Eliza collection paper from Anna Griffin any more. I used the tar out of that collection, it was so versatile. And it mixes so nicely with Rose Edgeability die (like I used on the trim here). On the other hand the new collections a pretty gorgeous, as usual, hard to feel too put out.
To make your own hanging basket is very easy, you only need one sheet of double sided paper (if you want a pretty inside) and embellishing with Spellbinder dies makes you get a real bang for your buck . To make this exact one you'll need:
S4 044 Rose Edgeability
S3 033 Cameo & Brooch
Anna Griffin 1046 (pale blue ribbon swag)
Anna Griffin 1054 (green pattern)
Anna Griffin 1037 (polka dot stripe)
Prism White Cardstock
Worldwin Doublemate Chocolate Malt
Copic R81 Rose Pink
Copic RV06 Cerise
Copic G24 Willow
Copic Airbrush System
Walnut Ink in a spritzer bottle
Black Ink Pad
Spray Glue
White glue
1/8” wide red line tape
Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares
Petaloo Tuscan Brown Velvet Hydrangea
Copper foil
Bee Charm
Tassel
Fancy Pants Crush Ribbon (blue lace)
Offray Ivory 1 1/2” double face satin ribbon (I have an addiction to this stuff, can't have too much)
And here's the obsessively step-by-step instructions:
Replicate the bee charm in copper foil. Fill in the back with white glue and set aside to dry.
Use spray glue to attach blue paper back to back with green printed paper.
Using a compass, draw from corner to corner to form an arc on paper. Cut along the line.
Put a line of red line tape along one straight edge and roll paper into a cone.
Cut a row of polka dots off of polka dotted paper and use it to trim the inside top of the cone.
Spritz the outside of the cone with walnut ink, wipe off excess and set aside to dry.
Cut and emboss Rose Edgeabilities out of white cardstock.
Airbrush through the die using Copic markers.
Pop the paper out of the die and cut off the frame part of the edgeability so all you have are roses.
Distress roses to age them.
Cut and emboss Cameo & Brooch out of the brown cardstock so the lighter brown side of the paper is the one embossed.
Stencil through the die using black ink.
Punch holes on each side of the cone, then thread and knot the satin ribbon through them to form a handle.
Feed the tassle through the bottom of the cone and hold in place with tape on the inside of the cone.
Use the big rose panel to trim the front top edge of the cone.
Put red line tape around the top of the cone and stick the blue lace trim to it.
The little roses then get glued down on either side of the main rose panel (over the blue lace).
Attach cameo frame and rose embossed center to the front middle of the cone with foam squares to make it stand out.
Embellish with velvet flowers and the copper foil bee charm.
tres jolie
I filled it with some random dried yard weeds and roses made from crepe paper. Now it hangs on the door to Rosie's Room at the Dairy Barn B&B, serving no good purpose but being pretty.
Don't forget to check Ellen's Blog today for your chance to win a set of the new pierceability dies (which would work really well for basket trim too ;-)
Time to go join a parade! Happy 4th of July Everyone!

Doodlebug

2008-07-04T01:35:00.000-07:00

Look what happens if you set a teenager loose in your art supplies

I must say, I am rather impressed at how well Rangers new white gel pen works on skin...

Though I don't think "temporary tattoo" is on the official list of things to do with Copics :-)

HCIT!!!!!!!!

2008-06-29T04:05:00.000-07:00

How cool is this :-) I love, love, love being part of giveaways. Especially such an excellent giveaway. Spellbinders RAWKS, hard core, yo. Be sure to check out all my fellow DT members blogs (who also rocketh much, yo) to see all the newness coming out at CHA Summer.

Here's the schedule:
June 30: Thinking Inking by Debbie Olson
July 01: Created From Paper by Jennifer Ellefson
July 02: Wickedly Wonderful Creations by Wendy Weixler
July 03: Embellished Dreams by Heidi Blankenship
July 04: Simple Dreams by Ellen Hutson
July 05: Caffeinated Thoughts by Michelle Klomp
July 06: Linda's Works of Heart by Linda Duke
July 07: Mish Mash by Michelle Wooderson
July 08: Inky Heart by Sally Lynn MacDonald
July 09: Cookies for Breakfast by Beth Pingry
July 10: PaperFections by Sharon Harnist
July 11: Today's Creations by Holly Craft
July 12: Donya Schroeder by Donya Schroeder (that'd be here)
July 13: Follow Your Bliss by Trudee Sauer

Wow! now that's a list! Good luck everyone!

Strawberry Season

2008-06-28T00:58:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love strawberry season? I don't think there's anything in the world that so perfectly epitomizes June as strawberries. I'd seen some paper piecing done to look like little petit fours in wrappers, and I thought- "What sheer Genius!" and promptly set about creating my own, only I opted for my favorite seasonal tea time treat- chocolate dipped strawberries in paper crimped circle nestability papers. I really love Crafty Secrets French Mail stamp, I think the little kewpie postman makes this card look like a delivery straight from your favorite patisserie. Mm, I think I may wander to the farm down the road and buy a few berries from their stand now...

Materials:
MME Wild Asparagus Maroon Floral Paper
Basic Grey LilyKate Posey Paper
Basic Grey Infuse Suffuse Paper
Basic Grey Infuse Stew Paper
Brown Cardstock
Worldwin White VellumPrima Ivory Flower Mix
Fancy Pants Ribbon Crush
Copic R81 Rose Pink
Copic E15 Dark Suntan
Copic R29 Lipstick Red
Paper Crimper
Corner Rounder
Archival Brilliance Graphite Black
Distress Ink Vintage Photo
EK Success Corner Adorner
Foam Dots
Dot ‘n Roller
Stapler
Crafty Secrets French Mail Stamp Set
A*muse Berry Much Stamp
Classic Scallop Circle Nestabilities
Classic Heart Nestabilities
Flower Creations 3 Spellbinders Die (discontinued, I think)
Fall Harvest Spellbinders Die (also discontinued, I think)
Cut a 4.25 by 5.5 out of the pink paper.
Punch each corner with the corner adorner punch.
Cut a 4 by 5.25 out of the floral paper and insert into the pink panel.
Tint the little white flowers with pink marker.
Age the shipping tag with brown ink and then stamp Berry Much and the little postman kewpie in black on it.
Thread 4 inches of dark velvet ribbon through the tag’s hole and staple it in place.
Cut 2 hearts of the same size: one out of the red distressed look paper and one out of brown cardstock.
Cut the top off of the brown heart in a wavy line then attach the bottom to the red heart to create a “chocolate dip”.
Corner round the bottom points of the hearts.
Use Floral Creations 3 to cut two green leaves to attach to the strawberry’s top.
Cut and emboos a pumpkin from the Fall Harvest die out green cardstock, then trim off the pumpkin part and attach the stem on top of the strawberry leaves.
Shade and create seeds on the strawberry using markers.
Cut a medium sized scallop circle out of the pink patterned paper, and a slightly smaller one out of white vellum.
Run the scallops through a paper crimper, then nest them together to create a wrapper for the finished strawberry to sit on.
Mount the strawberry on the scalloped circles using foam dots to create some dimension.
Attach the tag, tiny white flower, and scallop circles to the card panel, then attach the finished panel to the front of your card base.
C’est fine :-)

Romancing of the Card

2008-06-24T01:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, Big BAD secret.... I read Romance Novels. I admit it, and am coming out of the closet, lol. I just love all those shining knights in armor, all chivalrous. I suppose it has something to do with all of the fairy stories I cut my teeth on as a kid, you know, the REAL fairy stories, by the Brothers Grimm (they were a bit grim too) One of my favorites was always Briar Rose. So here's a sweet romantic card for all those with a soft spot for maidens in distress- little girls, brides, and ladies with secret stashes of paperbacks hidden behind their complete works of Dickens ;-)

Sandcastle Fun Spellbinders Die
Flying Beauties Spellbinders Die
Romance Trim Stampington Stamp
Black Ink Pad
Weathered Wood Distress Ink
18 KT Gold Leaf Krylon Pen
Crackle Accents
Ivory Mulberry Paper
White Vellum
Gray Cardstock
Crafty Secret’s Earthy Paper Designs
Sparkraft Gold Corner Sticker
Perfect Paper Adhesive Matte
A2 Card Base in any color
Cut and emboss sandcastle from gray cardstock. Stencil through the die with black ink.
Pop the castle out of the die and use the gold leaf pen to color the turret flag.
Cut six small butterflies from the white vellum. Pop them out and gold leaf their edges.
Cut a 4 1/4” by 5 1/2” panel from the Rose Diamond paper in the Earthy Pad.
Attach four gold corner stickers to each corner of the panel.
Cut a 1” by 5 1/2” panel from the turquoise distressed paper in the same pad.
Using the gray blue ink stamp the word “Romance” on this panel.
Tear a 2” x 5 1/2” panel out of the ivory colored mulberry paper and glue it to the rose diamond paper.
Mount the castle toward the top center of the mulberry, then attach the Romance panel in the center of the mulberry, slightly covering the bottom of the castle.
Bend the wings of the butterflies and glue them around the castle using crackle accents.
Attach the card front to the card base.

Sweet Bebe

2008-06-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

Yet another cousin's graduation looms nearer. I decided to help her aunt out and help her start scrapbooking, many hands make light work and all :-)

Blossom Baby Layout

Materials:
Kaliedoscope Diagonal Stripe Paper
Enfant Rose 7 Gypsies Paper
Nirvana Ultrafine Transparent Art Institute Glitter
Crystal Ultrafine Transparent Art Institute Glitter
Xyron 510
Storybook Cosmo Cricket Cardstock Stickers
Purple Butterfly Creative Impressions Brad
Yellow Glitter Creative Impressions Brads
Herbal Garden Light Prism Cardstock
Magestic Purple Light Prism Cardstock
Floral Creations Spellbinders Die
Doodle Parts Spellbinders Die
Directions:
Using pinking shears or a zig zag blade on your cutter, pink the edges of an 8x10 baby photo. Attach a sticker and brad to the bottom right corner of the photo, then mount it to a slightly larger panel of light purple cardstock.
Attach that panel to the 8.5x11 sheet of striped paper which in turn is mounted to the 12x12 pink baby words sheet.
Cut and emboss Doodle Parts out of light green cardstock to create vines. Attach the vines around the upper left corner of the photograph.
Cut a 5 inch square of light purple cardstock, then use the adhesive masking technique to cut it with the Floral Creations die and sugar with white and light blue glitter.
Bend petals for maximum cuteness and then attach artistically to the vines on the layout using glittery yellow brads through the flower centers.

Orangettes

2008-05-16T16:20:00.000-07:00

A new recipe page posted at last! You absolutely must take the trouble of making these- and they are a bit of trouble. Not difficult, but lots of steps, but worth it. Orangettes are a little French sweet made from candied orange peels, sometimes (always in my case) dipped in chocolate. Oh so good!

I was really having fun with my Stampington collage cubes and tried out the new 7 Gypsies Victorian Corners rubbings. I tried the black flocking and think it is tres ooh la la :-) The sweet couple and Eiffel Tower are Amuse stamps that I can't seem to stop using on everything.

Darlingness

2008-02-05T02:26:00.000-08:00

Oh, look at the darlingness of these aprons! Click here for aprons! I've been very excited by the resurgence of aprons. For the longest time, aprons were either so very, very tacky or so very, very boring. I have a collection of frilly vintage hostess aprons, but I love them too much too expose them to paint and ink. My own attempts at spicing up boring canvas aprons have been lamentable to say the least, and anyone who knows me and my crafty cohorts will vouch that we need aprons, preferably incredible, cute, swank aprons!

Tea Time

2008-02-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

Time to kick back with a cuppa of Earl Grey and my Recipe Club page for the month. Aaaaahhhhh, life is sweet.

The darling paisley is a Spellbinders Nestability set, the vintage looking stickers are from Crafty Secrets (they always do such pretty things), and the papers are from an old collection by Bo Bunny, I've been hording them forever.

Cue the Theme Music

2008-01-28T15:55:00.000-08:00

Every year I wind up listening to a set of songs over and over and over while I work on pages until it becomes a theme for the year. Last year it was Liam Lynch's "United States of Whatever", "Smile" by Lily Allen, and pretty much anything Imogen Heap recorded. I live in a really rural area, but my NPR station has a really good music selection that they play in the late evening. Really good as in no hip hop (which I do own one or two songs of, I admit) but you may actually hear Beck mixed in with the Bob Dylan. I expand my tastes there and this is what I've come up with for this year's theme album (so far)

1. Love the World You Find- The Flaming Lips (yes I admit, I'm an optimist, so sue me)
2. Soul Meets Body- Death Cab for Cutie (absolutely LOVE the video, you can see it at the bottom of this list)
3. Ballet for a Rainy Day- XTC
4. Eyes- Rogue Wave
4. Across the Sky- Emilie Autumn
5. Danke Schoen- Wayne Newton (yes, I'm also weird and have a strong sense of kitsch)
6. Even Angels Fall- Jessica Riddle (my concession to pop)
7. That's How You Know- Amy Adams from the Enchanted Soundtrack (I am a disney zombie, love that)
8. Oh It is Love- Hellogoodbye (aaaaand I'm sappy)
9. Lulu dans la village- Ann Savoy
10. I Fought the Law- Green Day (because sometimes you just need to bounce up and down in your seat)

That's the list of music I'm addicted to for the past, um, 28 days. Two Thumbs Up! Jog the old creativity bean!

Sing it, sister!

2008-01-26T02:41:00.000-08:00

The worst thing about winter is.........no garage sales! I'm going through some serious junking withdrawals. Of course, there are always thrift stores, but somehow the same thrill isn't there. I don't know if it's the warm ice tea left in the car, the sunburn, the giggling, or the whole day spent traveling pilgrimage like from shrine to shrine of junk, but it's missing from life right now like vitamin D.

Oh How Brave!

2008-01-22T03:16:00.000-08:00

The Fed-Ex man braved the cold and snow yesterday to deliver a most wonderful package. The rest of my Spellbinder Design Team Goodies! I've been a busy little snow bunny since then :-) Inside my magic box is:

Prism Cardstock and more Prism Cardstock, lots and lots! I love Prism Cardstock! It has a wonderful weight and texture, not to mention the lovely colors.
World Win Cardstock in oodles of variety. My other favorite cardstock for being double dipped. How spoiled am I? Very! I'm considering putting either Prism or World Win into my shop, but at this rate, I think people might want both....
Kokuyo Tape 'n' Roller and Dot Roller. Really, really extra sticky. It's a good thing.
Fancy Pants Stamps, Fiber, Chipboard, Felt, and Paper. Do a little happy stamp dance!
Sparkraft Paper and Stickers. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny :-)
USArtquest Gold Leaf, Duo Glue, and Mica. Already one of my favorite companies gave me more shiny stuff, yay! and mica, so I don't have to guard my current mica stash like a dragon.
Glue Dots. What can I say. I need more. Love 'em, constantly use them.
Lockhart Stamps. Initial Happy Stamp Dance becomes a little Touchdown Goal Victory Happy ever so slightly dizzy Dance.
Avery Printable Stickers and Tags. (Frankenstein monster voice) Tags good...
Purple Amaco Foil. You must try this stuff with the Spellbinder dies, it will rock your world. And Purple...need a Plum Crazy shop girl say more?
Krylon Leafing Pens. I've had a crush on these ever since I visited the Red Lead girls in St. Louis. Instant posh with a replaceable nib. We already had all the metallic flavors in the shop, but now I have the new Brights to try out.
Scrappin' Sports Paper and Rub-ons. Surprisingly very attractive papers for a sports geared company. Even lowly Donya, whose most vivid sports memories are injuries and embarrassments, will find a use for these.
Copic Markers, Multiliners, and AIRBRUSH SYSTEM!!!!! Just a bit excited about that one. Grandpa saw our sales rep use one last month and is pretty sure all of the customers at the shop would want one :-) he just likes firing up the air compressor I think.
Identipens. They work similar to slick writers, only nicer. I've used them 3 times to label things just today.
Chartpak Refillable Pens. Oh how they know us, and our compulsion that will lead to the need for refilling things.
Paper Glide and Tool Cleaner. Paper Glide, oh paper glide, Marvelous Paper Glide. But who told them I'd be messy and need tool cleaner? I wonder if it will get the Copic ink I airbrushed onto my Spellbinder dies off?
and more Spellbinders dies than you can shake a stick at! I'd list them all but I bet your eyes are already crossed from this list :-) You'll just have to wait for projects to appear using them!

God Told Me To

2008-01-19T03:22:00.000-08:00

I love Cainer's horoscopes, he has such a sense of humor. Here's mine (cancer) for this weekend:

Your Weekend: We interrupt this forecast to
bring you a message from the creator of the universe. Apparently, the
supreme being urgently needs to tell you something and has thus taken
the unconventional step of using this prediction to get the point
across. I must say, I was a little surprised when my computer went up
in flames as a deep voice spoke from above - but when I asked for
identification, God produced a passport. So, er... here is the message:
'Stop taking life so personally. And worry less.'

So I'm not going to worry about the amount of work I've got to get done this week, or why everyone around me is depressed/stressed/cranky, and I'm definitely not going to worry about the money I just spent on new undergarments (hey, they were on sale).... ;-) Though perhaps I should worry that my favorite astrologer thinks he's talking to God.

Everybody sing "don't worry, about a thing, 'cause every little thing's gonna be alright" teehee

Now is that 100% pure wool?

2008-01-05T07:42:00.000-08:00

I, for some reason, have never considered cable knit sweater vests as all that sexy...classic yes, but in a same way I'd think of Humphrey Bogart as classic, but not sexy.

I hereby publicly recant that opinion.

This is a rather interesting company that puts 19th century (one of my favorite centuries) images on clothes.

Thankyou Mr. Postman

2007-12-24T13:40:00.000-08:00

I am so grateful that the USPS and UPS deliver on Christmas Eve. I was *forced* to open these tonight, since I knew at least one of them would need a drink :-)

To start off, there's fodder for many a winter's night's dream: the new David Austin Rose catalog (insert wistful sigh here) and the new Life Images book from Somerset Studio. I swear I smelled roses the whole time I did my initial flip through the catalog.

Life Images is juicy. Every page filled with some incredible, deep, beautiful image and the photographer's poetry or story about the photo. I think I'll be turning to this book whenever I'm running a dryspell in my well of inspiration :-)

Isn't this bonsai absolutely beautiful?!?! I've always thought bonsais were fussy little creatures, but I have to say I completely fell in love with this one (a gift from my dad) when I opened the box. I'm not sure what kind of tree it actually is, but it smells wonderful. Green leaves and wet earth, so wonderful in the dead of winter.

Included with the tree was an absolutely incredible Narnia pop up book. It's hard to appreciate the sheer artistry of this book from a photograph, but it is amazing in person. Each page is a different book from the Chronicles. As someone who uses paper to make art on a daily basis, my jaw just dropped when I opened it for the first time.

Yankee Swap

2007-12-12T03:52:00.000-08:00

Nothing like procrastinating. I came up with this little box idea from the Somerset Holidays Special Edition on the last possible day, but it came out pretty cute.

The fairies on top is a sticker from Crafty Secrets and all that lovely glitter is from our new shipment of Art Institute Glitter. I also sprinkled some beautiful Spellbinder butterflies diecut from extra heavy weight vellum colored in with spicas through out the handle.

The words inside are microscope slide ornaments. Now I have to admit I'm really really bad at soldering, though I love the look, so I melted some platinum UTEE and dipped the edges of the slides in it. Doesn't look quite as nice as the real thing from a skilled solderer, but it does look better than the real thing if I had done it!

Here's a better view of the top of the box which I covered in a copied scrap of an antique letter and stamped with my new favorite Penny Black stamp (it looks like a doodle of foxglove) The wire flower handle is made from some vintage bridal flowers I found at St. Vinnie's.

Getting to Know You and Me and Others

2007-12-12T02:55:00.000-08:00

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
my grandfathers

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
yesterday when I shut my hand in my car door trying to get my seatbelt out of harm's way (see I would have been safer without the seatbelt)

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING
generally, but nobody else does ;-)

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
turkey (you are what you eat)

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
sadly I'm going to have to say my cat. but you cannot tell anyone he's my baby

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS
WITH YOU? sure why not, I'm friends with everybody

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM ALOT?
only in my head

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS
yep, unless those aliens came again

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
no. no freakin' way

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cereal (it's like peanut butter captain crunch only with chocolate balls too, how do you beat that?) or granola. I have split personalities, we like different things ;-)

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
No, I tend to buy shoes w/o laces

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
I rearrange furniture when I'm frustrated with things as therapy, so pretty tolerably strong

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Chubby Hubby, sweet and salty

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
do they require medical assistance

15. RED OR PINK?
both! it's a strawberry shortcake world! er rather, I love reds, but I understand the Pink of Goth as in there is nothing scarier and darker than Barbie.... and I look good in corals

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR SELF?
hmmmmm, my inability to finish thi....

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST
my friends, all of them, live way too far away

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?
if they feel so inclined

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
black velvet yoga pants and bare feet....and I've no intention of doing yoga

20. THE LAST THING YOU ATE? spinach artichoke dip, soon to be replaced by some form of cereal

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
the Be Good Tanyas

22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Burnt Umber, not necessarily widely recognized as beautiful, but really really useful

23. FAVORITE SMELLS? decomposing leaves, baking bread, coffee, recently rained on red brick, wood and grass fires

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE
PHONE?
my mom I think or michelle. I've slept since then.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
eh, he's pretty good ;-) (that'd be yes)

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
synchronized swimming or ice skating

27. HAIR COLOR?
strawberry blonde naturally, pink or fire engine red if I've dyed it

28. EYE COLOR?
Hazel, leaning toward Big Hill Lake Green most days

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? no, my eyelids are apparently inordinately strong and pop them out. that or I don't trust even my optometrist's fingers anywhere near my eyeballs

30. FAVORITE FOOD?
ooooh, steak and red wine, or by itself an orange

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
scary but not "horror" films. Sleepy Hollow or the Ring good, Saw or Texas Chainsaw Massacre bad

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Toy Story 2

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
leaf green when compared with my crayon box choices

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Why always extremes? Fall, I love the smell and the all day drizzles with random spots of pure liquid gold sunshine. or if I must choose between only Summer and Winter, Summer for it's thunderstorms

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
depends on whose giving them out. Hugs in general. People don't hug each other enough.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?
oranges or strawberries with cream and chocolate

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? no idea, depends on who is trying not to be constructive at work right now

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND
see 37.

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
A rather racy book I picked up for 25¢ at the thrift store. and Pretty Little Things which is a book about making glass encased collages by Sally Jean, really really cool book.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? a very grungy tweety bird that I found somewhere back in the store room, really ought to get my self something cooler.....

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV. LAST NIGHT?
I didn't watch TV last night because I forgot about TV, but normally I watch House and Boston Legal on Tuesdays

42. FAVORITE SOUND? katydids

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles. I only have one Rolling Stones song- Paint it Black.

44. What's the farthest from home you have ever been?
Costa Rica

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I can roll my tongue into 3 loops. Oh, and I can make pretty stuff and am good at rubbing muscles

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Waverly, IA

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING
BACK? David Bowie's

Woot!

2007-12-11T13:12:00.000-08:00

Thank You Shanalogic for coming out with this in plus size!

Those still looking for Christmas gifts for little ole' moi can certainly take this as a VERY LARGE HINT, lol. And it's PINK. Yay!

Click here to go to Shanalogic

Be sure to bop on over the Shana's other site: Pixel Girl Presents for the coolest desktop pictures on the whole world wide web.

what I do when I'm home sick

2007-12-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

I watch you tube. Yes I'm guilty, but you can find a lot of great clips from old movies on there. Today is Groucho Day. Man, I loved this song as a kid.

Ding Dong Merrily on High

2007-11-30T05:32:00.000-08:00

Just got back in from Kansas and a visit to the old aged Ps. It was wonderful to see the old stomping grounds, but boy is it true that you can't go home. They'd ripped down 4 houses on my block, so that our house is now the first on on the block (we used to be the middle). My mother says she's thinking of setting up a croquet lawn. Yet another example where I get my crazy from. I dropped off her birthday present while I was down there, a couple of weeks early. Now here is where she and I differ, I would have ripped into that brown paper hard core lickety split, but she has restraint! pffft. Now I have to recruit my little sister to take a picture of her face as she opens it.

I've been dying to use this petaloo rose on something, so Mom got a big pink themed gift, even though her favorite color is dried blood red (her description)

The gift tag is made from a glimmer misted shipping tag, the roses from the Spellbinder Rose Frameabilities set. Those beautiful letters are hard to appreciate online, but are embossed Spellbinders alphas too. The other side has a vintage perfume label on it.

I also broke out my Heidi Swapp masks for the first time. I think I'll be brining them out more often! I just started with brown craft paper, laid the mask down, spritz spritz, and voila... not to shabby for running out of real wrapping paper and being to lazy to drive to town and buy some.

I wonder if anyone can possibly guess what's inside? If only she'd opened it! I'm so bad at waiting, makes me itchy.

Spellbinders Design Team!

2007-11-18T12:28:00.000-08:00

http://www.spellbinders.us

follow the link and looks at the 3rd name down. Sqeeeeeeeeeee! I wasn't allowed to tell anyone before Thursday. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah yeah yeah!

Anthropology and Scrapbooking

2007-11-18T11:58:00.000-08:00

Here is a documentary with a rather hot narrator about a scrapbooker's native habitiat. I laughed I cried, I stole ideas :-)

What Lurks?

2007-11-18T11:55:00.000-08:00

So I'm driving home after a late night run to my shop and I here
scriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch. And a few seconds later I here
scriiiiiiiiiiiiitch again. And then it starts to form a regular pattern
and I'm like Aaaaagh! It's the CLAW MAN! I'm freaking out turning my
head without trying to wreck the van to see who/what is making the
noise. Yeah, about the stop sign I realize the back window wiper is
going on a dry gravel dust covered window. No claw handed man.

Does anybody have?

2007-11-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

I'm
searching high and low for some copies of files I made a year or two
ago. Desktops specifically. Digikitten, the place where I thought they
were safely stored is no more (booooooooo). I made a desktop of Ce and
Mel at a witches conference with the photo of them in the crazy
hats..... If you have it I will personally bake and send you a cupcake
if you send me a copy.

Remember.....Jesus Saves, but you have to backup your own hard drive.

Brain the Size of a Planet

2007-11-18T11:48:00.000-08:00

http://www.digikitten.com/

this has to be THE funniest 404 I've ever found, but then I'm a geek.

First Snow

2007-11-18T11:22:00.000-08:00

Oh, hooray! I love the first snow! It doesn't look like it will stick, but it's beautiful to watch all the same. Time to pull out The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and a cup of hot chocolate. Now I just hope that the weather doesn't slow up all the lovely packages from Copic and Penny Black on their merry way to the shop.