The Paper Spa: Relaxing with Paper

Paper Spa vs Day Spa

2012-02-07T15:18:00.005-06:00

Why does it seem like there is more work in a day than play? I would love to spend more time in the PAPER SPA than I do - but since I do LOVE doing massage, I spend more time at the DAY SPA giving health related massages - and my paper spa suffers knots!
Well, anyway - on to my long anticipated post - you WERE anticipating, right? I got an email this morning that OWH is having a Virtual Card Making Party and since most of my cards go to OWH - though I haven't sent them cards in a VERY long time - I decided I would jump in on some of the challenges - well, at least one!! The first challenge was called HOT TROPICS - it was posted last night I believe. You can find the challenge here, but I will tell you a little bit of information to get your mind rolling while you finish reading my post and then head on over there. Use HOT PINK, green and yellow on your card. Any theme and sentiment is fine.
I was working on some cards for a 'class' I hope to do on Thursday night with some friends and while I had the stamps out, decided to change up the color scheme and make an identical card for the challenge. What you can't really see in the picture is that I punched the oval out of an additional image and popped it above the existing one. I also noticed that I forgot to add the pearls just below the ribbon - I will have to do that before I send in my card. Do you want to see the original card I was working on? The original card doesn't have a matte like the new one I created and the ribbon I used on the new one is not scalloped - it is a retired melon mambo dotted grosgrain and the new ribbon is a scallop edged - which I love. I have this ribbon in three colors now - Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler and this Old Olive. It also comes in Melon Mambo - but since I have this retired one, I will use that up first before I order more especially since I need other colors of ribbon - like Elegant Eggplant, Marina Mist, Pretty in Pink and Tangerine Tango - just to name a few of the colors this wonderful ribbon comes in. I love using ribbon on my cards, but never seem to have the right color to coordinate. Of course, by the time I finally get the colors I want, Stampin' Up! comes out with a new catalog and new ribbons and the ones I took forever to finally get, are now obsolete - good thing the colors still coordinate.
so, my friends and I will be making two cards and then a Valentine Coupon book - all of the items I learned how to do at the Regional Event I attended back - oh, some time ago!! There are SO many ideas out there and it always seems like I am one supply short of doing a project - so, even though I just received an order this week - I am ready to place another!! Sigh!
Now, head on over to the OWH Stars and Stamps site and see what other challenges they are putting out there.

~Paula~

I have been crafting - just not lately!!

2012-01-10T15:39:00.003-06:00

Looking at my blog - I see it has been a very long time - over two months since I have posted anything. Today I was working on a digital layout for an online class I am doing. Would you like to see it? The class is a year long class titled My Life - Brilliant. The class is through Digital Scrapper. I have been a Premier member for a few years now and have even signed up for a few classes - though have never completed any of them. :) This one I think I will find a bit more doable. The idea is to create a photobook about your life - with the minimum of making a two page spread each month following the theme of the month. This month the theme is about the People I love. Since I adore my children and my husband, I found this would be a great place to start. This is only the first page, and doesn't include a picture of my oldest son since I don't have any recent pictures of him. The adjoining page will be more of a journal page about why I love each of these wonderful, fantastic children and husband of mine! :) This page is sure to be tweaked before the end of the year - and possibly even the end of the month - we will see.
I hope you all had a fabulous holiday season. I didn't send out any greeting cards - but I did have fun making a bunch of gift card holders and even crafted with my youngest daughter and friend Lisa during the middle of December. I sent some card making kits to my mom siince she enjoyed doing some crafting with me during her visit here in October.
My work as a massage therapist has picked up tremendously and I find myself with less time to create in my craft room - however, things will balance out soon, and I hope to find more time to craft - especially since I just got a large Stampin' Up! order of some of the goodies in the new Occasions mini catalog and some of the new Sale-A-Bration items that will be available later this month with a $50 order.
Thanks for keeping up with me and do come back in the days ahead as I do plan on creating some new items soon.
~Paula~

Snowflake Card

2011-11-08T10:30:00.004-06:00

Sometimes, creating something simple is the best way to go. I often get caught up in trying to make cards and such just like someone else's that I lose sight of who I am and what my style is. Well, with a little help from the Paper Crafters Library Makeover Monday Challenge I am getting inspired to not only create, but to do it in MY style!! Today, the challenge is to make a snowflake card - you can see the inspiration that Andrea found on the internet and how she made it her own. Here is my version of the card. Now, what you cannot see is the very light stamping on the bottom of the card. I looked through my clear stamps - you know the ones you get in the dollar bins at Michael's or other hobby stores. I have had them for quite some time and seldom use them. But I used several snowflakes on the bottom and stamped them very lightly with bashful blue. The snowflake is from Sweet Stamps. I stamped the snowflake three times with bashful blue and then fussy cut around the outer edge, then cut the two inner snowflakes and then used very thin dimensionals in between the layers to give it a 3-D look. (Though it is hard to see this from the picture) I added the sentiment with marina mist. I used bashful blue taffeta ribbon (retired) on the front of the card placing the snowflake on top of that and then adding the rhinestones (a find at Wal-Mart!) I like the way the rhinestones coordinated with the blues that I chose for my project.
Now, hop on over to the Paper Crafters Library and check out the tutorial. Andrea always has a video tutorial each Monday and the prize if you enter is a GORGEOUS Advent calendar kit. I have actually created a similar advent calendar after watching the tutorial that Andrea created. I will be sharing that with you all once it is completed. I will also have a little extra tidbit, so come back often and watch for that.
Now - back to my crafting!
~Paula~

What are the Trick or Treaters Getting at My House Tonight?

2011-10-31T15:07:00.005-05:00

Today it is Halloween - a 'holiday' that I don't get much into in! However, living in a HUGE housing development, there are MANY MANY children that are bound to end up on my doorstep tonight. (I have heard the whole town shows up!!) Since this is our FIRST Halloween in our new home, we will see how it goes. I remember last year at this time, we were awaiting my husband and friend to come rescue us from Gallup, New Mexico when my oldest daughters car broke down. Some of my readers will remember that as they followed us along the trip. ~Smile~
So, back to tonight. I went out and bought LOTS of candy - I wasn't sure if the two filled bowls would be enough, so went out again this afternoon and got some more - I will wait to open the big bag until I need it, right? Who knows - if I don't use it, it could end up in Christmas stockings!! Now, I have another treat for the MOMS!! Want to see what the first 50 or so MOMS will get when they come to my door? I made these little treat bags using the 'It's a Wrap' set from the Holiday Mini to wrap the Hershey nuggets. I put them in the cello bag and added the tag. On the back is my business card adverstising my Stampin' Up! Business. There are about 20 of these little bags. Then I made these adorable little bags. I got the idea for the bag from another Stampin' Up! Demo - Monika Davis (monikastamp.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/birmingham-regional-paper-bags) Monika shared this idea at the Regional event I went to earlier this month and I just HAD to make these little bags and what better way to share what I love to do with card making than putting a little candy bar in the bag with my business card. I have about 30 of these - and could have done many more - but just ran out of time with all the things going on these past couple of weeks.
I have made more of the mug covers - except the ones I made are for an event happening next weekend in California. I sent them off to the coordinator of that event. I have watched more crafting videos and have more ideas swarming my head than I have time to think about. I have ONE client tonight at 5:00 - so will have to run out and do that treatment and then get back here to help pass out candy to the little goblins and princesses that show up at the door.
For all of you in the US that will be out on the streets tonight - be safe.
~Paula~

What's in your Purse?

2011-10-21T12:21:00.003-05:00

What can you do with a 6" square of Cardstock or DSP? Make a purse!! I was surfing around Splitcoast Stampers this morning - actually looking for a different tutorial and happened up a tutorial that shows you how to make this adorable little purse from a 6" square of cardstock or DSP. There are actually quite a few tutorials out there on this technique, all just slightly different, but the end result is just as sweet. whenever I find some kind of tutorial like this, I like to make one up and just see how it turns out, so I just grabbed a piece of retired DSP from SU, but the 6" square and set about the score and fold. The tutorial mentioned using the large oval punch for the purse clasp, but I don't have that punch yet, so I used my decorative label punch folded in half. Now, every purse has some sort of hardware on it, right? So, I got out my container of brads to see if I had anything that would work. These little silver brads worked perfectly. I needed some sort of embellishment for the clasp - so I just cut the smallest nestibilities scallop oval and plain oval that I have. A button, or designer/vintage brad would also work nicely. Now my sentiment I created using the decorative label punch. I cut the label, then placed the label back in the punch - using a piece of post it note to hold it in position and punched about a 1/4" of the way in. If you turn it around and do that again, you will get two labels like this. The piece that is left over looks kind of like a table leg - so you could actually use every bit of this punched and punched label! :) Now, I started to used my thin magnets to hold the purse shut - however, since they were not hidden behind carstock, they were not cooperating, so I bought very thin clear velcro strips at Wal-mart and they work perfectly. Now, when you open the purse, guess what you will find? Yep - you guessed it - more nuggets. This time, I just took some of the same paper used to create the purse and wrapped them around the nuggets. You could also put a fun size candy bar in the purse, or lip balm, or some other small item of choice. Now, I was thinking of making up a few of these to give to my daughters and their friends - wouldn't that be just such a fun little gift. How about party favors at a little girls birthday party - or a favor on a table for tea. The possibilities with this one are also endless. Now, think of all those 6" x 6" pads of paper you have - I think you better start making a list of all your BFF's that are going to get one of these!!
Thanks for stopping by the spa today - as you can see, I am having alot of fun playing with paper and relaxing - life doesn't have to be filled with stress when you have paper to play with! I hope you will visit again soon - and see what other fun ideas I come up with (or case from others!!)
~Paula~

Another Treat Bag

2011-10-21T12:09:00.004-05:00

I have been having alot of fun making various different treat holders and toppers for little bags filled with wonderful chocolate! I recently got the 'It's a Wrap' set from Stampin' Up! and just HAD to create something. I love the Top Note Die and the versatility in using it. It makes a very quick topper for just about any little treat bag and it can be decorated in so many different ways. Since the Fall weather is upon us - and I LOVE the changing of the colors I decided to do a topper with that in mind. I used More Mustard as my base and then stamped the leaf - from the French Foilage set - in more mustard and then took my pool party marker and touched the edges a bit creating a two toned leaf. I cut that out and then added a dimensional to the back - added a strip of the spice cake DSP and my topper is ready for the treat bag. The little nuggets are covered with very vanilla cardstock stamped in more mustard and old olive. I stamped the wraps before I knew what I was actually going to do with them, otherwise I would have coordinated a bit better with my DSP. You all KNOW how much I like things to coordinate. This would be a fun class to do with a few neighbors and friends - and I might just have to plan one of those sometime soon.
I have one other project that I just HAVE to share with you - however, it deserves it's own individual post!
~Paula~

What's in a Coffee cup?

2011-10-21T09:25:00.005-05:00

First, I must say - I don't drink coffee - so, my cup won't be holding any coffee - hot chocolate or tea maybe, but not coffee. However, I found this ADORABLE pattern at the Fabric store the other day - and just HAD to create one of these. Now, I am sure you are asking 'okay, what is this?' Well, it is called a MUG COVER. When I saw it I just had to have it - so much so that I just bought the pattern instead of waiting for a sale. I had bought fabric from Stampin' Up! last Fall when they came out with their new fabric and hadn't done anything with it because I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with it. This fabric set is called Deck the Halls and goes along with their Bells and Boughs Stamp set. Anyway, back to this little project. The mug cover has pockets on the inside and on the outside, so you can really fill this up with all kinds of goodies. I am using it for my stamping tools and let me tell you - it is SO easy to find the items I need right there in front of me rather than digging through another less attractive container. This little project went together SO fast too. Of course, I have been sewing long before I ever knew what a stamp was - so it was a quick little project for me. Just think of the possibilities with this little cover! A cup filled with sewing tools for those that sew, perhaps filled with markers and paint brushes for those that like to do watercoloring with markers. How about one filled with colored pencils and tools for the student? The ideas are quite endless really. I am planning on making several of these for holiday gifts.
I hope you appreciate my diversion from paper to show you my cute little tool holder project. I have created a button where you can order your mug cover - you will find it in the right sidebar. The choices of fabric are limitless as I have a huge stash of fabric, so email me and let me know what your favorite colors are. I have a limited supply of the Stampin' Up! fabrics presently.
~Paula~

What's Been Happening in the Paper Spa?

2011-10-20T11:41:00.010-05:00

Wow - I didn't realize just HOW LONG it has been since I lasted posted ANYTHING to my blog! So much has happened since I last posted! I am no longer working in Fast Food - YAY!! I am now working at a spa doing what I love best (besides crafting which I love just as much). I have been a Massage Therapist for nearly 7 years now and when I moved last year, it just took me awhile to find everything I needed to get my license where I live now. So, I finally got it - and am happy to be doing massage again! What a WONDERFUL profession!
Anyway, with the change in jobs, I have been able to find more time to create - and I have been doing a bit of that. My mom came to visit this last week and we had a couple different days where we created together. She is a quilter so doesn't do much in the paper craft area - but she had fun. Would you like to see some of the things we did? I thought so!! But first - I also have to mention that a few days before she got here, I went to a Stampin' Up! Regional event and learned SO much - so some of what we did incorporated what I learned there. One of the WOW sessions that was taught was using shaving cream to create gorgeous backgrounds. I had heard of this technique - for many years now - but had never tried it and when I saw it demonstrated it was just SO cool that I had to try it. Mom and I had fun playing with this - but wow was it ever messy. You don't have to use alot of shaving cream either! I made this card from the scrap pieces and then did an ornament as well - I will show you the ornaments in a bit. Here is a closer look at the design on the card after the shaving cream was applied. I used Pumpkin pie, Cherry cobbler and wild Wasabi (I think) for my colors of re-inkers. I like how the pattern on the paper almost looks like an Iris. What do you think?
We made some ornaments - since I had placed an order and it came a day after mom arrived, so we had fun playing with the new punches. I only have one set that has an ornament stamp in it that coordinates with this punch, however, there are a few more that I intend to get soon. This punch would also make a lovely 3-D image on a card just by punching 4 of the ornaments out, folding three of them and then layering them onto cardstock. I will show a sample of this in the coming days. Another idea that I got from doing swaps at the Regional Event was for a Hershey Nugget holder. I got two different ideas - one for a Santa face and one for a reindeer. I took the idea and jumped off from there creating a fall themed nugget holder. This was SUCH a quick little project to make and you can do these for all the different holidays just by changing up the colors and images that you use. I just used the flower Daisy #2 die and layered the daisies adding a button to the middle. I cut the scallop with my nestibilities since I don't have the scallop punch from Stampin' Up! - YET! To keep the nugget (I know - there wasn't one inside this holder when I took the picture) from sliding around, I just placed a glue dot on the back of the nugget. I can see these little holders being used for a TON of things - Christmas, Valentines, St. Patricks, Birthdays, etc for your friends, family and co-workers.
For several weeks now, I have been participating in the Club 52 over at the Paper Crafters website. Each week there is a new technique that is introduced. A couple of weeks ago, this technique was introduced. It is called Surf and Sand striated background. It was fun to play with this technique while mom was visiting. I couldn't find any stickers or other sun type embellishments in all my tons of stuff - but I found these stickers and thought it would work. I am putting the tags together in a technique 'book' so that later on I can go back and look at them when I am at a loss for something to create.
One of the last things I did with my mom was create a little 'Cake'. I have done this once before - it is a really quick and fun little project. you just take one of those battery operated tea light candles and decorate it to make it look like a cake. I chose to use the new Holly Berry DSP and the quilted Cherry cobbler ribbon for my little cake. I used some diamond stickles for the top adding a bit of sparkle to eash of the scallop edges. I have many more projects that I am in the midst of creating - one is actually a sewing project - I haven't done any SEWING in forever!! Before I fell in love with stamping, I sewed - and still do ocassionally - but usually for my dolls - since they don't change sizes and everything I make them fits when I am done!! :)
Thanks for stopping by the spa - as the holidays approach, I will be sharing more fun projects to get you through the holidays.
~Paula~

Had a Moment to Craft

2011-08-22T14:37:00.003-05:00

I haven't had much time or opportunity to craft lately - well at least not in my craft room - I have actually been working on a digital project for the last week - and it is nearly done now. But today, I decided to take a few moments and make a card for the Elizabeth Bell Challenge for July (I know - it is August but this challenge is for the July challenge which ends today). the challenge was to make a Christmas Card - and I love doing Christmas in July projects - not that I have had time to do any - but it IS a nice thought! :) Anyway, I had gotten some whiff of Joy stamps - I think another win from another blog, but I can't remember - I chose Lizzie with Muff because to me it says winter and winter says Christmas! I started with a Cherry Cobbler base and added Always Artichoke as the base of my card front. I decided I wanted to make an easel card and had been thinking about this card for a couple of days. I knew I wanted to use the Deck the Halls DSP (now retired) on my card somehow. I had a piece of the paper - not wanting to cut into anymore of that gorgeous paper before I use up scraps and bits. I colored my image with my prismacolor pencils and then matted with the Cherry Cobbler. I don't use buttons very often, but decided I would use some of these rather large buttons. I also added some faux stutching around my image and also along the edge of the very vanilla cardstock. The card is much simpler than I pictured in my mind - but I think my mojo is waning right now - so this is as good as it gets.
I used the following supplies on my card:

Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, and Always Artichoke Cardstock
Deck The Halls DSP
Bells and Boughs Stamp set
Lace Ribbon Border Punch
Linen thread
Soft Suede marker
Prisma Color Pencils
Lizzie with Muff image from Whiff of Joy
Deck the Halls Buttons
Thanks for stopping by to see my project.
~Paula~

A 'Cased' Design

2011-08-05T14:14:00.006-05:00

Next week my middle daughter will be 18!! Where in the world does the time go? We are having a birthday party for her and she wanted a Hawaiian theme. After seeing these adorable notepad holders on fellow demonstrator Patty Bennett's site, I had the idea to make some of these as gifts for my daughters friends who are coming to the party. I used the Beyond the Garden DSP to make her invitations and decided that I would use this same paper to make the adorable notepad holders with matching notepad. I designed the insert using My Digital Studio (118108) and the Digital Downloads Beyond the Garden DSP (124109) and the Digital Download Fabulous Florets Stamp Brush Set (124110). I created the design to measure 10" x 6-1/2" however, I think the next time I make one of these, I will stretch the design to 10-1/2" x 6-7/8" to fit the Clear Mount Stamp Case (119105) a little better. I don't have a color printer, so I took it to Office Max and had them printed for me on just regular paper. They did an AWESOME job, I think! :) Once back home, I trimmed up the design so it would fit into the case and then slipped it inside the protective cover. I set about to finish the notepads - also purchased and trimmed at the office store. they are 5" x 8" and I had them trim an inch or so off the bottom so they would fit inside the case. I used a strip of the Beyond the Garden DSP to cover the store name on the top of the notepad and then added a bit of Daffodil Delight Grosgrain Ribbon (120928) using Sticky Strip.(104294)I like the finished look - it doesn't have alot of embellishments added to the design - but it is my first one and I think it turned out fabulous - more importantly, my daughter LOVES it and is excited for the party. These gifts will be given to her friends, but also a couple of the mom's that may come (or even if they don't, I will send one home with their daughters).
Now, the only thing with these is that I don't have extra cases, so I am having to remove my stamps from several sets and place an order for these cases. These would be awesome as gifts around the holidays. They are also large enough to take many notes and small enough to slip into your purse, so when you are looking for something to write on - you know it happens - you can just pull your fabulously fancy notepad out!! I hope you have enjoyed taking a peek at my 'cased' notepad case and perhaps you will take the time to make one and give it as a gift to one of your dear ones or friends.
Thanks for stopping by the spa today - it has been rather slow and the visit has been nice.

Note added: The total cost to make this project was $2.86. The only thing I didn't include in my cost totals was the strip of Beyond the Garden DSP used on the notepad.
~Paula~

Designer Series Paper

2011-08-01T15:31:00.004-05:00

Do You LOVE Designer Series Paper(DSP) as much as I do? You know that I have been working on using up the paper that I have - but then Stampin' Up! entices me to just add to my stash. Well, I must say, it is a deal too good to pass up. You can check on the Sale here. But let me show you a few samples before you head over there - I LOVE the Beau Chateau (122357)this is one that I have on my list of Papers to get this month. Perhaps you like the Paisley Petals (122367) or Beyond The Garden (122342) - you have seen this one on alot of my projects lately. But there are so many more choices and if you order three - you get one for free - so now is the great opportunity to stock up as this sale lasts only until the end of the month.
~Paula~

Digital Creations

2011-08-01T10:50:00.004-05:00

It has been awhile since I did anything with my digital stuff - so I decided to play with some new stuff that I got today. Doesn't this just SCREAM country to you? I love this house and would love it more if it was truly mine!! This is a sneak peak at what is coming in the new Stampin' Up! Holiday mini that will be coming out September 1. Let me tell you - there are a TON of fun new things to play with and I want almost all the Christmas stuff. I love to create in digital - and then use the very same stamps and create it in real life - on real paper - this is one I intend on doing when I get my hands on the set.
This is a short post - but I just had to share what I have been doing with digital today - and to give you a sneak peek of what is to come.
~Paula~

Another Sketch

2011-07-30T13:50:00.004-05:00

This is another sketch from Operation Write Home. This is sketch #79 and it was posted LAST Sunday - I know, a little late in getting it posted as there will be a new one tomorrow - but here you go. Now I did mess with the colors just a little in Photoshop so that the green would not be all washed out, but it is a little darker than the Wild Wasabi that I used for the base. I really liked the simplicity of this card and using the reverse side of the DSP was fun too. I took my strips and matted them on whisper white cardstock - it is easier to handle the design when you do this. I decided to double stamp my sentiment - so no - you are not going crazy. You know that yellow colors do not show up well, so I stamped with the yellow and then overstamped, moving my stamp just a tad so you get a shadow affect. I matted this on the daffodil delight and added the ribbon. Nice touch, simple card - elegant look! :)
Thanks for stopping by again - as you can see, I have been busy in the spa lately - I have more cards that I have done, but I will save those to post on a day (or week) that is too crazy for me to craft. Have a beautiful day wherever you are in the world.
~Paula~

Back to the many!!

2011-07-30T09:11:00.004-05:00

In my last post, I mentioned using one sketch to produce many cards - well, in reality I did use a few different sketches, but I still did at least 3 cards for each sketch - but I only showed you all one card! What's up with that!! So, I am going to show you a few more of the many cards that I did the other day - then I will need to get back to the spa where I intend on creating a bit more.< Remember the first card I showed you (or scroll down to the previous post) I used a bright cheery color - well these next two cards are a bit more subdued. I used Wild Wasabi - though it is hard to tell the card is GREEN in this photo - I really need to learn how to adjust the settings on my camera better - or take the photos closer to the window so I don't have to use flash - which often distorts the color and washes things out. Anyway, I used the same stamp set - Fabulous Florals in pacific point this time. I used moer of that gorgeous paper from Beyond the Garden and added a bit of whisper white satin ribbon. Very easy - very simple but SO much fun!! This next card really IS washed out and is SO much prettier in real life - honestly. I used one of my favorite cuttlebug folders - the swiss dots - which I have not used in such a long time.<I then added another of that gorgeous beyond the garden DSP and then my image panel. I colored the flowers in with my prisma color pencils and added the sentiment in pacific point. I had these buttons that coordinated, so decided to use them for the final touch to this fun card. If I can get some better pictures taken, I will show you what this gorgeous card really does look like. Perhaps I will scan it - that always seems to work out nicely - so you might want to come back ihere in a little while and see if I have replaced the photo. You will notice that I have a watermark on my photos now - that was SO easy to create.
Thanks for stopping by the spa today - I hope that you have found inspiration for your projects. I will be adding more photos of my work as I get them uploaded.
~Paula~

One Sketch, Many Cards

2011-07-30T07:40:00.003-05:00

It has been a few days since I have posted, but I have been busy enjoying the couple days off this week by making cards. Many of you know how much I LOVE sketches, and they are such a jumping off place for creativity. I truly believe that if you are stuck in a rut, grab a sketch and the creativity will begin to flow - honestly. I save sketches in a folder and when I am in a rut, I open it up and just choose one. (Sometimes that can be tough!) So, the other day, I chose a sketch (actually I used several - I get bored easily) and created several cards. My sketch is from Operation Write Home but my card is for the SUO Challenge for this week which was to create a Get Well CardI thought, that should be easy - especially with the sketch in hand - (I used sketch #62 and modified it just a tad) I had just gotten the Textured Impressions Flower Garden folder and hadn't had a chance to use it - it is lovely!! I stamped my image in Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango - I love these block stamps because you can really get a feel of depth to your stamping with them. Anyway, then I went in search of a Stampin' Up! 'Get Well' sentiment. Hmmm - I don't have ANY from Stampin' Up!! I have ALOT of stamp sets too - and I looked through retired as well as the new ones and could not find ANY that said that. So, I thought this stamp from one of the new hostess sets - Perfect Words would convey the message. If it doesn't perhaps the bright cheery colors will!! :)
I hope you like my take on the challenge. Come back to see more of my cards from my crafting this week - and I have today off too - so more crafting to do! Yay!!
~Paula~

2011-07-26T00:01:00.000-05:00

Good Morning Friends - today is MY DAY to post a tutorial on the Top Tip Tuesday challenge blog. I want to encourage you to hop on over there - when you are done here - and see what I am showing you how to do. It is a VERY fun project - but it does take a bit of time, so hopefully you will be able to find the time in the next few days to try this project.
In the meantime - I want to let you know that we have some awesome sponsors (as always) this week.
For our Top Tipper prize - all you have to do is leave a helpful tip and if you are chosen you will win a book of your choice from Stash Books. Stash Books is a new line of how-to books celebrating fabric arts for a handmade lifestyle.
Our Random.org prize - just create a card using the challenge theme and link it to the blog - is a $10 package of goodies from Pizzazz Aplenty.
We have fabulous samples from our creative design team - check out Bettina's Sugar Nellie card - SO beautiful. Of course that is only ONE of the beautiful cards from the design team - they are an awesome team filled with such inspiration.
So, now - head on over to view my tutorial and see how you can join in our challenge this week.
Come back later as I might be adding more to my blog this week - I have time to just play after work this week and plan to do lot's.
~Paula~

Shaped Invitations

2011-07-23T08:44:00.004-05:00

Remember earlier this week I mentioned that Top Tip Tuesday had a shaped card challenge? Well, it is not too late to get your card craeted and get it over there for a chance to win some fabulous prizes. It wasn't my teams week to make samples for the challenge, but I decided I would show you what I have done with this challenge. My middle daughter is going to be 18 next month and we have planned out a Hawaiian themed party to celebrate. I told her that I would make the invitations to send to the few friends she is inviting and she thought that was fabulous. I told her I had JUST the colors and set to make it all coordinate. So, guess what? I got out my new DSP from Stampin' Up! - yeah, this one is still available and will be for at least the next year!! I know, I am getting all current on you - and you may see some more cards made from this DSP in the next week - and then I will revert back to my old ways of trying to use up ancient stuff! ~giggle~ Anyway, here are the samples I made. I started with my nestibilites Classic Scallop Circles and the matching classic circles. I knew that I wanted to do shaped invitations that simulated the flowers in Hawaii. Since this was the closest I could come to the shape - this is what I chose to use. I needed it to be simple, so I started each card with the solid base. I used Tangerine Tango (111349) here, placing the nesties die just outside the fold so that I could create a folded invitation. I used Whisper White (100730) to stamp my sentiment. The sentiment is from Sweet Stamps (#966C). I matted this with Daffodil Delight (119683). I did not take a picture of the inside of the invitation, but it basically is stamp #905H from Sweet Stamps which is an invitation stamp that gives all the details of the party. I created another invitation using Daffodil Delight as the base and matting with Wild Wasabi (108641) I added butterflies from the Beautiful Wings Embosslits die (122342) to each of the invitations. Other colors I have used for my invitations are: Pacific Point (111350) and Melon Mambo (115320) and of course, the DSP that I used to create these fun cards is Beyond the Garden DSP (122342) This is such a fun Designer Paper with such vibrant colors. I also indulged in the stamp set (123027) that goes along with this paper. If that wasn't enough, I ordered the Digital sets (124110) and (124109) and will be getting the flower Garden texture plate (123113) that coordinates with this set as well this coming week. Here is a picture of all the invitations that I have made so far with this paper. What do you think? Do they scream Hawaiian? My sweet daughter is not at home right now she is away for another week and a half, so when she returns home, I am sure that she will be thrilled with the invitations.
Well, that is about it for now. I do have some time to create in my paper spa this weekend, and I plan on doing something - I am just not sure what yet.
I hope you have enjoyed your visit and have found inspiration to go and create something vibrant and happy.
~Paula~

I Have more cards to show you

2011-07-20T20:08:00.007-05:00

I didn't post these from the other day when I was busy in my craft room. Just using up bits and pieces from that gorgeous DSP - Tea Party. All of these are just simple cards - and convey simple messages. This first one I used my Oval deckle nestibilities dies and a bit of pretty in pink taffeta ribbon. I added a couple butterflies from the beautiful wings embosslits die (118138) and used my scallop trim border punch (118402) for the edge of my certainly celery cardstock. I stamped the sentiment (retired) with wisteria wonder. My final touch on this one was a rhinestone (119246). This next card is more of a monochromatic of sorts. I started with my certainly celery base adding the two matted DSP - one on so saffron and the other on pretty in pink. I didn't feel it was quite complete, so I added the bit of so saffron taffeta ribbon (122982) and the rhinestones (119246) in the corner. I stamped the sentiment (hard to read here) in certainly celery - it says 'Birthday Wishes'.
Next up is this sweet Butterfly card. I used pretty in pink for my base adding the new lace ribbon border punch (122362) in certainly celery. I had already cut these nesties circles out intending them for another project and didn't use them, so I added the sentiment - off center - and then added the butterfly layers. I used the Beautiful Butterflies (114507) die and layered it with butterflies from the Beautiful Wings (118138) embosslits. these two dies work so wonderfully together to add dimension to your cards. The card still looked too plain to me, so I added the buttons. These particular buttons are no longer available, but there are similar ones that you can order.
My last card is a design that I did several years ago - casing it from Splitcoast Stampers (I think) - it has been so long that I do not honestly remember. As I was looking at my pieces of DSP I remembered doing this design and thought it perfect for the pieces that I had laying on my table. I would have done it a little different the next time, layering the DSP on one piece of cardstock and then adding the dimensions - instead of doing them each individually. I added the certainly celery satin ribbon (117288) and again the rhinestones - I am about out of those and will need to order more soon - I forgot to add them to my order that I placed earlier this week. So, there you have it - cards that I did last week - has it really been a week since I made those cards?? I have not used all this DSP up yet - but boredom has set in - is that even possible with such gorgeous paper? I am moving on with a new DSP - it is a current one, but you will have to stick around for the next post to see what I have done.
Thanks for stopping by the spa today - I will be spending alot of time here in the next couple of weeks since my sweetie is gone.
Have a fantastic day - as the thunder rumbles outside my window and the lightning flashes all around!
~Paula~

Shaping Up!

2011-07-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

That is what the Top Tip Tuesday challenge is for the week - making a shaped card - not a square one - so let your creativity run wild with this one. I will be adding my shaped card in a little while - but while you are reading this - I am at work making biscuits!! (They are GOOD too!!) We have some awesome sponsors this week and a couple EXTRA ones as well.
Pink Cat Studio - 5 digis of your choice
WS Designs - One of their catalogues and 3 amazing templates
Arty Farty - is offering the Roni Highchair template and everything needed to make it.
The Emerald Faerie Garden - 2 Digi Faeries
Stamp and Create - a $25 gift certificate

So, as you can see - you have several opportunities to win via random.org and what fabulous prizes too. So head on over to Top Tip Tuesday and see what the Blue Team has created and join in for your chance at some fabulous prizes.

Now, back to the biscuits and I will catch up with all of you later this afternoon, or at least by Wednesday - much going on this afternoon - so not sure if I will get back to the Paper Spa.

~Paula~

Just sketching away!!

2011-07-13T15:46:00.005-05:00

That is what I did yesterday afternoon for a little bit and then this morning. I created cards using sketches - and using up some more of that BEAUTIFUL Tea Party DSP. I am just disappointed that I didn't get some of the almost amethyst cardstock before it was retired. this DSP would be SO pretty with that light pale color. The wisteria wonder works okay, but I think the lighter lavendar would have just been brilliant. Anyway, these first two cards - yeah, I had to do two since I couldn't make just one of this sketch) is for the Stamping411 Sketch challenge for this week. I REALLY like this sketch. I am also JUST in time to enter this challenge and I am submitting both cards. For this first one, I started with a base of so saffron and matted my beautiful DSP with pink pirouette (no, this is not a coordinating color - but it does coordinate!), I matted the other piece with certainly celery. I used pretty in pink taffeta ribbon for my bow and matted my sentiment with so saffron. I used 'Elegant Thank You' (114484) stamped in wisteria wonder. These paler colors are harder to see when I stamp the colors to coordinate, so I have used some darker colors so that the sentiment can be seen better. I mounted the sentiment with dimensionals. I liked this one so much that I went on to do another.
On this next one I started with a base of pretty in pink. I used my new lace ribbon border punch (122362) in certainly celery in place of the ribbon. I added pearls (119247) to each end to give just an added dimension. My DSP is matted with wisteria wonder and so saffron. I used whisper white for my sentiment and stamped this with pretty in pink. I sponged the edges with pretty in pink. This sentiment is from a VERY old stamp set called 'I'd Pick You'. The date on it says 1996!! I am not sure what I paid for this set when it was available (it is only a 4 stamp set) - but I do remember buying it as unmounted. I have it mounted on wood that I cut myself and stamped the top of it, however I do have the stickers that came with it to put on top of the mounts. I think this was one of the first Stampin' Up! sets I ever bought. It is a cute little set with flowers in a pot, some in a watering can and some in a basket.

I will post more of the cards I have made today a little later.

~Paula~

Do You Love Sketches?

2011-07-12T15:01:00.002-05:00

If you do, Top Tip Tuesday has not one but TWO sketches that you can use for making a card. There are some great sponsors too - so hop on over and take a look at the sketches and then make a card to fit one - but remember, don't mix and match your sketches - use one or both.
I haven't had much time in the last few days to make anything, but I have tomorrow off from work and I don't plan on going anywhere, so will find some time to play in the paper spa. come back and see what I have done with some sketches.

~Paula~

Card Crafting Day

2011-07-08T16:16:00.001-05:00

Oh, I would LOVE to have a few friends come and make cards with me on one of my days off - wouldn't that just be lovely? I am not sure how much card making we would get done though - as I am sure we would spend much time talking. But it sure would be fun to have someone to craft with every chance I had. Well, that is not the case, but I did have fun making a few cards today. I have already posted some of the ones I did this morning - they are not the quick and simple kind today - they are the more elaborate onesusing my prisma color pencils. This next one that I want to show uses the new sketch challenge on the Just Magnolia site. Oh, did I tell you - I won their giveaway from last week. I just posted the card a day or two ago, and I won!! I seldom win anything, but this time it is a wonderful voucher from Simon Says Stamp for $25!! I am going to have fun shopping for the stamps on that one.
Well, I colored this little cutie last night and knew that I would find a sketch that I could use her in within my sketch file, however, the one I was going to use just wasn't working out, so when the new one popped up on the Just Magnolia site, I knew it would be perfect. I used the Tea Party (retired) DSP from Stampin' Up! coordinating the colors in this BEAUTIFUL paper with the cardstock. The flowers and lace are from Wild Orchid Craft. I used a bit of diamond stickles on the flowers to give them a bit of sparkle and even added a bit to her eyes to make them sparkle. the finishing touch are the pearls from Stampin' Up! I have enjoyed using the pearls and rhinestones on my projects however, I am running low on them, so will have to be ordering some more of those soon. Out of the cards Ihave done the past few days, I think I like this one the best. I like the soft colors and the DSP is just one of my all time favorites. I don't think Stampin' Up! has come up with one as beautiful as this one in awhile (my opinion). However, I continue to buy DSP, so they are obviously doing something I like! :) I am also finding out that I don't have NEAR enough colors or style of the flowers from Wild Orchid Craft so I can see an order to them in the very near future. I really like the little tiny closed roses, but I only have them in the one color and I am running low on them.
Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed visiting the spa this afternoon and looking at my latest card. Oh, by the way - inside I have put a couple pieces of the green DSP in a couple corners and then stamped 'Happy Birthday' - this was a very fun design to do - and I am going to enter this into the Just Magnolia challenge #114

~Paula~

It's FRIDAY!!

2011-07-08T11:25:00.007-05:00

For me, that means the day off and playing in the Paper Spa for awhile. :) Remember this card front that I did earlier this week? Well, I got my shipment yesterday from Stampin' Up! So, as soon as I got home from work last night, I put away all my goodies - which really wasn't that much, but I did get the cardstock I was waiting for to finish this card. So, this morning, I got up and got right to work playing with the new cardstock and new toys!! I decided to do an easel card - they are really SO fun to do. So, I cut the card base and scored it where I needed and then added my card front to it. I didn't have any more of the buttons in those colors, so I decided to add another piece of the baja breeze seam binding ribbon and then added the DSP punched with the BRAN. D NEW Lace Ribbon Border punch (122362)I think I will be using this border punch - ALOT!! It is SO fun and cuts so nicely - though with cardstock you do have to have a very sturdy surface and stand up when you punch it, but it cuts cleanly.
So, with that card finished, I pulled out my sketch folder and decided to get work on my Elizabeth Bell Challenge. I missed it last month - and it was one of my favorite techniques too - an easel card. I thought about combining the sketch with an easel card for this months challenge, but when I got done with the card decided that I would leave it. I am not real crazy about the card - but I do think the coloring turned out nicely. I am just not an 'orange' kind of person and have a hard time using this color - other than in fall themed cards. I chose to use this Whiff of Joy image created by Elizabeth Bell called 'Willow with Hot Chocolate'. My FAVORITE drink is hot chocolate - I also like hot tea, but since I really like chocolate, I would say I drink hot chocolate more than hot tea. Even on some of our cooler summer mornings I have a cup of hot chocolate. Of course, this image could work for coffee too, if you like coffee, but I don't! Anyway, I got this image from Simon Says Stamps. The thing that makes this such a special stamp is that my friend in the UK (Debs) gifted me a certificate that she won and could not use - so I put it to good use and got myself some more Elzabeth Bell stamps. Now, I will have that opportunity once again as I just found out that I won another gift certificate to this lovely store. So, I will be looking for more of those wonderful Elizabeth Bell Stamps. It seems that since I moved my craft studio upstairs, I get washed out photos of my work - this one really isn't as fair as it looks. I used some bold colors on this one - Pacific Point for my base card and some DSP from the retired pack Blueberry Crisp. I used a bit of bashful Blue to matt my image frame and then added a the new ribbon border punch in pumpkin pie to the matt. I wanted to pull the orange color in her sweater out. I thought the sentiment fit - at least for me because drinking hot chocolate is just pure bliss. :) I added a touch of white satin ribbon and the flower spray to finish off this card.
There you have it - my card for the Elizabeth Bell Challenge for June/July. Next month I might have some new images to play with - and I already have my cling mount ready and waiting for new images to arrive. I love getting new items to play with - so stick around, or come back and see what else I have to show you - maybe some new ribbon?? Or maybe some more creative ideas for that new punch. You just never know what you will find here in the paper spa.

~Paula~

Coloring Magnolia's

2011-07-06T10:06:00.005-05:00

It sure has been a VERY long time since I got out my Magnolia's and colored any of them, but after coloring my Sugar Nellie, I just had to get my Magnolia's out and give them fair time1 :) I also had to use more of the beautiful Tea Party DSP that I got awhile ago from Stampin' Up. I just LOVE this DSP and will be sad when it is all gone, but I suppose they might just bring it back in digital, and then I can have it forever. Anyway, to my card.Tilda has gone shopping, as you can see from her shopping bags. She is shopping for a special girl who has a birthday coming up soon. This card SO fits my middle daughter as she LOVES to shop! When she was younger, we would enjoy Tea Parties together (so the 'Tea Party' DSP so fits as well!) My card is a tent card - I had never made one of these before, however I found this wonderful tutorial here. This tutorial suggests using jump rings and I have some, and tried to use them, but didn't like the way it looked, so I took them out and there is a brad under the bow to hide the hole and to attach my Tilda to the frame. The DSP is pretty enough that there really is no need to add much more, but I decided to use the flowers because they DO add that extra touch. As always, I colored my Tilda with my prisma color pencils and used the pencils to blend rather than another medium. I really like coloring this way and think it looks more pure.

I used the following supplies to complete my card:
Tea Party DSP (retired) - Stampin' Up!
Prisma color Pencils: pc1018; pc927; pc1080 (skin tones)
pc932; pc1026; pc1092; pc928; pc929; pc1008 (clothes)
pc946; pc1084; pc941; pc945 (hair, purse and shoes)
pc949 (necklace), pc1096; pc912; pc1034; pc942 (shopping bags)
Flowers from Wild Orchid Craft
Pretty in Pink 3/8" taffeta ribbon (retired)
So Happy For You stamp set (Sale-a-bration)
Wisteria Wonder Cardstock and Ink
Diamond Stickles
Pearls (kaisercraft)

I am submitting my card for the following challenges:
Wild Orchid Challenges - challenge #27 a Tent Card
Just Magnolia - week 113 special monthly challenge - anything goes
Magnolia Stamp Lovers Challenge Blog summer flowers

Come back and see me soon - there is alot going on in the spa these days!
~Paula~

I LOVE Sketches

2011-07-05T14:43:00.003-05:00

So, today, when I have had some time, I have been playing with a few of the sketches I have seen on some blogs I like to visit. But before I show you my sketches for today, I want to show you something I 'thought' was ingenious! I like ribbon - and I have a fair amount, though I can ALWAYS use more. :) so, I have been trying to figure out an easy way to store my ribbon, where it was also easily accessible. Well, I found this hangar - it is for hanging pants, and I thought, hmmm - I bet the holes in my ribbon spools will fit on those rods. Well, they do - and it is a wonderful way to store the ribbon - I also punched holes in the baggies that hold my flowers and slipped those on there as well. There are only a couple of drawbacks - #1 it hangs in the closet rather than on a wall in my crafting area, so I can't look up and see the beautiful colors. #2 when I want to use a color, I have to take the spool off the rod and it is usually the one furthest from the beginning of the rod. I could just pull a length and cut it and never have to remove it - but I don't like to waste ribbon. As you can see - I am in dire need of MANY more spools of ribbon. these are all Stampin' Up. the ones on the top rod are the current ones and the ones on the bottom have retired. I know what I will be ordering next time! :)
So, now on to the sketches that I have done today. This first one I found on my friend Lori's blog this morning. She calls herself the Frugal Scrapper Extraodinaire. I met Lori when I lived in San Diego. I attended a scrapbook club once a month where she was the leader. We became friends and had a couple chances to scrap and make cards together outside of the monthly meetings. She took some classes in photoshop and In Design and was playing with her In Design program and created this fantastic sketch which can be used for both cards and scrapbook pages. I used the same package of DSP that I have been using this week to make this card. It is not complete - I only did the card front because I am waiting until my Stampin' Up! order comes later this week so that I can make the base of my card not quite navy. I may even make the card an easel card - I think those are SO cool! The two different patterns that you see on the card are the same DSP, just opposite sides. I used the set Always Elegant (120477).
My next sketch is from The Sugar Bowl I have not played in a Sugar Bowl challenge in a very long time. I recently purchased a couple more digital sugar Nellies from Funky Kits This one is called Melissa and she retails for $6.03 USD. When I bought her, I also bought another digital one that you will be seeing on a card sometime this week. (Hopefully). In addition to not having played in the Sugar Bowl, I haven't even played with my prisma color pencils in awhile either. I chose a different DSP (also retired) but lovely with the new Wisteria Wonder card stock from Stampin' Up! This light lavendar is one of the new In Colors - isn't it lovely? I decided to stay monochromatic for this card and I really like the way it turned out. I used the following colors on my little girl: PC942; PC914 (hair colors); PC1080; PC927 (my standard skin colors); PC1007; PC916 (flower); PC996; PC1008; PC1026 (clothes). My flower spray I created with flowers from Wild Orchid Craft - LOVE those flowers. I added a touch of Very Vanilla datin ribbon and added my sentiment from the Sale-a-Bration set Whimsical Words. It was fun to play with some different elements today - a different paper package and some new images and my colored pencils. Oh, and don't forget the flowers either! :) I might just have to switch up and play with this paper pack for awhile. It is called Tea Party and every paper in this pack is beautiful. Unfortunately, it is no longer available from Stampin' Up! I love the pastel shades in the pack though and think that they will pair nicely with the some of the new In Colors as well as the In colors from 2010.
Well, I have more sketches awaiting me - so come back soon and visit the spa and see what else I create this week.
~Paula~

I am still wondering . . .

2011-07-05T00:01:00.005-05:00

Although it has been a few days since I have had any time in the paper spa - I have managed to make a few cards using the 'one sheet wonder' technique - Paper Spa style! :) I am still working with the same package of DSP, however, this time I am using the blues and I really like the print. Now, couple that with an AMAZING tutorial over on the Top Tip Tuesday challenge blog - and you end up with a beautiful (well, I think so anyway) anniversary card. The challenge this week is to make an anniversary, or wedding card. So, I started with this DSP - the larger piece is cut off a little and I can't find the other picture that I took, but I promised you all that I would remember to take a picture of the papers BEFORE I cut it all up, so there you go. So, far, I have made 5 cards from these pieces - along with Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, River Rock and Baja Breeze solid cardstock. I created this card for my DT submission. I used River Rock as my base, and layered the always artichoke on top of that finishing up with the layer of baja breeze. I then used my scallop trim border punch (118402) to punch the edges of the very vanilla cardstock, then I layered the DSP on top of this. I had some double stitched River Rock ribbon that I added on top of this. This ribbon was from a few years ago (2008) when River Rock was an In Color - now it is one of the colors in the neutral collection. The ribbon is no longer available though. Anyway, I used the retired set 'congrats' for my sentiment. This was the first time that I had used this sentiment set and it is a very cool set. The main word is Congratulations - and then you have 6 other stamps that you can choose from to complete the sentiment - from weddings, to babies. I stamped the sentiment in Not Quite Navy. I don't have that color of cardstock - YET - it will arrive here sometime on Thursday, while I am at work undoubtedly - however, I will be off on Friday and will have the whole day (at least I hope I do) to play with the new goodies that are coming on Thursday, I have ordered a new border punch, and I continue to order COLOR - I am ALMOST there, with all the colors that Stampin' Up! carries. I am not sure that I ordered any new stamp sets this time, but it will be fun to play with the new punch and some colors I have been out of for awhile. You will just have to stop by later in the week and see what else I have been able to get done in the spa.
I am also entering my card in the SU Only Challenge which is creating an anniversary card.
Thanks for stopping by the spa today to take a peek at ONE of my 'wonder' cards. Be sure to stop by tomorrow or Wednesday, as I am off on those two days and I intend on doing some card making.
~Paula~

I wonder. . .

2011-06-29T14:52:00.008-05:00

. . .how far a piece or two of DSP will go. Well, actually, I thought about the one sheet wonder technique - you have all seen them. You take a sheet of cardstock and stamp all over with a variety of stamps from a set in a variety of colors - or however you want. Then you cut that sheet up into different sizes and create a ton of cards. Well, I didn't quite want to do that - though I have a couple PERFECT stamps sets that would work beautifully - so I decided to take a look at my DSP (and believe me, I have TONS of that!!) and do the same sort of thing. Now, I decided rather than cutting into a fresh piece of the 12 x 12 paper that I would start from the pieces I already had cut. So, yesterday afternoon I grabbed one of my packages of DSP - this one is called Springtime Vintage (retired). The colors that coordinate with this package are: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Rose Red, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, River Rock, Very Vanilla and Always Artichoke. I have several cuts of the different patterns, however, for this set, I chose the Rose Red and Always Artichoke with hints of Very Vanilla. I should have taken a picture of the papers BEFORE I started so you could see what I had to work with - it was less than half of a 12 x 12 sheet though. So, I started to cut a bit here and matte it there until I came up with designs that I liked. I just pieced things together last night and did start to adhere a few of the matted pieces - just so I wouldn't lose them or forget what the design was that I was trying to achieve by the time I got back to the spa this morning. When I had all my pieces cut the way I wanted, I cut some labels from the decorative label punch. I used the scallop trim border punch for some of the matted pieces. I also used the Weave and Distressed texture plates and the Framed Tulips textured impressions folder. I used Rose Red and Always Artichoke ink for my sentiments and I used these stamp sets: Afterthoughts (hostess set from the 2010-2011 catalog), Well Scripted, Filled with Love, Because I Care (another hostess set from the 2010-2011 catalog), and Whimsical Words (Sale-a-bration) set. Now, as many of you know, I like clean and simple designs, however, I don't like TOO much 'white' space, so I had to fill in (where I didn't use texture) and add pearls, rhinestones or ribbon. My supply of ribbon colors is fairly limited right now - well, at least for this color scheme, so I had Very Vanilla satin ribbon, Very Vanilla seam binding, Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon (can you see a color pattern here?) and the Victorian crotchet trim - which just happens to be in - you guessed it, Very Vanilla!! I do have Crumb Cake seam binding, but for some reason, it just didn't look to me like it went well with the colors. So, when I was all done cutting, trimming, gluing on rhinestones and pearls, embossing, and tying bows, I ended up with 12 cards!!! Isn't that amazing? and if you could only see the SMALL amount of DSP that I started with, you WOULD be amazed. From this same package, I have several more pieces to cut up and make into lovely cards - and that is only ONE package of my DSP and it doesn't even use up the package - but it does take me down to 8 - 12 x 12 pieces from a package of 12. Now, how many more packages of DSP do I have like this you ask? Well, you will just have to stop by over the next millenium and find out! lol Let's just say that I don't have room in my bins for all the DSP like this, so I have to pare it down in this way so they either lay or stand flat, (or I use it all up, whichever comes first). Of course, while I am in the process of doing this, I am sure to buy MORE because I LOVE color and the different papers are SO pretty. I am thankful that I am not a big fan of Hobby Lobby or Michael's and where I live they lack good quality Scrapbook stores, so I am limited by what is in my Stampin' Up catalog and some of the designs I don't particularly care for - so, in the next year, I MIGHT just get the chance to use up all these lovely scraps.

I hope you have enjoyed my jabber today and my take on the One Sheet Wonder Technique. If there are any cards that you would like to take a closer look at, feel free to let me know and I will post them here.

Next up on my 'Wonder Plan' - Baja Breeze!

Have a wonderful rest of your day and thanks for stopping by the spa today - I hope you have enjoyed your visit.

~Paula~

T is for Tissue and Tealights and Top Tip Tuesday

2011-06-28T00:01:00.009-05:00

Today over at Top Tip Tuesday we have a FABULOUS challenge for you and some lovely sponsors. Our sponsors this week are:

Crimson Cloud

Pizzazz A Plenty

Simon Says Stamp

Make sure you check them out and see what goodies they can entice you with. I also want to encourage you to play along this week for a chance to wind one of the sponsored prizes.
So, I had to think about our challenge - T is for ? - use the letter T to inspire you - with a technique like the tissue paper technique. Have you tried this one? It is really quite simple - and you know me - I like clean and simple. So, I got out my white tissue paper - though you can really use whatever color you have - even printed tissue paper would work. Stamp your image all over it - like this picture shows. Then take a candle - I used a small medium sized candle - though you can really use any size you like - it just depends on the image that you want to put on it. I bought my candle in a three pack from Hobby Lobby. I had planned to do this technique with a friend around the Christmas Holdays and we just never got the chance to do anything - we will though - Christmas in July is coming - and I will grab her to do something fun during that time. Anyway, after your image on the tissue is as you like it, then you want to place in on your candle and hold it very tight - so that it is smooth - then take your heat gun and heat it until the tissue melts into the candle. If the edges are torn (rather than cut) it makes a smoother looking candle. Can't you just see this candle on a Spring Decorated Table with all the beautiful flowers? I used the Fabulous Florets set that I have been using the last few days and used melon mambo, pacific point, tangerine tango, daffodil delight and wild wasabi for stamping. You could even take a citronella scented candle and decorate it and put it out on your back deck so that you can enjoy the beauty without all the bugs!
As I continued to think about the letter 'T', I thought about a technique that I had learned many years ago - but couldn't quite remember how to do it, so I went in search of it and found another project that I thought was just too cute for words, so I HAD to make one of these adorable Tealight Cakes. I found the tutorial over at Splitcoast Stampers under their resources tab (I think). I went in search of my tealights - which I had from when I made my luminaries earlier in the year. I couldn't find the box with them, but did find one of the luminaries, so I grabbed the tealight out of it and went to work decorating this little cutie. It is REALLY another simple technique and SO fun to do. I added some mulberry roses (from Wild Orchid Craft) to the top as well as some pearls. You can't see the paper in this picture real well, but I used a retiring DSP called Sunny Garden. It is very similar to a favorite DSP that I have from a couple of years ago - except in a different color scheme. I have hardly used this one though. When I was done with the tealight, I decided tomake a little card to go with it. I just took a strip of the DSP that I used on the side of the tealight and added it to my card and then added some more of the roses and pearls - stamped the sentiment in Poppy Parade and the card is done and the little tealight is ready to give to my daughter for her birthday in August, (if I can wait that long!!)
It has been fun making these projects and I am SO happy to be crafting once again on a more regular schedule - though my work schedule continues to be crazy. This week I am getting lots of crafting in.
Thanks for stopping by the spa today - and do make sure you stop by the Top Tip Tuesday blog today and see the tip that I have left and the projects that my teammates have made for this challenge. Then, take the list that you will find there - or think of your own 'T' and go make a project.

~Paula~

Nothing better than coming home to a CRAFTROOM!!

2011-06-27T18:47:00.005-05:00

I worked the early morning shift - and it was busy and went quite fast - and when I was done, I came home - took a shower and then headed upstairs to my Paper Spa. It is SUCH a relaxing place. I have my computer up here, so I looked at emails and then got busy with some skeetch challenges. This first one is for Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps challenge. This is sketch #75 and it is a great one for using up bits and pieces of scraps. I chose to use Sunny Garden DSP which has wonderful colors such as Daffodil Delight (I love daffodils!!), Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, and Peach Parfait. The last three colors are the 2010-2012 In colors and they are still available for another year. I haven't played with them alot this past year - but this paper certainly encourages using them. It is such a bright and cheery package. I had a roll of the Pear Pizzazz seam binding which was perfect to add the bow and then I added the mulberry rose which nearly matched the Peach Parfait card base. The little peach color pearls gave this simple fun card the finishing touch.
My next card was another sketch challenge - this time using Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch challenge #209. I decided rather than using DSP, I would showcase a few of the NEW In-Colors that will be coming out July 1st. I started with a Whisper White card base and then added Cherry Cobbler as my matte. I then took Wisteria Wonder, Pink Pirouette, and Lucky Limeade and ran them through the Big Shot using a variety of texture plates (all of them will be retiring at the end of the month). I added these to the cherry cobler matte and then added the cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon before adhering to my base. My sentiment is cut from whisper white, mounted on cherry cobbler and then stamped with Wisteria Wonder. I added the butterfly from the Beautiful Wings Embosslits cut out of Coral Calypso. There is one other color that I have not shown yet - but tomorrow is another day - and I don't have to work, so that means I can spend the better part of the day in the paper spa. There is SO much to do and make - I have my tutorial coming up for my Design Team over at Top Tip Tuesday in a couple of weeks, so I have to get busy with that.

Do stop by tomorrow to see my samples for the challenge over at Top Tip Tuesday.

Until then - have a wonderful evening whever ever you are in the world.

~Paula~

Yesterday's Creations

2011-06-25T17:22:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I had the day off from work, and after my kids all left for their activities - I had the house to myself and with the quiet, it was easy to create. I decided to stick with one theme - I used the Fabulous florets - in the Summer Mini Catalog and the gorgeous DSP that coordinates with it. For these cards I used ONE 6" x 6" piece of DSP to make all three cards. I didn't want to have any waste, so I used the cut pieces from the first one to create the other cards. But first - My background cardstock is Wild Wasabi and I used my Scallop Trim Border punch to create the border - cut from Whisper White. I added a piece of the Beyond the Garden DSP over the border and then adhered this to my cardstock. I used my decorative label punch to cut the melon mambo and then used the curly label punch for the whisper white. I added a piece of satin whisper white ribbon behind my sentiment. Te sentiment is part of a phrase from the Vintage Vogue set. I just used my marker to color the letters I wanted and then stamped it. The sentiment wasn't quite complete, so I added a little bit of the fabulous florets stamped images to complete it and then added a single rhinestone.
For this next card, I used the strip that I had cut from the first card and added it to a piece of whisper white cardstock and then stamped the sentiment from the Fabulous Florets set. I then stamped some of the flowers from this set onto whisper white and fussy cut them out and then created my own flower collage with them. When I got the look I wanted, I glued them altogether and then added it to my card using dimensionals. Here is a close-up of the design. For my last card, I turned the DSP over and used the Pacific Point and Wild Wasabi color theme. I used the Pacific Point for my base and then adhered the DSP to the whisper white cardstock and added this to my base. I took a piece of whisper white and played with stamping the image until I got it the way I wanted. I inked up my image and then off stamped it once, then stamped on my cardstock and then stamped again for a shadow affect. I used Marina Mist satin ribbon to add the finishing touch to my card. I REALLY like the way this one turned out - but it might just be because I am not a real fan of hot pink but I do love blue, any shade!! If you could see any of these cards IRL, I think you would like them better than what these pictures show.
So, that is what I was able to accomplish in an afternoon alone. Now, this week ahead - I have tomorrow off, however, Sunday's are usually not a very good day to work on cards since my sweetie is usually home and we like to do things together - however, I will be working on my DT project for Top Tip Tuesday - but it will be a secret until Tuesday, so you will HAVE to stop by then to see what I am creating - all I can say is it is something that starts with a 'T'. The rest of the week looks good for crafting as well, so I am thrilled to be working in my craft room again and making wonderful cards to send to friends, family and the troops overseas through Operation Write Home. Check out their site and see how YOU can help this fantastic organization.
That is all for now - unless I find some time to create something worth posting later. :)

Thanks for stopping by the spa today - have a wonderful rest of your day where ever you are in the world.
~Paula~

Crafting in my NEW Craftroom!

2011-06-24T09:23:00.006-05:00

I am SO excited to FINALLY be able to do some crafting in my new craftroom. Although I must say that the bright room makes it more difficult for me to use my computer as it is hard to see the screen when the sun is shining in the window - but I DO love my new space!! Today is my day off from work - YAY!! My middle daughter has to work this morning, so I will have to take her to work and my two youngest are going off to camp for a week - so when I return from taking them to catch their ride to camp - I will have the house to myself for the afternoon - and since I have nothing pressing that NEEDS to get done - I plan to spend it right here in my Paper Spa relaxing and creating! I may have to bring my waterfall up here, so I have 'music'. I have taken advantage of the little time I have this morning though to make a card. Over at Top Tip Tuesday this week one of my NEW teammates - Annette - has written a wonderful tutorial on doing a criss cross card. Now, I am a bit late in posting this but decided to give it a try and it is SO easy. I made a square card - as did Annette in her tutorial. I decided to seal off the bottom and have a pull out card to write your special message on. I am using some FAB new papers featured in the new summer mini catalog. I LOVE flowers!! If you could see my garden - you would know - however, don't come to see it QUITE yet, as it is still a work in progress! :) BUT, I love this new DSP and the matching stamp set. I even have the Digital set. I actually bought the digital set first - I had some earlier posts using this set on some digital cards I created - and after using the digital set, I decided I HAD to have the rubber set and the real paper! Not only is this set in the summer mini - but you will be HAPPY TO KNOW that it is in the new catalog coming out in July as well. So, if you LOVE Stampin' Up! and HATE it when they retire something just after you got it - rest assured, this one will be available for quite awhile. Anyway, back to my card. I chose to use the bright and sunny Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango for my colors on top of Whisper White. I didn't like the way the edges weren't quite right on the criss cross - so I covered it with Daffodil Delight Grosgrain Ribbon. Don't you just LOVE crafting - a mistake is NOT really a mistake, but an opportunity for enhanced creativity. I was SO thrilled with the Grid card I had made for my daughter's graduation - but as you know, I didn't have the large butterfly and had to improvise. WELL, I got the butterfly - and LOVE it!! Here I used it on the front of the criss cross and then topped it with the smaller butterfly in the same die set. I used one of my RETIRING :( texture plates to lightly emboss the top butterfly and then added the rhinestones. I had stamped on the inside of the card, but didn't place the stamping correctly - so you can barely see the flower stem that I had stamped - so I stamped again. the sentiment was also cut off, so I stamped that again as well. I wasn't real pleased with that, but decided that it would be covered up anyway with the insert.
I stamped the corners of the insert (Daffodil Delight) with the Fabulous Florets set using Tangerine Tango and Daffodil Delight. I decided that the insert needed a 'pull' so I punched the Tangerine Tango with my curly label punch and scored it at the half way mark and then adhered it to the top of the card. I added the rhinestones for added bling. I finished the card off by adding the taffeta Daffodil Delight ribbon (which is retiring). The card allows plenty of room to write a message to the recipient - even if you just want to use the back of the insert so you don't mess of the beauty of the front of the insert. This was really quite a simple and QUICK card to make - it just takes me longer because I agonize over what paper to use, what stamps to use, what color and what design. Since this set coordinates so well together - the first three are more or less taken care of and then I just have to search ideas for the design. Using the Criss Cross pattern idea really helps with that too - so quick simple and FUN!!
I hope you will hop on over to Top Tip Tuesday and see the tutorial and gain inspiration from the other members on the team.
Thanks for stopping by today. I will have more for you to see later this evening after I have spent an afternoon creating!!
~Paula~

My NEW Craft room

2011-06-14T15:09:00.010-05:00

As you may have read, my oldest daughter moved out a couple of weeks ago, so about a week after she was gone, I started moving my crafting stuff into her room. She had a queen sized bed in there, so to make more room for my stuff, (and to also leave it open for over night guests) we moved the queen into my middle daughters room and moved her twin bed into the craft room. also makes a nice resting place in case I get tired crafting. :) So, I am going to take you on a tour of the room - it isn't large - maybe 10 x 12 (I honestly don't know as I didn't measure).
So, here we go - are you ready for the tour?When you first walk into the room - this is what you see. I plan to get a bed cover that will match the room - once I have decided what color I want to paint it. Right now it is an ugly tan color - NO inspiration in TAN!! You will also notice as we 'walk' around the room that there is nothing on the walls. I haven't finished the decorating of the room - so in the future I will show you what I do - but thinking that some Stampin' Up! Definetly decorative elements might just work - they have some new ones in the new catalog that comes out in July, so I may just have to finish off the room with a few of those - something like CREATE! Or IMAGINE! Or who knows. Anyway, moving along - to the left of the bed (looking at it) you will see my shelf unit with doors. I got this at Wal-Mart and it is actually three two-cube units stacked and bolted together. I have another door to put on the one cube, but then I would have to find another place for the box that is sticking out. This unit holds (and hides) alot of items - many of which I need to go through and parse out. I have WAY too much stuff!! On top of the unit is a basket that holds all my retired stamp pads from Stampin' Up! I also have my 'spray booth' which is an item I picked up at a local craft store. Next to the unit I have one of two oak bookshelves. On this one I have my cricut cartridges, the current Stampin' Up! stamp sets (top shelf only) and then retired sets. On the bottom shelf are old idea books, and other idea notebooks that I have filled with ideas from off the internet from years back. Next to the bookshelf I have cubes that I bought from Michael's. There is no rhyme or reason as to the way I stacked them. These were the first things to go into the room and when I decided where I wanted to put them and how I wanted them placed, I just started stacking. The trays in the cubes on the bottom and the one on top are FILLED with wood mount stamps. these are double stacked in there too!! The drawers hold CD's I plan to make into books, my cuttlebug folders, and other miscellaneous stuff. I really need to get another cube or two to hold more of my DSP. So, here is a wide view of the whole side of the room. This picture actually makes the room look really small - but if you count the inches in those cubes - my estimation is probably not far off. Now, I wanted to give you a closer look at my stamp pad holder. This is a nice holder - although it is not the original one that I saw many years ago, but it is close enough and it works nicely for me., So, moving around the room we pass the large window. This window gets the morning sun, so it makes the room bright all day. The view is not the most exciting as I look out on the neighbors house and can see into their backyard where the children play in the above ground pool, and jump on the trampoline! I could have chosen my middle daughters room (much smaller) and looked out on the back of our property which is filled with trees and the sound of birds singing is everywhere. BUT, I gave up the view for a larger room. :) So now that takes us to the wall opposite where we have just been. Starting in the corner, you will see a cd/dvd tower (I purchased this at IKEA). I have more of my Stampin' Up stamps stacked on this. I also have my Big Shot dies and Stampin' Up embossing folders. Next to the tower I have another two-cube unit from Walmart. I have my prisma color pencils in a case on one of the shelves along with my pad cleaner and scor-pal. In the drawer I have my smooch and spritz as well as the new fabrics that Stampin' Up came out with last year. I still haven't decided what I want to do with those fabrics. Next to the unit is my sewing cabinet. I still have to organize my sewing stuff, most of which is still downstairs. I will show you what is behind that door in a little bit, but walking further over, you will see the other oak bookshelf. On this book shelf I have the books from my favorite author (Fern Michaels), scrapbooks from Creative Memories - still waiting to be finished from YEARS ago!! And on the bottom shelf I have most of my sewing books and more idea books from Stampin' Up! Now, you can see we have made it all the way around the room, but I did tell you I would show you what is behind the door. It is a nice walk-in closet. Right now I just have more papercraft items in there wiating for me to sort through them all. I also have some sewing items in there waiting to be put into the cabinet. I also have a file cabinet in there that I put all my 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock in. You can see on the floor another box - this has sewing threads and the racks are sitting on top of the box. those will be nailed to the wall above the sewing cabinet when we get some time to do that. I have to decide if I want them all in a straight line (not very pleasing to the eye) or if I want a couple about the sewing cabinet and a couple somewhere else in the room - maybe above the shelf by the door. You can also see my bind-it all box (it is in the box) as well as my cricut (in the box) sitting on the floor in the closet too. There is ample room for my sewing items - once I bring them upstairs - later this summer perhaps. As you can see, my room lacks one very important item - A table on which to craft. I could use my sewing cabinet for now - as the door swings open and there is plenty of room for my knees, however, the top is not very big and I like to really stretch out and leave things set up - and if I wanted to sew - well, you can see the problem with that. So, I looked at tables today at Wal-Mart and may have to pick up one there - in a couple of weeks when the money isn't quite so tight.

Well, that is all - I hope you have enjoyed taking a tour of my new crafting space. I am anxious to get in there and really create. Stop by soon so you can see what happens when space and creation meet! :)

~Paula~

Graduation Card

2011-06-14T05:40:00.005-05:00

Last week, I shared a picture of my lovely daughter that just graduated from High School. I finally got the card that I made for her uploaded to my computer and I am sharing it with you today. It is hard to see, but the bottom says 'Congratulations'. I got the idea for this card from this blog. I didn't have the Big Butterfly die that she used on her card, so I improvised with what I had - and ordered the big butterfly die, so now I can make this card again - which was really fun to do. I used my daughters favorite colors and then used a new DSP from Stampin' Up! that was available for a short time - and now will be available once again in the new catalog coming out July 1. I am posting this card as my sample for the design team over at Top Tip Tuesday. This week we are introducing our new Design Team members and showcasing all the awesome talent on our teams. There are some GREAT tips and our wonderful sponsors this week are Robyn's Fetish and Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps. So stop on by to take a peek at what the design team has done - and enter for your chance to win one of our sponsors' prizes. It is an open challenge this week, so we are hoping to see tons of awesome entries this week.
On another most FRUSTRATING thought - Blogger is giving me complete fits! I can add new posts to my blog - as my dashboard sees me logged in, however, when I visit blogs or try to comment, I am unable to show blogger that I am truly signed in - SO, if I do not comment on your blogs - it isn't that I am ignoring you - it's the problem with blogger!!
I will have pictures of my NEW craft area up in a few days - could be a week - who knows - I work the next two days and then my sweetie and I are going to celebrate our anniversary - somehow, someway!!
Thanks for stopping by the spa - come back soon for a visit and bring a cuppa with you.
~Paula~

Tip Top Tuesday Tutorial

2011-06-06T23:55:00.007-05:00

Yes, it is time for another tutorial over at Top Tip Tuesday. This time my teammie Heike has a fabulous tutorial. I just know you are going to love her easy to follow directions for this wonderful gift. Unfortunately, my life these last few weeks has been utterly crazy, so I have not had the chance to do this project. Perhaps later in the week things might slow down to give me a little time to craft. However, there are some fabulous samples from my teammates, so please, pop on over and see the creations - oh, and before I forget - the new Design Team members have been announced as well - so take a peek and see if perhaps your name is on that list

On another crafty note - my oldest daughter graduated a couple of weeks ago fromn High school. A few days later she moved across the country to go to school. I think she just wanted to get away from home and venture out on her own without all the parental control. I miss her, but I have taken over her room and I am moving all my craft stuff in there. It is taking a bit of time, since I have to take the items up a flight of 16 steps. I have gotten most of it up there, so now it is a matter of sorting through everything and putting it all where I want it. Then, I have to get a table up there to work at. I have left a twin size bed in there, for overnight guests. So, with all the crazy activity the last few weeks, and now moving all my stuff - I just haven't had time to craft, but I will soon and it will be nice since I won't have to put it all away when I am done, so I can go in and craft to my hearts content

Do stop by the Top Tip Tuesday blog and take part in the challenge this week. I might even post my creation later in the week, If I get a chance.

Thanks for stopping by the spa today.

~Paula~

Kissing - it's not just for . . .

2011-05-24T01:00:00.000-05:00

I will let you finish that sentence! :) However, if you want to know WHAT in the world I am talking about, you will have to hop on over to Top Tip Tuesday for this weeks tutorial from my teammate Maggie. The challenge is to use two different stamps on your project. For my sample, I actually used three different stamps. I stamped a two-step rose under the flower spray - you can barely see it peeking out of the top and bottom of the spray. Then I used the sentiment stamp. I took my colors from a Stamping 411 color inspiration from a few weeks ago. I haven't used these flowers from Wild Orchid Craft in quite a while and it was fun to use them again. I may have to look into placing an order with them soon as there are some of the flowers I have used in the past that I have run out of and it always seems that I don't quite have the colors I want. The inspiration colors are Crumb Cake, Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango and Riding Hood Red. I tried to use flowers that came close to this color selection as well and think they came out nice. I used crumb cake seam binding ribbon, but am not as crazy about the bow. I used a sketch challenge from another blog - but I cannot remember now where it was from. It is always easier for me to find a sketch to follow - it cuts down on the time it takes for me to grab my creativity and run with it.
Anyway, I just wanted to give you a glimpse into what I have done over the last couple of days and to encourage you to join our challenge this week at Top Tip Tuesday. We have some awesome sponsors.
~Paula~

I LOVE Flowers

2011-05-22T11:42:00.003-05:00

Each season of the year has it's beauty and Spring is probably one of my favorites because of all the beautiful colors. I LOVE flowers - every shade and color - some more than others! I like small flowers and big flowers. My flower garden is one in the making, and so far I have roses, pansies, marigolds and yesterday I bought Snapdragons - we call them Talking Flowers at our house! So, with all this talk about flowers, I made several cards using flowers. With this first one, I used a color combination from Stamping 411 Rose Red, River Rock and Always Artichoke. River Rock tends to take on the hue of the colors around it. I started with my Artichoke base and added an embossed rose red panel. I then cut another piece of Artichoke with my Nestibilities scallop square die. Now my sketch is from Stamping 411 also - using sketch challenge #203. I don't have the Stampin' Up! Square scallop die, so I had to improvise with my scallop square. (Stamping 411 has gone to an all Stampin' Up! only products challenges) So, I then took my river rock and stamped the flowers from the Vintage Vogue (117690/118598) set. This set has been a very versatile set and one I have used often. I used the rose red to stamp the images and then I stamped the flowers again on whisper white cardstock and fussy cut them out. I crumpled them up to give them a 'weathered' kind of look. I was going to leave them as is but they just didn't look finished. So, I stamped the smaller flower in Artichoke and fussy cut them and then crumpled them up. I attached them to the larger flower and then added a rhinestone to finish them off. I attached my very vanilla seam binding ribbon and added the rhinestones to finish off the entire card. I like these colors together and like the finished look of the card/sketch.
I am putting this card into several challenges.
Stamping 411 Color Inspiration #157
SU Only Challenge #19 - flowers
I am sure if I look around blogland, I will find a few other challenges that this one will fit into, however, I will have to find some time to do that, and I don't have that time right now.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. I do have a few more cards that I did and will post, but will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to do that.
Have a wonderful rest of your day - and remember to relax and smell the flowers.
~Paula~

Top Tip Tuesday Design Team Call

2011-05-19T08:08:00.002-05:00

Have you aspired to be part of a design team? Well, here is your opportunity to apply to a fun and creative team. There are FOUR spots available on the team and we would love to see your crafty creations. So hop on over to the Top Tip Tuesday blog to get all the details. Hurry though as this call is only open until 6pm GMT on May 31st.

Relaxing and crafting go together

2011-05-11T15:41:00.007-05:00

Especially when I can sit at my computer and pull out my digital elements in My Digital Studio and just place them on a background - simple, and no mess to clean up when I have to leave for work - which is soon. So, let me show you what I have been creating over the last couple of days. Yesterday, I created this card based on a sketch that I saw - not sure where now. It fits the theme this week for The Top Tip Tuesday Blog challenge.
My teammate Samantha has a fabulous tutorial on creating candy flowers and you really must check it out. then go and make a card using florals of some sort. there are some fabulous prizes as always. My card is a digital card - using elements from My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! I don't have a dedicated crafting space just yet - though that is about to change shortly. So, I have to drag everything out when I want to craft and then put it all away so that others in the family don't get frustrated by my mess. Of course, I am always cleaning up other's messes - so why can't I leave one of my own? Hmmm, guess it doesn't quite work that way. Anyway, with digital, there is no mess left behind and wonderful creations in the making. I can even save my work and come back to it later.

So, today I just wasn't up to dragging a bunch of stuff out to craft with, but still wanted to do some crafting, so I decided to sit in my comfy chair (well, I am not sure how comfortable it is) and just play with digital. I have a very buy month - with birthday's, graduations, and such, I needed a few cards - some of which I needed to send right away in order for the recipient to get it on time, so I created this simple birthday card for my son who is away at college. This is the front of the card and then, I added a couple more 'pages' and added a message to him on the inside. I used the extreme elements and changed the color and added a border on the bottom. I tried to make the border just on the white part, but it was a long process to change it, so I decided to leave it as it is. It is a simple and QUICK card for a young man away at college and I am sure that he will appreciate it. I will send this to him - with the other 'pages' by email (and hope he opens it) so that he gets it by Friday - which is his birthday. Now, if only I could send virtual money to him! lol

My oldest daughter graduates from high school in a couple of weeks, so I needed a card to give to her. This one I will probably get printed so that I can hand it to her. I got the idea for the card from Andrea Wal ford site. This particular idea was to help use up bits and pieces of scrap designer paper that we all have laying around - however, I didn't have any scrap digital DSP lying around, so I just 'cut' into some new. The nice thing about digital is that I DON'T have pieces laying around that I wonder what I am going to do with!! I didn't have any digital stamps in my selection for the text, so I created my own using the text feature. This way I could also make the words as big as I wanted. This was a fun one to do, but now looking at the card, I might just have to switch the pieces around a little to give it more dimension - but that will be for another day - and perhaps even another grad - my eighth grader is also graduating this year. She is my youngest - and I am beginning to feel really old as my kids begin to graduate and move on in their lives. This last card I made for another one of my kids who lives a long ways away. I like to send cards and greetings to my kids and friends, so had fun just making another 'manly' sort of card to let him know I am thinking about him. I also added a 'page' and wrote a greeting to him.

All of these cards were created as stated above using My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! I don't have a color printer, so am unable to print these off on my own - at least at the moment. However, I can submit these through Stampin' Up and can have them print them and sent to me so that I can send them out to my kids.

I hope you have enjoyed taking a peek at my creations for the the last two days. I look forward to sharing more with you in the days ahead.

~Paula~

A little late - but here's the scoop. . .

2011-05-05T18:27:00.002-05:00

This week over at Top Tip Tuesday there is an open challenge. You know what that means? It means you can create ANYTHING you want and enter it for a chance at some fabulous prizes from our sponsors.
I also want to let you all know that according to the May 2011 Wiki0 rankings - Top Tip Tuesday has now made it into the top 20 blogs in the UK and Irish blogospheres. You can find the listing here . I am so thrilled to be a part of this fantastic DT - if you take time to look through the list of blogs - you will see we are ahead of such 'famous' blogs as 'The Sugar Bowl' and 'Sir Stamp Alot Challenge'. There are a few other ones that we are ahead of, so you just have to go have a look. We have jumped up in the ratings quite a bit over the last couple of months and I want to thank those of you that support our blog with your entries into our weekly challenges.
My schedule at work continues to be crazy - working days this week, and nights next week. I am not sure when it will end!! It seems I only have time to throw together a digital creation about once a week - but I am so happy I have the My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! - as it sure makes it easy (and not to mention FUN) to create using my favorite images and papers.
Stop by soon to see what I am able to create - whether digital or real hands on paper - my friend Gloria thinks that I have gone over to the 'dark side' in playing with digital - she is probably right - but I must say that playing with digital is SO portable!! Like this weekend - when I am away from home - but not away from my computer - so guess what? I can STILL create with Stampin' Up! My digital traveling craft room!! :)

Have a great rest of your day wherever you are in the world.
~Paula~

A Quick Play and Now off to work

2011-04-28T13:31:00.003-05:00

I had chores to do this morning - and part of those chores was clearing off my table of my stamping stuff since I am not sure when I will get time to play with real paper again. Just before leaving for work, I decided to take a little time for me - and play with some more of MDS. I just 'threw' some elements together along with some 'papers' to come up with this design to submit for the Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge #200. I stacked a couple 5 petal flower punches on top of each other, colored them with paper and added the Hodgepodge Brad. It is a simple design. I just love using the sketches from many different blogs - it helps SO much when the mojo (and time) are low. I hope you have enjoyed taking a peek at another of my digital creations. I noticed I have to do a bit of tweeking on the sides, but it is time to run off to work - a 9 hour shift today.
~Paula~

More Digital

2011-04-26T11:08:00.003-05:00

Last night I printed out the catalog pages for my MDS - but only the ones that were text since I didn't want to print 97 pages of B&W images - what good does that do? Anyway, as I was going through all the stuff that I got when I purchased my MDS, I decided I would play with some of it. I first had to reload the elements from the Sale-a-Bration CD that I bought that had several kits and stamps on it so that I could use it with the MDS program rather than my Photoshop CS4. I chose a printed Marina Mist for my background paper and then added Perfect Plum grosgrain ribbon. I used the brads from the Vanilla hodgepodge hardware set and used just the word Bliss from the set. I modified the oval punch and matted it with Marina Mist - added shadows and the card is complete. I have this actual stamp set as well, so I could easily recreate this card - perhaps change the ribbon up a bit since I don't have this color ribbon in my stash. Now I just need to make something astonishing - and what better day to do it than today. It is cloudy and there is threat of thunderstorms and rain again today. I don't have to work, but I do have Civil Air Patrol tonight. I have been working on stuff for that, and have a bit more to do - but I just want to relax. I am reading the latest Fern Michael's Sisterhood book - and it is so good I just can't put it down - so I will probably read until the book is done - by then I will be sleepy and want to take a nap - so I just might.
I hope your day is going well - thanks for stopping by the spa today.
~Paula~

Are you Square?

2011-04-26T01:00:00.007-05:00

Or, maybe the question should be do you like making square projects? Like boxes or cards, or ??? Well, today at Top Tip Tuesday my teammate, Leanne has a fabulous tutorial on making a box envelope of any size. We also have some wonderful sponsors for the week. I have chosen to make a Mother's Day card - to enter into the Elizabeth Bell Challenge Blog's April project. This Challenge blog started back in the Fall of last year and I have not missed one of the challenges yet - until last month!! I just did NOT get around to making a centerpiece for Easter even though I bought some items to assist in the project - work just took over and I never got the time to do anything. I was going to try and do something really quick in the 11th hour, which was Friday night - however, I went out with a friend and we did our own form of art at a local art gallery. Those of you that live in the South Eastern United States may be familiar with Sips and Strokes. It is similar to those pottery places where you go in and select a piece of pottery to paint, then leave it for a week for them to fire for you, EXCEPT this is a PAINTING place. You pay a small fee, you get a canvas and an instructor walks the class through the painting and at the end of the night you have a beautiful painting that you created. It is interesting to see the variations of the different class members and the end result. My friend and I have done this one other time and I think this time I like my painting much better. It is a fun girls night out for a minimal fee. So, you can now understand why I wasn't able to do my Elizabeth Bell project at the last minute - which I seem to have done for the last several months - so THIS time, I decided I would get a jump on this project RIGHT away. Besides, Mother's Day is long before the due date of the 22nd, so I HAD to get this done. So, I used this sweet little girl on my card. I colored her with my prisma color pencils - which I haven't used in quite some time. I then cut this image apart and layered it giving a 3D affect. I have set her on this beautiful Designer Paper from Stampin' Up! This paper is a sneek peek from the new Catalog that will be out later this summer, however, until the end of this week, with a qualifying order, you can order this paper as well as a stamp set - you can click on my Stampin' Up! link to get all the information. I think the way I have placed this little cutie makes her look like a fairy amongst the flowers. I added pearls to the flower in the top right to give some dimension. I then added some Marina Mist satin ribbon - using the ruching method. I had started to add the sentiment to the front of the card, but my sweet husband said that he thought it looked better without the sentiment on the front and that perhaps it would look better inside. So, I added another portion of this beautiful DSP to the inside of the card and then added my sentiment. The inside is quite simple but I didn't w

ant to take away from the front of the card. I got my sweet image called Kneeling Willow from Simon Says Stamps. They are Whiff of Joy stamps and I was gifted a $20 voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamps - so it was wonderful to get actual Elizabeth Bell stamps to use on this project. If you have made it this far on my post - thank you! I have gone on about my art and I appreciate you sticking with me this far.
I am happy to say that my schedule at work has changed in such a way that I can do more crafting now. I am not thrilled about working the closing shift, however, it is almost the best of all worlds. I can craft during the day before I go to work, I can have lunch with my sweetie - breakfast out on the weekends and spend the whole day doing gardening or other things and then go to work in the evening. I do miss dinner with the family, but they understand that the reason I am working is for a good thing. Teens are expensive!! And I have WAY to many craft things I want to get!! :)
I am also entering this card in the Hand Stamped Sentiments Challenge this week, which is making something for Mother's Day as well.
Stop by later - I might just have some more crafting to show you - who knows, it might be digital or it might be playing with paper!!
Thanks for visiting the spa today.
~Paula~

Another Digital Play

2011-04-20T13:53:00.003-05:00

I am loving using the sets in the My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! This is another digital card made using one of the sets that will be available starting May 1. This set is called Fabulous Florets and it is amazingly versatile. I think there is even a coordinating paper that comes in the mini catalog if you order the set, but since I was being lazy and didn't want to get up to go find it, I just chose to use my own selection of colors. I started with a background of Pacific Point and then matted whisper white on top and then added my images using old olive, Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo, Baja Breeze and a color that is close to Daffodil Delight. I faded the opacity on the two large flowers in the background to give them a softer look. I grabbed some grosgrain ribbon and a couple buttons and added those and then created the scallop oval matting and picked out a font for my type and typed the sentiment. I added another texture stamp and tried to make it Baja Breeze, but it still looks black to me - but I still like the finished affect.
The challenge on the SU Only challenge blog this week is to make Mother's Day cards - so this one fits the challenge perfectly. Now I simply have to take this image to the printers (I don't have a color printer at home) and print it out on cardstock and then add my own personal sentiments to the inside and send it off to my mom. Of course, I COULD order the stamp set too and then I can just stamp it out, using this design as my sample card. I am REALLY enjoying the few projects I have had time to make using My Digital Studio and the cost is SO enticing. You might want to just check it out for yourself. The program is easy to use and comes with many different items to start with. The downloads are within any stampers budget too and the quality is the same that you get with any of Stampin' Up's products.
Anyway - I have to work tonight - so this is all I get to do in the way of being creative. I hope you have enjoyed visiting the spa today and seeing the digital work that I have done. Do come back soon for more creative inspiration.
~Paula~

Blog Candy

2011-04-19T21:49:00.002-05:00

Yes, my teammate (Leanne) over at Top Tip Tuesday is offering some yummy blog candy on her blog. If you like Magnolia stamps - then you must check this out. Go to Leanne's blog to find out the details.

~Paula~

Open Challenge . . .

2011-04-18T21:53:00.004-05:00

. . . at Top Tip Tuesday this week. My teammate Carol has a wonderful tutorial on making an envelope wallet. She has some great ideas for using one of these once you have completed it too. We also have some great sponsors and there are beautiful samples from my teammates.
I encourage you to stop by and see what everyone has been up to this week and then have a go at making something. With Easter coming up on Sunday you could make a centerpiece for your Easter Supper Table, or alter a tin, notebook or candle. Use your imagination and come up with something fun - you might just win one of our sponsored prizes or be chosen as one of our top 3 for the week. Come back later and see what I get done today too - I do plan on doing something, but have some gardening projects I want to do first. Perhaps I will do that, and then make a digital scrapbook page about my garden! :)
~note~ I had to change my post because I didn't realize that this week at Top Tip Tuesday it is an open challenge - not a non-card challenge. However, with that said, since it IS and OPEN challenge - that means anything goes and I am sure there are lot's of fun items you can make this week to participate.
I did not get a chance to craft today since I got called into work. SO, tomorrow I am going to work in my garden and see what else I can get done.

~Paula~

What do you do . . .

2011-04-18T09:11:00.003-05:00

When you have a day off, followed by a day off followed by two evening shifts? You PLAY!! Or rather CRAFT!! And that is JUST what I am going to do over the next several days - well, in addition to other chores that I HAVE to do around the house - but honestly, I have not had time to really craft for quite some time and I surely want to take advantage of it.

Yesterday, I decided to go ahead and purchase the My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! because I wanted to have the exclusive templates and the access to having my projects printed professionally. So, this morning, I finished downloading everything and had a play with one of the sets that is going to be available starting May 1. I layered DSP on top of Pink Pirouette and continued to layer, alternating colors until I got to my image. I added drop shadows along the way to give dimension. then I added the ribbon and bow at the top. I used the Saturday Sketch #199 from the Stamping 411 blog. They have gone to a Stampin' Up! only products - so this 'card' fits right in.

Now, my thoughts are to take this to a printer and get this printed off and then add this to the Pink Pirouette Cardstock and add a real ribbon. If I was going to do that, I would probably remove the ribbon and bow that I have added digitally.

Well, I 'hope' you like my new digital card. If you haven't tried digital, I really encourage you to do that. It is really SO much fun and there are SO MANY elements and embellishments, and papers that you can add to make the creation truly yours. AND, the nice thing is that it travels quite well and the 'mess' is confined into a small space that fits on your lap (that is IF you have a laptop computer!!)

The other nice thing about creating digitally - especially with the Stampin' Up! products is that you can decide if you REALLY need the rubber and paper - and you can create projects digitally and then stamp them out in paper form later on when you have more time.

Enjoy your day - and stop back by later to see what else I am up to.

~Paula~

Playing with Digital

2011-04-14T13:52:00.003-05:00

Today I decided to download some of the new digital items coming out in the new Summer Mini and then played with them a bit. I don't have the My Digital Studio program from Stampin' Up! because I already have Photoshop CS4 - however, I can see that there are items that I will want access to that I can't access unless I have MDS, so I will be getting that program eventually. Which is a good thing anyway because then I can get the items I create printed through Stampin' Up! Anyway, on to the 'card' that I created. I started with a transparent 'canvas' and then added pacific point. I then created a matte and filled it with one of the papers in the digital dsp. I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to create this card and what colors I wanted to use, so it just kind of evolved - with layers upon layers. I love the bold colors in this and now I am anxious to order the stamp set that goes along with this and create this same 'card' using ink and paper. I didn't add any other elements because I don't have any to add at this point in time, but I don't think this really needs anything else - those big bold flowers just seem to be 'laughing' at life - and I love it!! Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my first Stampin' Up digital design - I am sure there will be MANY more to come as I get more and more of the elements. Now, off to find the CD that came with my last order - that has some of this stuff to play with - or, maybe I will just rest before I have to go into work. Hmm, decisions, decisions. ~Paula~

Having fun and TIME to Craft!!

2011-04-14T09:34:00.005-05:00

My schedule at work has changed a little (at least for this week) allowing me a couple of days to craft. So, I took advantage of the time and made a few cards. On Tuesday, I made this card to fit the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps Sketch Challenge #64. This was such a simple sketch - almost too simple as it took me awhile to figure out how I wanted to actually do this one. You see, I had just gotten some brand new Martha Stewart punches and wanted to try them out. I will actually be getting several more shipments of these punches, but this was from the first shipment. There are 4 punches to this set that I got through HSN. They are the Starburst Punch around the page combo set (which includes two punches), the startburst punch all over the page punch and the aster deep edge punch. I played with the first three and haven't opened up the last one yet. However, I REALLY like the punch all over the page punch. You can literally punch wherever you want on the page. Well, since the sketch was using some kind of design in one corner, I decided to just punch there - but you can really use this punch right smak in the middle if you want. Anyway, I am lacking on birthday cards right now - and with my youngest daughter turning 15 tomorrow, I thought I better make something to give to her. Now, I am not sure this will be the card - this one might just end up in the box to OWH - I really need to get a box sent out to them - and soon - it has been way too long since I have sent anything. Anyway, this was the first card I made.

So, then I played around with a new Spellbinders Die that I purchased through Flowers to Flourish. I get emails nearly daily from them and some of the deals are just too good to pass up. The Spellbinder dies are usually the ones I try to get as I hate paying full price for anything - especially Spellbinders dies - but I DO love them too!! So, I created this card - and it is sort of a sneak peek to a set that will be offered in the new Summer Mini from Stampin' Up! available starting May 1. Now, please don't look to closely at the card as it IS a little crooked -

and it is making me crazy, and I am ready to rip the stamped image off the card and replace it with one that is much straighter, but I can't decide if it is just the image or if it is the entire cut out - in which case, it will remain crooked!! The DSP is another sneak peek of an upcoming item in the NEW Catalog that will be out in July. However, you can order it RIGHT now until the 30th simply by placing an order of $20 or more. There is also a frame set that you can also purchase, but only until the 30th of this month. One of the colors that this package of paper coordinates with is Marina Mist - however, I honestly don't think it matches THAT well - but I did use my new marina mist satin ribbon and my magic bow maker to add the ribbon. another simple card - even if it IS crooked!!

Now if you want REALLY simple - take a look at this next card which highlights a little more of the beauty of this beautiful DSP available only until the 30th with a qualifying order. This has such BEAUTIFUL colors in it, and some of my new favorite ones as well - like Cherry Cobbler and Marina Mist. I used River Rock as my base and then just cut a piece of the DSP that had this beautiful paisley flower on it and matted this on a piece of cherry cobbler - but not before adding the cherry cobblier seam binding ribbon. I LOVE this ribbon - it is so easy to work with and makes a wonderful embellishment, whether tied into a bow, or just left to make a statement of it's own. I used the same spellbinder die that I used in the previous card and stamped the sentiment - from the Vintage Labels (a Sale-a-bration set). I added Stampin' Up! teeny tiny pearls under the sentiment block - these are the last of my little tiny pearls, so I am going to have to order more of those. Now THIS is probably the card I am going to give to my lovely daughter.

Once I get on a roll, I can generally make several cards in a session - but often I get side-tracked, or tired of using a particular DSP - though I am trying to use what I have before buying more - yeah, that doesn't seem to be working out too well.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed looking at my latest creations from early this week. Now, with time still on my hands for today, before I have to run off to work, I just might make some more cards. I LOVE making cards and working on crafting projects - so, off I go.

Have a wonderful day and come back for a visit to the spa real soon.

~Paula~

Spring is in the air!

2011-04-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

I see it in the trees leafing out and the flowers blooming. Soon the seeds I planted in my garden will be popping through the soil. The birds sing to me every morning and it is lovely!! Today on Top Tip Tuesday my teammate has a fabulous tutorial - or rather a 'picture tour' of her crafting space and ideas for organizing all our crafting goodies. I love her 'theme' - but you will have to pop over there to see what I mean. But, before you go, I want to share with you my Spring Themed card. I have used the Saturday sketch #198 from Stamping 411 for my design. The challenge on the Stamping 411 site now is exclusive Stampin' Up! products - so I have chosen Whisper White as my base and then I used Melon Mambo stamped with one of the stamps from Baby Blossoms (#122000) I then took a piece of Daffodil Delight and edge cut with the Scallop Trim Border punch (#118402)I added a piece of white satin ribbon (#114616) and tied a bow with my magic bow maker using Daffodil Delight taffeta ribbon (#119766). My image is from a new stamp set that will be available beginning May 1. I used Daffodil Delight ink and then sponged with Melon Mambo for a mult-colored butterfly. I think butterflies just SCREAM spring. As I planted my garden last week, a HUGE Monarch (at least I think it was a Monarch) butterfly landed in my garden. It's wings were so large and I watched as it 'fed' on something it found in my soil. I didn't want to chance disturbing him in order to run to get my camera - so I lost THAT photo opportunity - but I am sure there will be other opportunities to photograph the wildlife that is abundant in my area. I hope that you have enjoyed your visit here to the spa today - I know that the spa has been slow lately due to my commitment at work and other things - however, I do appreciate your visits and your comments. do come back soon as I attempt to put my crafting back on my calendar of events. ~Paula~

It's My Turn!!

2011-03-29T01:00:00.000-05:00

That is right! It is my turn to share my tutorial over on the Top Tip Tuesday blog. I learned the technique many years ago and have had fun getting all inky. Have you tried Polished Stone? Do you even know what this technique is? Well, if you are new to stamping and have never done this technique - or perhaps you have been stamping for many years now, but have pushed this one to the side - well, I want to invite you to pop over to the Top Tip Tuesday blog and check out my tutorial. We have some wonderful sponsors this week and I have also thrown in an extra opportunity to win something. In my sample, I have used a sketch from Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps blog. I have chosen So Saffron and Elegant Eggplant for my colors. I used my newest tulip embossing folder from Stampin' Up! and a new stamp set from an upcoming mini catalog. I love using my Magic bow maker to make perfect bows. I really like the way the colors blended together making this background something I wanted to display, rather than cover up. Thanks for stopping by today and do play along - it is a very fun technique. Paula

A Recipe for you!

2011-03-22T11:02:00.010-05:00

Today I am going to share a recipe with you - and a little fun information along with it. I LOVE the Elizabeth Bell images - so sweet and Whimsical. And I love participating in the monthly challenges. This past month the challenge on the Elizabeth Bell Challenge blog was to make RECIPE cards. So, I set about to find an image that would indicate some kind of food. Well, most of the digitals that she carries didn't quite say 'food' to me, so I went in search of some of her stamps. Now, what can be better than having the actual rubber in your hand? A gift card to purchase the stamps!! I have a friend who lives in the UK who won a gift voucher for Simon Says Stamps. Well, the shipping to her was so incredibly high that it wasn't worth it for her to use it, so she gifted it to me and I was able to find some beautiful Whiff of Joy stamps by Elizabeth Bell that fit the project theme. Thanks Deb!

So, once I got my stamp - JUST in time to complete my project for the month - I set about to decide what I wanted to do. Now, I LOVE chocolate chip cookies - however, not all chocolate chip cookies are alike. My kids call me a chocolate chip cookie snob - so my first part of the project was to create a recipe for CHOOSING a chocolate chip cookie. Of course, I had to use 'Cookie Girl' and my Parisian Breeze (retired) DSP as it has CHOCOLATE CHIP as one of the colors!! I colored my cookie girl with my prisma color pencils and then set about to make a pocket on the front of the card for my 'choosing' recipe. Now just in case you are wondering what that recipe says, I will tell you.

"The cookie must be brown but not burnt. It must be crisp but not crunchy. It must have nuts of some kind, walnuts are best. When warm the chocolate chips must be gooey, not the cookie. the cookie when warm must maintain a bit of crisp, but not be crunchy! NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! eat pale looking cookies!! Don't indulge in the soft kind either! ENJOY!!

This is MY criteria for choosing a good chocolate chip cookie - I am sure there is a bit more to it than that, but when I first came up with this 'recipe' I didn't write it down - so, now it is written down and I can't say as it might get tweaked when my memory returns!! lol Now, before I take you inside my card, I wanted to show you a closer look at my bow. First, I LOVE the new seam binding ribbon that Stampin' Up! has in their mini catalogs. There are several colors to choose from right now and they are PERFECT for making beautiful bows. I added a small pearl to the knot on my bow just for added beauty. What I really want to share with you though is the way I made this bow. I have had a gizmo that I got a long time ago at a stamp club meeting I used to attend. It was fairly primitive and I really didn't use it all that much. Then I saw on a website that someone was selling something similar, only much nicer looking. I decided that I would get mine out and work with it - but I still wasn't satisfied, so I broke down and purchased this Magic Bow Maker. I am SO happy that I did. I have to admit, I liked the bows I was seeing from this cardmaker and I really wanted to know what her trick was. With the bow maker I got the directions on how she made the bows, which was similar to what I was already doing. I also got this nifty card holder - so I think the $15 I spent on this bow maker was WELL worth it - and I hope that if you don't already have one of these, you will purchase one from her - her shipping time is awesome too. (Now, just so you know, she isn't paying me to say all this - I am just sharing because I am a happy customer) So, back to the card - now that you have seen the outside, I decided that I might as well give you an actual recipe of a fantastic chocolate chip cookie - the recipe I have used for years. Now, rather than me writing out the recipe for you here - I will send you to a website I found with the recipe. when I was typing out the recipe to put in my card, I noticed that it was from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts. Now, I do not remember where I actually got this recipe - I know it wasn't online, as that was before computers and I had never heard of this person - so that mystery remains. However, you will find the recipe here. You will have to scroll past the Toll House recipe that we are all familiar with - and continue reading through the recipe to the end - as you will see that she says something similar about a good chocolate chip cookie!! Honestly, I looked this up online after I finished my card and had NO IDEA there were other Chocolate Chip Cookie snobs out there! So, here's to the BEST chocolate chip cookie and all chocolate chip cookie snobs!! :)

I hope you have enjoyed reading my musings today - I will be posting this to the EB challenge blog and hope that I find some more chocolate chip cookie 'snobs' to join me!!

Have a fantastic rest of your day - wherever you are in the world.

~Paula~

Button, Button, who has the button?

2011-03-22T01:00:00.000-05:00

I will tell you - Top Tip Tuesday has the button this week! At least that is what the tutorial is all about. My teammate Samantha has done a fabulous tutorial on altering buttons and using them on your projects.

I don't often use buttons on my cards - I prefer using ribbon and flowers, however for this week, I took up Samantha's challenge and made a card using buttons. I used the sketch from Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge #195 for my card layout. I started with a base of Daffodil Delight and then layered with a beautiful DSP from Stampin' Up! I continued to layer with the Daffodil until I got to my main panel and then I matted this with Cherry Cobbler. I added a Cherry Cobbler seam binding bow - which I just LOVE!! This is the first opportunity I have had to use this wonderful ribbon. It is easy to work with and makes such a pretty bow. I played with the sentiment - not knowing exactly what I was going to use, and decided to use a partial sentiment from one of the new Hostess sets from Stampin' Up! called Afterthoughts. I stamped it on the Daffodil Delight with Cherry Cobbler and then cut it with my spellbinders dies. I had Cherry Cobbler buttons from my Christmas package and just recently got these Daffodil Delight buttons. They were the perfect touch for this simple card. I hope you will come over and join in with us this week using buttons on your project. This simple embellishment can be plain, or you can use alcohol inks to color to coordinate with your project, but don't stop there, check out Samantha's tutorial and then post your project for a chance to win something from our wonderful sponsors this week.

Thanks for stopping by - I will have more to share with you later in the day - afterall, it is time to submit for the monthly Elizabeth Bell challenge - just in the knick of time too!!

~Paula~

Wonderful Boxes!

2011-03-08T00:01:00.000-06:00

Life just seems to get busier and busier. I am now going to start training to become a shift manager at work. That is a good thing - it means more money - but I am not sure what it will do with my crafting time - which seems to be sketchy at best lately. However, this week at Top Tip Tuesday, my teammate Heike has done a wonderful job with a tutorial on making a box. The tutorial is in English as well as Heike's native language - so you will be able to follow along.
When I read the tutorial, I just had to make one of these wonderful little boxes. I have been really intriqued lately with 3D projects such as these. Awhile back I read a tutorial on how to make your own color coordinated shreds - so I set about to make shreds to put in my box. I cut each sliver of paper with scissors, however, it could be easily done with a guillotine style paper cutter - but I don't have one of those and my paper cutter has a dull blade, so the cardstock wouldn't cut nicely. (I did buy new blades today, so perhaps now it will cut those slivers). It actually took quite a few cuts to get enough to make a nice bedding in my little box. I haven't filled my box with anything quite yet - but I plan to give it to one of my daughters - they love getting these little gifts - especially when I fill it with goodies. I have wanted to use a bright cheery color - perhaps it will bring Spring and warmer weather a little faster. So, I pulled out this retired DSP from Stampin' Up! and the coordinating colors of cardstock - So Saffron and Bashful Blue. I made the box in So Saffron and then pulled out one of my newest Spellbinders dies (label four) and cut the top and bottom for the box. I then added bashful blue taffeta ribbon - this is no longer available from Stampin' Up - but it was perfect for this box. I have the So Saffron grosgrain ribbon - but I really like the satins and taffetas - they just flow so nicely when tied in bows and such. Grosgrain is great for tying knots. Anyway, I then cut the next size down of the label four from bashful blue. I chose another piece of the DSP from the same package and layered that on the blue. I played with images until I finally settled on just adding a word sentiment and some flowers. I stamped a flower and then fussy cut it and added the mini roses from Wild Orchid Craft. These little roses are just wonderful - they add such a fantastic dimension.I then added a leaf cut from a MS punch to finish the spray.
I really enjoyed putting this little box together and need to find the perfect little treat to add to the inside to give as a gift.
Thanks for stopping by today - I sure hope you will join us in making these simple and sweet boxes that can be used for so many different things.
~Paula~

Time for another Top Tip Tutorial

2011-03-01T00:00:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was my day off and I had looked forward to creating - however, I had to do other things that were more necessary. Perhaps I will get some time on Saturday - my next day off.
In the meantime - the Top Tip Tuesday blog has a wonderful tutorial today. We are being sponsored this week by: The Crafty Pad and Dew Drop Craftz
The challenges for this week are Your favorite embellishment and/or your favorite technique. I know - it IS difficult to choose just one - but give it a try and post your project for a chance to win. Remember - you can leave a tip in the comment section for another opportunity to win.

So, drop on by and see the tutorial my teammate Eileen has done for us.

~Paula~

One of the Top Three

2011-02-25T21:06:00.002-06:00

I am SO THRILLED to be chosen as one of the Top Three on the Elizabeth Bell Blog for the month of February. I got my project done JUST in the knick of time. I presented it to my youngest daughter a couple of days ago and she was thrilled with it. The Elizabeth Bell challenge blog started just a few months ago and I have submitted a project each month - sometimes just under the wire, like this one. For the month of March the challenge is to make recipe cards. Hmmm, perhaps I will share my favorite cheesecake recipe on a recipe card or another favortie recipe. I will have to think on this one. I was gifted a $20 certificate for Simon Says Stamp and they carry Whiff of Joy stamps - one of Elizabeth Bell's lines - so I am going to choose a few and create my project - hoping to do it early in the month - rather than just in the knick of time.
What about you? Do you have a favorite recipe that you could create into a beautiful Elizabeth Bell enhanced project?
~Paula~

One more Love!

2011-02-22T15:48:00.005-06:00

A few years ago, my youngest daughter used to play near a pond that had frogs, so we used to tease her about being down at the pond kissing frogs. Ever since then, she has lovingly been called the frog kisser. So, when Elizabeth Bell came out with this adorable image I KNEW I just had to have it. Then the challenge on the Elizabeth Bell Challenge blog for February was to create an altered item with the theme of Love. It didn't take me long to decide what I wanted to make. I had this tin from Christmas - it was filled with chocolate and almond covered toffee (one of my favorites) - the toffee is all gone, but the tin was something I knew I would do something with eventually. So, I set about last night grabbing the DSP from Stampin' Up! and covering the tin with it. I added pretty in pink ribbon around the bottom part of the tin and then added real red ribbon on the lid.The hearts are cut on my Big Shot with the
spellbinders scalloped heart dies. I used the two smallest hearts and just layered them on top of each other. I added the hearts to the lid and then added a few roses from Wild Orchid Crafts. My sweet image of the 'frog kisser' is colored with prisma color pencils. I added the tiny pearls from Stampin' Up! to her crown. I added a couple layered hearts sponged with real red to the side of the tin and added a few extra roses. I plan to give this to my youngest daughter today as she has had a hard time adjusting to the move and fitting in with the groups at her school. I just have to find something to fill the tin with - like her favorite treat! :)
Thanks for stopping by to take a peek at my creation. I am entering this in the Elizabeth Bell Challenge for this month - and just in time too - today is the deadline!!
~Paula~

Embellishments and Insertions!

2011-02-22T00:00:00.004-06:00

I KNOW you all embellish your cards - they just wouldn't seem finished without that little extra - be it ribbon, brads, rhinestones, pearls, - whatever your choice of embellishment is. But, what about the inside of your card? Do you take the time to finish the INSIDE of your card? If not, then take a look at the Top Tip Tuesday tutorial for today. My Teammate, Maggie has done a fabulous job showing you ways that you can finish the inside of your card. We also have THREE fabulous sponsors this week. Wink Wink Ink, Digital Delights by Louby Lou, and Simon Says Stamp. I have been working with some retired DSP this week - just trying to use what I have before buying more - and have made this simple card using the Saturday Sketch #191 from Stamping 411 I like using ribbon on my cards and usually some other embellishment - whether it be rhinestones, pearls or flowers - the lovely ones you can get from Wild Orchid are fabulous. I started out with the sketch, wanting to use my new Spellbinders dies - these are label #2. Don't you just LOVE those dies? They are so versatile and my husband thinks I need to get them all because he KNOWS I want them. Gotta love the man!! Anyway, back to my card. I used the set Blessed Mother which can be found in the new Occasions mini catalog. This is such a simple, yet beautiful set. I stamped it with Rich Razzleberry and then thought that I should have used a bit of old olive on the leaves - however, I don't have too many of the Stampin' Up! markers, but I do have Pear Pizzazz and Certainly Celery, so after I stamped the image, I colored with a little bit of the Pear Pizzazz to give just a bit of green to the leaves. I debated whether I wanted to put a sentiment on the outside, and decided that I would finish the inside of my card - something I seldom do - but have been inspired to do more of through Maggie's tutorial.I double stamped the smaller flower, adding a bit of green to the stems and then stamped the sentiment with Old Olive. Though this set is called Blessed Mother, you can see how versatile this set can be with the change of sentiment.
Thanks for stopping by today - and be sure to check out Maggie's tutorial and enter for a chance at some fabulous products from our sponsors.
~Paula~

Crafting again - at least for today!!

2011-02-21T10:49:00.004-06:00

Actually, I did some crafting yesterday - so what I am going to show you right now is from yesterday. A few weeks ago, I was working with packages of retired DSP from Stampin' Up! Well, I am still doing that - so over the next few days, you are going to see ALOT of this particular DSP called Cottage Wall. It is a lovely paper that coordinates with Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Orchid Opulence (retired). The current catalog has this same design but with colors that coordinate with Poppy Parade (InColor), Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz and Peach Parfait (also InColors). I chose my layout from Stamping 411 sketch challenge #190. I also used the set Easter Blossoms from the Occasions Mini catalog. I double stamped the branch - you have to look closely to see that. Then I stamped the sentiment and added my ribbon - which is certainly celery satin ribbon - I don't have any old olive or white ribbon - but this one coordinated close enough. I like the way this one turned out with such simplicity. This set really lends itself to doing a quick and easy card.
So, I encourage you - choose a DSP, grab some coordinating cardstock and this Beautiful set and get going on those Springtime and Easter cards.
Come back later to see what I am able to accomplish TODAY!!
~Paula~

No Time to Craft!!

2011-02-15T15:41:00.002-06:00

It seems since I started working that I cannot find any time to craft lately. Do you find yourself in that rut sometimes?
Well, I DO want to share with you that today over at Top Tip Tuesday There is a fantastic tutorial on how to use your sewing machine on cards. Anne has given us lot's of tips and shows us some wonderful pictures of how stitching can be used on your cards and also how to use your sewing machine for paper piercing. Go on over and check it out - there are some wonderful sponsors this week too. Just remember, you can post up to three cards for the challenge.
Now, if I can find some time after work one of these nights, I might just try out my new sew easy stitch piercer. I do have wonderful sewing machines, however, it is more cumbersome to get them out to use - so I choose to do faux stitching. However you like to 'stitch' on your cards, I hope you will join us this week.
Thanks for stopping by - I hope to get working on some projects by the weekend.
~Paula~

Another Top Tip Tuesday Tutorial!

2011-02-08T02:00:00.000-06:00

Today it is Top Tip Tuesday - and another fantastic tutorial by my Teammate Vee. We have a couple more wonderful sponsors for this weeks challenge as well. Digi Sparkle and Robyns Fetish. Robyn has graciously supplied the design team with some adorable images and I chose this romping pup for my card. He just looks like he is about to get into all sorts of trouble. I colored my image with prismacolor pencils - my favorite (as most of you already know) medium for coloring. I haven't played with any animal images, so my coloring is a challenge on animals. However, I ordered a couple of color pencil magazines today and I think one of the issues I ordered will help me with that. So, I started with a chocolate chip base and added a bit of designer paper. I then took a piece of vanilla cardstock and ran both sides through my border punch. I had thought about edging this with the chocolate chip ink, but I completely forgot about that. I was so busy trying to get the layout the way I wanted it that I just started gluing things down! :) Anyway, the challenge for today is 'In the Frame', so I took my nestibilities scallop circle and cut two different sizes creating a frame with the vanilla. I attached my pup with dimensionals on the chocolate chip circle and positioned his paws outside the frame. I didn't think it was quite finished. So, I took my newest nestibilities - the scallop heart - that I got at Hobby Lobby last week for a great price - and cut two different sizes. I was going to add a simple sentiment - 'Hi' - but decided to look at what else I had and found that this simple sentiment was perfect and it fit just right inside the darker heart. I added the ribbon - which is seam binding that I got in a blog hop win awhile back. This ribbon is so fun to work with and the color of this one fit with the color scheme I created.

I don't often finish the inside of my cards, except to add a bit of lighter paper so that a message can be written inside. On this one, I added another red heart that I had cut out. I especially like the way the card turned out - it was simple and fairly quick to do once I knew what I wanted to create.

I hope that you have enjoyed looking at my work today and I hope that you will hop on over to Top Tip Tuesday today and play along with our challenge. I am sure that you will find Vee's tutorial quite interesting and fun to try.

Thanks for stopping by today - and as always - I love comments and appreciate your support of my creations.

~Paula~

Ribbon Tutorial at Top Tip Tuesday

2011-02-01T01:00:00.000-06:00

This week at Top Tip Tuesday there is a wonderful tutorial. Dawn from Carol's team shows you how to use up bits of ribbon to make a beautiful project. The Challenge this week is to make something girlie or use ribbon on your project. Our sponsors are The Crafty Pad Stamp Designs and Ooh La La Creations. So Check out the tutorial - it is very cool and then enter YOUR ribbon or girlie creation for a chance at a wonderful prize from these sponsors.
Remember, you can enter up to 3 times but your creations all have to be new.
Come back later today and I just might have some new creations to show you.
~Paula~

Valentine's is Just around the Corner!!

2011-01-29T09:52:00.008-06:00

What is your favorite holiday? My favorite is Christmas, however, I really like most all of the holidays and I do like Valentine's Day. It is just one of those FUN holidays - though it really isn't a holiday at all - just a special day. I like to make it special for my family and have at times done something special for my sweetie and kids on that day. This year, I am planning to do something special - though I am not sure what quite yet - but I am sure that it will involve cards. So, I have set about to make several cards - and of course, I have had help from some of my favorite blogs. On the SU Only Challenges blog, this week, the challenge went out to create Valentine cards. So, I took some time earlier this week to make not just one, but several. This was the first one that I started with and I didn't have a sketch to follow, I just created my own with scraps of paper. Remember early in the week, I was trying to use up one DSP packet and make as many projects with that packet as possible - well, in some ways I am still on that roll, just changed packets. :) I chose this new DSP packet from Stampin' Up! and used the scraps that I had saved from some other projects I have been working on. This card is one of the more simple ones that I have done in awhile, but I didn't want to take away from the border that I had created. I also took some of the 1/4" grograin real red ribbon and ruffled it onto the card. This is a really fun technique and quite easy to do with a little red liner tape and ribbon of your choice. I don't like the grosgrain tied in bows as much with this size as I think they just get to flattened out, however, using the ribbon in this way is quite effective. After I was done with the main elements of the card, I decided to add just a bit more embellishments, so got out my pearls - I LOVE these - and added them to the right side of the scalloped strip and then under the sentiment. The card is really simple and a bit too plain too me - but yet it is complete. I am not sure who of my family members will get this card, but I am sure that whoever it is, will be pleased.

Thank you for stopping by - I will have more cards to show you of a Valentine's Day sort and I hope you find inspiration to send greetings to your loved ones too.

I am submitting this card for the following challenges:

SUOnly Challenge #11 - Valentines

Res-Q-Challenge #68 - Get in Line

~Paula~

Fabulous Flowers!!

2011-01-25T11:20:00.001-06:00

Good Morning my friends. Today I have a Fabulous card to show you featuring Fabulous Flowers. The Tutorial this week at Top Tip Tuesday is how to make flowers from hearts and Leanne has done a wonderful job with this. The challenge for you is to either use this tutorial to make flowers from hearts, or to use flowers on your project. We have two Wonderful sponsors as well. Wink Wink Ink and Michelle's Scrapbooking and More
I have used the Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die with some retired DSP from Stampin' Up! I really like the soft colors of this paper. I love two-sided papers as they give you more options for the money.My base is So Saffron with the DSP added. I distressed the edges of the paper and then sponged around with so saffron. I took another strip of the dsp and sponged with the so saffron again. I added a strip of certainly celery satin ribbon - love this stuff! My flower was sprayed with water and then crumpled up like I was going to throw it away - then, I opened it back up and sponged around the edges. I gave it a quick shot of gold glow smooch - this is also one of my favorite products to use. It just gives a nice shimmery touch to the card. Inside I added my sentiment on top of another piece of the dsp. I kept the dsp clean on this one and just sponged the edges of my sentiment. I used Spellbinders Polka Dot frame nestibilities and used the inside piece of the smallest frame. I love the versatility of the nestibilites.
I hope you will join us over at Top Tip Tuesday this week. You are eligible for a chance at one of the fabulous prizes by either making a NEW card (no back linking) following the challenge, or leaving a helpful tip in the comment section on the blog, or by doing both. We do ask that you only enter no more than 3 projects.
I am also entering this card in the following challenges:
Mojo Monday - Sketch 175
Paper Sundaes - Distressing
Tuesday Throwdown - Distressing
Thanks for stopping by the spa today I really enjoy your visit and hope that you find inspiration here.
~Paula~

A New Sketch

2011-01-25T11:17:00.000-06:00

There are many blogs that I visit fairly regularly and one of them is the OWH Stars and Stamps Blog. Each Sunday they post a new sketch and it is usually quite simple to do.

This weeks was no different. I have been using this old DSP paper package from Stampin' Up! this week for my cards just trying to use up stuff I already have. I love the the soft pastel colors of Certaqinly Celery, So Saffron, and Bashful Blue with a bit of Sahara Sand for the base card. I added Bashful Blue Taffeta ribbon (retired) and some pearls below my sentiment for the final touch.

The OWH Stars and Stamps blog has challenges throughout the week, but one of my favorites IS the sketch challenge.

I hope you have enjoyed your short visit today. I haven't sat down to make anything today, but the day is not yet over. I would like to encourage you, though to check out the OWH site and perhaps share some of your gorgeous work with the troops overseas.

Thanks for stopping by,

~Paula~

I LOVE sketches!!

2011-01-24T12:22:00.000-06:00

For those of you that follow me regularly, you know that I LOVE sketches. They make my card making SO much easier when I don't have to decide how to lay out a card. I like to enter challenges that offer a sketch so when I saw the one for the Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch, I just had to do it. I also love CAS cards, and this sketch just lends itself SO well to an easy and simple card. There are SO many ways that you can use that center panel. I don't have a lot of BIG sentiments that take up large panels, but as I thought about what I do have, I went in search of this particular sentiment from the All Year Cheer set. Actually, I was thinking of another sentiment from a different set, but this one worked. I used a MS border punch for my matting and OLD DSP for my background. The ribbon is Bashful Blue taffeta ribbon. I have a device that I got from a stamper YEARS ago that helps with the tying of the bow. You can find similar gadgets around or even make one yourself. Mine is fairly primitive, but it works! I finally tried my hand at tying a double loop bow and I am pleased with the way it turned out.
I am on a roll with this particular DSP, so you will see more cards in the coming days using the variety of papers in this packet. Actually, what I am trying to do is limit my supplies so as not to drag too much out at one time - I don't have a dedicated space just yet that I can leave all my stuff for whenever the mood strikes.
I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Let's Ink It Up - Anything Goes
Stamping 411 - Saturday Sketch #187

Thanks for stopping by - I will have more as I search through challenges and get inspired. I hope YOU have been inspired to do something creative today.
~Paula~

It's a Numbers Game!!

2011-01-22T11:40:00.000-06:00

Have you counted your stamps lately? Perhaps you are a newby and only have a handful, or perhaps you have been doing this for A LOT of years and have NO clue how many stamps you own, you just know they are taking over every nook in your home! I feel that way, so I set about to do inventory. I finished up this morning - and unless I have a few hiding that I am not aware of, the grand total is MUCH less than I expected! Here are my totals - 2097 individual stamps. This includes clear mount, wood mount and everything in between - PLUS add 10 more for the wheels that I have. Now, out of those numbers I own 97 Stampin' Up! sets! A good portion of the non-SU stamps are Sweet Stamps and I thought there was around 2000 in those alone, but obviously, I was wrong. I do know that some of my Sweet Stamps are missing, but not that many. Now, this number does NOT include any digital images that I have purchased or gotten as freebies - I won't even attempt to count those at this point in time because they are not all in one folder - another thing I have to organize. So, there you have it.
So, why are numbers so important to me today? Well, because as of today I have had 10,000 hits to my blog!!! That is AMAZING! And is cause for a celebration - so while I go off to start my new job, I will be thinking along the lines of some blog candy - FROM MY INCREDIBLE stash, of course!! In the meantime, tell your friends - and come back in the next few days to see what my candy will be - I am SURE it will be good.

~Paula~

January Digi Bell Release

2011-01-21T21:22:00.000-06:00

Have you seen the new Digi from Elizabeth Bell? It is just plain adorable.I hopped along on the blog hop and then created my card - with Chocolate Chip and hearts all over the DSP. I paper pieced the dress on my young lady and the little boys overalls. I added a bit of chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon around the pink heart embossed piece behind my image panel. It was fun to do this card and I am getting it posted just under the wire.
Thanks for stopping by to take a look.
~Paula~

Sugar Bowl Sketch Challenge 51

2011-01-21T19:53:00.000-06:00

I am LOVING the new Sugar Nellie digital images. I had to have all of them - so splurged last week to get them. Tonight I am participating (as well as hostessing) a Virtual Stamp Night at SplitCoast Stampers and one of the challenges was to paper piece an image. Well, I decided to see how it would work out to use one of the new digital images for this challenge. I printed out the image on plain white cardstock and then printed again on two different patterned paper. I wanted to use the Sketch over on the Sugar Bowl so that I could enter this card in the challenge there. I REALLY like the way this one turned out.I started with Real Red as my base and then used the Love Impressions DSP. I matted this paper on Pretty in Pink as well as the base. I wrapped the pretty in pink grosgrain ribbon around the sentiment piece and then ran my scallop circle through my cuttlebug using the heart embossing folder. I then sponged around the edges with Real Red ink. I added flowers from Wild Orchid Craft. My little girl is colored with Prisma color pencils on her face, hair and shoes. I then took the two different DSP papers that I had printed the image on and cut the pants from one and placed these directly on the image. I then cut the shirt out and placed this on my image with mini dimensionals. I like the 3-D effect this whole card gives off.
I hope you have enjoyed looking at this card - it is one of my favorites so far.
~Paula~

Virtual Stamp Night

2011-01-21T19:25:00.000-06:00

It is Friday night and over on the SplitCoast Stampers site they have a Mini Virtual Stamp night taking place. I am one of the hostesses for the mini and having a fun time commenting on all the fabulous cards. I have also made cards for the other challenges going on. I am posting the first three cards here. The first challenge was to 'punch your heart out'. I used many different dies and border punches to make my card. Part of the challenge was to use a sketch, and particular colors - it was a really fun challenge. The next challenge was the one that I am hosting. The challenge is What SHAPE is your heart? The base has to be a heart shape, but you can actually make anything you want with a heart shape - it doesn't have to be a card - however, I did make a card. I don't have any heart nestibilities - and had considered buying some, however I got some cookie cutters instead and used those to make my card. I put a vellum window in the card and used gold smooch around the edges - signifying that my heart is edged in gold! :) The next challenge is to make a luminaire. Now, THIS was fun!! I am actually thinking of making several of these to line my staircase. This luminaire has printed vellum - I have had this vellum for AGES and it had big and small hearts all over it. I decorated with the heart cutouts from one of my Stampin' Up! sets.
I hope you have enjoyed looking at my projects for the VSN. If you want to play along you can find all the information here YOu have until Monday to get your projects uploaded - so why not come over and play along.
Thanks for stopping in today - I will have more posts before the evening is over.
~Paula~

Back to making Cards!

2011-01-19T09:40:00.001-06:00

Today I decided to spend the bulk of the day making cards. I haven't done any in nearly a week and I am getting grumpy!! I am trying to catch up with the challenges and one of my favorites is the 'All Things Sugar Nellie" over at Paper Craft Planet. The week 34 challenge was to use your FIRST Sugar Nellie that you ever got. Well, mine was a digital. I think it had something to do with the instant gratification. I wasn't all that thrilled with the choices of digital back then (maybe a year and a half ago) - NOW, they have some BEAUTIFUL digiitals that are awesome to work with. The fun thing about digitals is that you can resize them to fit whatever die cut you are using. I had sized this one a little bigger, but decided that I wanted to matte her, so made her a little smaller and printed it out. I used the Operation Write Home sketch challenge #52 and kept it simple and free from alot of embellishments. I am also using OLD DSP from Stampin' Up! I have so much that just sits, in addition to a box of 12 x 12 papers that are unopened from the move. I seriously do not need to buy any more DSP, however, I probably will since I can never seem to find the right (perfect) coordinating colors for the project I am working on.
Thanks for stopping by - I may be posting more throughout the day, or just craft all day and post later this evening or tomorrow morning - it all depends on the challenge deadlines! :)
~Paula~

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge

2011-01-18T06:00:00.000-06:00

This week at Top Tip Tuesday we have a fantastic tutorial by my Teammate Carol. I am sure you have seen wordbooks at your local craft store and I am sure you have probably even bought one and embellished it (or at least plan to in the future sometime). The problem with these wordbooks is that they are never the words YOU want. I mean - wouldn't it be cool to have a word book that you have created for one of your children using THEIR name - which by the way is so unusual that NO ONE would ever carry something like that? Well, now you can - just take a peek at Carol's tutorial and you will be on your way to making word books of all kinds.

We have a couple fantastic sponsors this week - Pink Cat Studio and Catherine Pooler
There is also an extra prize that Carol is giving to anyone that makes a word book using her tutorial.
Now, if it all seems to daunting to make a wordbook - or the time is just not there for you this week - have no fear - you can still play along - just make something with a sentiment on it. Remember that you can also have a chance at a prize just by leaving a tip - so make sure you leave a comment on the Top Tip Tuesday Challenge blog with your tip.

Thanks for playing along with us this week.

~Paula~

A Change of Pace for a day!

2011-01-13T18:39:00.000-06:00

This morning I woke up quite early and couldn't get back to sleep - so I got up and read email - there wasn't much at that time of day. I decided I would play around with my digital stuff. I haven't done anything with digital for a VERY long time and I have gotten quite a few kits from Scrappers Guide and haven't played with any of them in many many months.So, I downloaded the latest kit and then had a look around my folders at some of the other kits that I have gotten in recent months and found one called Garden of Memories. This one is a beautiful kit with gorgeous elements - so I played around with the paper and elements and then added my pictures. The pictures are recent ones from Christmas of my kids and husband. It was fun to work with some digital stuff again. I may have to pull some more out and work on my pictures from the move and the holidays. Tomorrow I will be working on cards again - I have fallen behind on my daily goal - so will have to make some clean and simple cards. I did get some new papers in and a new stamp set yesterday, so that will make it easy. There are also a few challenges out there to take a peek at as well.
Thanks for stopping by - hope you enjoyed the change of pace for a day.
~Paula~

Mojo Monday Sketch 173

2011-01-11T17:06:00.001-06:00

I have had a very productive day making cards and finishing projects today. However, I am still one card behind my goal of one card a day. This card makes #10, so I will either work on one more card for today, or just do it tomorrow - which is more likely as the day winds down.
So, after coloring and playing with new Sugar Nellie images, I wanted to do something completely different. No Valentine, No little girls - just plain and simple. The sketch over on the Mojo Monday Sketch Blog was perfect for this. I LOVE this sketch and it sets such a pretty scene. I had to decide what I wanted to do first and I started out thinking I wanted to do something bright - not blue, not purple or red or pink! In the end, I chose blue afterall - but not before I chose the brown. Aside from brown and pink, I think I like the brown and blue combination best.This stamp set is another new one out in the Occasions Mini and it is a must have in my book. Just think of all those friends you can be encouraging!! I also used this set to make some mini cards for one of my friends at Christmas time - she LOVED them. Afterall, what girl DOESN'T love chocolate??
I started with a light blue base and then added early espresso. On top of that I added some old DSP (that I just LOVE) and then added my center piece. The roses are from Wild Orchid craft - and since I hadn't used any today, I thought I needed to give them a little love.
I hope you enjoy my card - come back tomorrow - as I will give you all a rest from my postings - and see what I come back with.
I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Mojo Monday - Sketch
My Time To Craft - Chocolate

Enjoy your evening wherever you are in the world.
~Paula~

Another Sketch Challenge

2011-01-11T15:00:00.000-06:00

One of my friends in California is a phenomenal paper crafter. I have learned SO much from her and have aspired to emmulate her in my papercrafting - though we have very different styles. She now creates her own sketches and she has created a sketch for Christian Paper Crafts. Now I am not a member of this group, but I liked the sketch that she created and used it for one of my newest Sugar Nellie Images. Interestingly, this image is called Faith! She is one of the newest digital images found at Funky Kits I altered the sketch just slightly - which is always something that we as paper crafters area at liberty to do, right? That is what makes this art so unique for each one of us. My DSP is from one of my new packages from Stampin' Up! It just works so perfectly with this old fashioned image. I also liked using my deckle edged oval nestibilities. I have always thought that deckle is another of those old fashioned things.
Anyway, I hope you like these newest images - I have a few more that I will be coloring up over the next few days to share with you.
Now on to one more sketch challenge.
~Paula~

OWH Sunday Sketch #51

2011-01-11T14:48:00.001-06:00

Do you ever wonder what to do with all the DSP that you buy for each holiday season when the season is over? I know, Christmas you can do cards all year long and by the time it comes around again, no one will remember that you gave them a card with that paper last year - at least you hope not. But, what about Valentines Day? I mean, there are so many cool papers out right now and you can really only make one (unless you have kids) Valentines card, right? So, what do you do with all the rest? Well, of course you could make cards for OWH, but the deadline for Valentine cards is way past, so what do you do? Well, you just change the sentiment!! By changing the sentiment to something like this, or 'thinking of you' or something along those lines, you can still convey your love for the person you are sending this to no matter what time of year. So, when I saw this sketch, I decided to make a card to match another project I was working on yesterday (it isn't quite finished, so you don't get to see it yet). By the time I DO finish the project, I may have made a completely DIFFERENT card to go with it - you know how that goes. Anyway, I loved the simplicity of the sketch and can see using this one for many different cards. Afterall, I DO have kids, and Valentines is coming soon and I want to show them a little love - but shhhhh, don't tell them!!

So, I am catching up with my one-a-day cards - so stick around to see my next card - you will LOVE it!!

~Paula~

New Toys to play with and some sketches!

2011-01-11T11:42:00.000-06:00

Do you like new stuff to play with? I sure do - and the challenge over on the 'All Things Sugar Nellie' forum at Paper Craft Planet last week was to use new stuff that we might have gotten for Christmas. Well, I didn't really get any new stuff for Christmas, however, I did get new stuff around the holidays and just this week got some more stuff. I discovered that Funky Kits has some NEW digital images and they are absolutely adorable. These little ladies are old fashioned and so innocent. I just had to have them all! This little girl is Grace. The shadows in the image are so helpful in coloring her and she colored up SO well. I was going to use my standard blue - but decided that she needed a lavendar dress instead. I did slip the blue in there on her overcoat - but for the most part, I chose the purple family. For my sketch, I chose the Stamping 411 sketch challenge #185. It was a simple sketch that just fit for this card. I haven't been adding sentiments to my cards too much lately, but when the challenge went out from the OWH Stars and Stamps blog to make cards that said 'thinking of you', I decided I would use this stamp that I just got last week. The sentiment is actually all one line, however, I wanted to make it fit without covering any of the beautiful Grace so I stamped part of it, then stamped the rest of it underneath. This is a wonderful way to use sentiment stamps that either don't fit, or you like part of the sentiment - or you only want to use one or two words of the sentiment. This particular stamp set has several other sentiments and some small micro images that would be perfect for many different cards. It is a Sale-A-Bration stamp that you can get (starting the end of this month) when you place a $50 order or more.
Now a little about my bow - I have seen these little gadgets that help you tie your bow easily. Well, the interesting thing is - I have had one of these gizmos for about 10 years. I used to belong to a stamp club when I lived in Washington and one of the ladies in the club brought each of the members these gizmos that her husband had made. I seldom use mine, but thought I would get it out and play with it. It really does make tying the bows SO much easier. I just have to figure out how to make the double loop bows!!
Anyway, I appreciate you stopping by and taking a look at my card. I have some other sketches I am going to be working on today, so stop by later for another peek.

~Paula~

Anything Goes

2011-01-11T07:05:00.000-06:00

That is right - it is time to finally reveal my first project for the Top Tip Tuesday of which I am part of the design team. It has been a very exciting week as I have started thinking about the projects and tutorials that I want to share with all of those that follow the Top Tip Tuesday blog.This week the new team members have their first chance to share their work in an ANYTHING GOES challenge and you can join in too. I will tell you what you can win - but first, I won't keep you waiting any longer - here is the project that I have created. Now, I am sure you are asking what this is, right? Well, do you remember during the holidays seeing little sacks with lights in them that light the pathways and walkways at some homes? My friend Lisa does this and it is beautiful. I always thought it would be cool to have luminaries - but have never gotten around to buying any. Then I came across a tutorial on how to do them and they are SO easy to do.The holidays are behind us, but winter is still very much in the air. We had an ice storm that hit our area night before last and closed up EVERYTHING yesterday. I didn't even as much as venture out to take pictures - perhaps I will do that before it all melts away. Anyway, back to my project. The windows are made from vellum and I decided to try embossing them with this beautiful snowflake folder. I LOVE the way the embossing turned out. I got out my Pergamano kit next and used the dorsa crayons to color the back of the snowflakes a bit to give them some color. You can use colored pencils as well - I know, because I tried, but since I have the dorsa crayons, I used those and then rubbed it out to make a nice subtle coloring. I thought it turned out pretty cool, but then when I put a light (I just used a flameless tealight that I bought at Wal-Mart) in it and took it into a dark place - WOW the embossed snowflake REALLY popped and it looks beautiful. I am picturing several of these going up my long staircase to the upstairs. (see pictures in an earlier post here). Of course I would put them on the outside - and they fit PERFECTLY. I will need to make 15 of them if I want one on each step and will need a ladder to reach the top five!! I do have tall kids, so they could probably reach up to the 12th step. Anyway, these could be made for all those holidays you celebrate.So there you have it. Now, if you want to have a chance at some fabulous prizes - head on over to Top Tip Tuesday. Our Sponsors this week are: Sew Many Cards and Making Handmade Cards (for the tip challenge)

Remember, all you have to do to win a prize is:
Create something using the theme of the challenge OR leave a tip (using the comment section)OR do both!! So get on over there and post your creations - remember this week, it is anything goes - so a card, a tag, an altered project, whatever you fancy, just get creating and then go post it.

Now, before I leave here - I want you to know that something very special is going to be happening here very soon - and I wouldn't want you to miss out, nor any of your friends - so start sending your friends over here to become my followers - you won't want to miss this one!!
Have a wonderful day - and come back a bit later, I just might have some CARDS to show you!!
~Paula~

Working on more projects

2011-01-10T17:07:00.001-06:00

Today with ice on the ground outside from the ice storm that hit our area yesterday - it was a good day to be inside near a warm fire creating. I got a new Elizabeth Bell digital image last week and had colored it, but hadn't decided what I wanted to do with it. I came across this tutorial for a kleenex box cover and decided that this was a perfect way to use this image. I used NIght of Navy for the base and Baja Breeze for the box lid. I then took four white panels and embossed them with a snowflake cuttlebug folder. I took my ink and sponge lightly over that to bring out the emossed surface a little better.I used an old designer paper for the top of the box as well as the sides of the lid. I kept the oval cut out from the box top and decided to use it as an added element behind my image. I sponged all surfaces of my box top, the designer paper and my embossed panels as well as my image panel. I popped the image off the box with pop dots and then added the snowflake cut-outs - also popped off the image. I added the rhinestones for a little bit of bling.
I thought this was a perfect image for this box because after the kids have played out in the snow for endless hours, they come in and their noses are cold and red and they reach for a tissue. If they were bundled well enough, then they won't have to keep running back to the box because they caught a cold. This past week, I wasn't playing in the snow (that is not something we normally get here in Alabama) however, I was fighting a cold and this image just brightens up each time I have to reach for a tissue.It's better now, and the box is displayed on my mantel - not an ugly old box of tissue, but a beautifully embellished box. I am enjoying making different projects, not just cards.This project is a winter project that I am entering in the Elizabeth Bell Monthly challenge.Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my project for the day - come back tomorrow when I reveal my design team project for Top Tip Tuesday.

~Paula~

Making projects

2011-01-06T19:07:00.000-06:00

Today I did craft - however, I did not make any cards - HOWEVER, I am still up to date as I have made six cards so far this year - and it is only the 6th! What do ya know!! lol
Anyway, I worked on some projects that I can only show you a sliver of right now - you will have to wait for the complete reveal to come soon.
This first sliver is for an upcoming Virtual Stamp Night over on SplitCoast Stampers. I am one of the hostesses and therefore get to see what the other hostesses are doing ahead of time. It gives all the hostesses a chance to make the projects/cards before hand, so at the time of the VSN we can sit and comment on all the cards that everyone is doing. I haven't been a VSN hostess in a few years, so this will be kind of fun. I still need to work on what my challenge is going to be.
Now this next sliver you will get a chance to see MUCH sooner.
It is for my DT project for next week on Top Tip Tuesday. You will just have to wait until next Tuesday and come back when I reveal the full project. :)

Thanks for stopping by today - I just didn't want you to think that I wasn't crafting. STILL need to get a job though!!

~Paula~

All Day Project - Complete!!

2011-01-05T19:07:00.001-06:00

Earlier, I posted that I would be working on another project - and I sure did have fun with this one. There are several challenges involved in this little project, so this will be a fairly long post, with many pictures.
I started out doing a card for the Mojo Monday Sketch challenge 172. Most of the time the challenges are for fun, but the first sketch each month there is a prize for the top picks. I decided to use one of my favorite packages of DSP and a new Elizabeth Bell digital image that has been waiting for me to color her up. I love using my prisma color pencils and coordinating the coloring with the cardstock that I use. I chose to use Rich Razzleberry, and Old Olive. I had some dotted grosgrain ribbon in rich razzleberry that I tied in a bow and added to my finished card. Once I had my card completed, I started working on other parts of this fun project. The next challenge from Top Tip Tuesday blog Challenge #16 was to either alter a tin or use metal somewhere on your project. Well, I have collected many tins over the last several years with the idea that I would eventually alter one. However, this is one of those crafting projects that is a little out of my comfort zone - so the tins sit and every once in awhile I see a project using a tin and think - wow - that is cool, maybe I will try that. The other hindrance is that some of my tins have a raised surface on the top - so how do I work around that? That is still a project waiting to happen. So, I looked through my tins that had flat surfaces and pulled out this one from "Let's Do Tea'. I have a friend that sells this tea and it is REALLY good - this particular flavor (snowflake) is really good too. Anyway, I decided to show you what the tin looked like before I started my project of altering it.I started out covering the tin with my DSP. That was actually the easiest part. I just had to decide which paper I wanted to use. I didn't want something overpowering due to the rest of the stuff that I had planned to put on the tin. Once I got the paper on it, I had to decide how I wanted to do the top. I knew I wanted to use some ribbon, but I had to change it a few different times before I got it the way I wanted - so in the mean time, I added this piece of DSP edged with rich razzleberry. With the ribbon where I wanted it - I set about to color my image - the same as I did on my card. I then cut my little rapunzel out with my nestibilities and matted it with old olive and sponged the edges with rich razzleberry. The backside of the dotted ribbon is plain, so I used that for my bow and then added the rhinestone for the finishing touch. Now, with a card completed and a tin completed - I had to figure out what I would put in the tin - afterall, we alter tins to put something in it to give as a gift, right? So, I couldn't think of what I wanted to do with the tin, so I decided to make a few gift cards - afterall, we all need a few giftcards, right? So, I measured the inside of the tin, so the cards would fit inside. Now this little tin will hold A LOT of little gift cards and I thought about using one of my new gift tags set from Stampin' Up - however, the set is for Christmas gift tags - and that just wasn't working with this. Now there are many other things that I could put inside this tin - like chocolate kisses, or hard candies, or even a votive candle that is embossed with this image WHEN I figure out how to print on tissue paper since this is an Elizabeth Bell digital image. For the final challenge, I am entering the entire project in the Elizabeth Bell Challenge for December (due by the 22nd of January) which is to make anything Winter. Now, I know this is not very wintery, I may have to alter another tin and do something similar in a winter theme. So, there you have it - my project that took the rest of the day - but was SO fun to do and now I am ready to do more - but that will be for another day. :)

Thanks for listening to me ramble on and on, if you have made it all the way to the end - thank you. If you care to leave a comment, that would be MUCH appreciated.

~Paula~

Singing the BLUES!!

2011-01-05T12:58:00.000-06:00

I AM feeling blue today! I woke up with a sore throat yeaterday and it just got worse as the day progressed - so I didn't feel like doing any crafting at all! Today, I am feeling a bit better, but still under the weather - which is cloudy and rainy, so I suppose it fits. Well, the challenge on the Magnolia Stamp Lovers Blog just fits with the way I am feeling. It is a BLUES Challenge. So, I chose this LOVELY Violin Tilda, which one of my stamper friends kindly stamped out for me, to make this card. I used the Sunday Sketch #50 from Operation Write Homes Stars and Stamps Blog. It is a very simple sketch and I chose not to 'fancy it up'. I did use a couple different embossing folders and a bit of BLUE pearls and ribbon. I used my prisma color pencils to color with. I am really enjoying using the colors to blend, rather than using the gamsol (or similar product) I have to say I don't like her wings - I used a combination of gold and silver, but they look like she has been rolling in heavenly mud!! lol
Thanks for stopping by to see my simple card - I am going to take up another challenge and work on that this afternoon - so I may have another post later on, so come on back later and have a cup of your favorite beverage and keep me company while I craft.

~Paula~

ANNOUNCEMENT ~ ANNOUNCEMENT

2011-01-04T07:00:00.000-06:00

Can you tell I am excited to share some NEWS with all of you? Well, if you can't see the logo on the right side yet - you will have to scroll down - or just keep reading!! MANY of you know how much I have wanted to be part of a Design Team. I started applying many months ago and so far nothing. UNTIL YESTERDAY!!! I got an email from Leanne over at Top Tip Tuesday asking if I just might be interested in a spot on her team since there was an opening. Well, hmmmm - do I need to think about this one????
So, let me tell you a little about Top Tip Tuesday!! EVERY week they have two sponsors - and every week two people win a prize. There is a theme each week - I will get to this weeks a little later - and you can also leave a tip each week. You will have to visit the blog to get the details on how you go about winning a prize. You can enter as many times as you like, however your project has to be new (no back dating).
This week, my teammie Moriah is featuring the project/challenge and you are going to love this one - ALTERING A TIN (or using metal somewhere on your project. Now I KNOW there are many of you out there that LOVE to alter things - so why not pull out your tins and get busy creating a masterpiece. The prizes are Fantastic - but you will have to go check out Top Tip Tuesday to see what they are.
I will be back later with some kind of project - so drop back by for a visit later this afternoon/evening.

~Paula~

Double Challenge

2011-01-03T23:11:00.000-06:00

Do you ever find yourself opening several windows on your computer that have challenges that you want to do? I do this all the time and sometimes I get to the challenges and sometimes I don't. Well, this week, I am determined to complete the challenges on the windows I have opened. This second card (for today) is for the sketch on the Stamping 411 Challenge blog.

The sketch was posted on January 1 and it is Saturday Sketch number 184 - a new sketch for a new year! I changed it up just a little as I wanted to use this new punch from Stampin' Up. It was first featured in the Holiday Mini - which sadly ends today. There were such great products in that mini. I also wanted to submit this card for the challenge on the SU-Only Challenges I have been looking at that blog for awhile and just haven't taken the time to sit down and just make something with only Stampin' Up! products. Well, when I got the new paper pack last week and this new stamp set which you can order from the occasions mini stating tomorrow - I just had to put it all together in this fun card. The challenge on the SU Only blog was to use bling - to celebrate the start of a new year. I added the rhinestones to the scallop edge, underneath the bow and also on my sentiment panel. I had considered adding some stickles to the branches of the image, however - that would not have been totally Stampin' Up then and I don't have any of the diamond glaze yet.
So, there you have it, my first SPRING card of the New Year. Perhaps this card will warm your heart all the way down to your toes. I know with this cold in the air, I get chilled to the bone all the way to my toes and if my feet are cold - the rest of me is as well - so hopefully you have been warmed by this Spring card.
Here are the particulars on the card:
Vanilla base, Pear Pizzazz mats the Springtime Vintage DSP. Baja breeze edged cut with the scallop punch. Vanilla grosgrain 1/4" ribbon. Easter Blossoms stamp set stamped in baja breeze, sentiment stamped in pear pizzazz. Rhinestones.

Update - my kids are finally home - so I can go to bed and sleep peacefully tonight knowing they are tucked into their warm beds upstairs. They are tired, but glad to be home - it has been a VERY long day and I don't think any of them want to see an airport for a very long time!!

~Paula~

I am Crafting while I WAIT!!!

2011-01-03T17:41:00.000-06:00

The kids are on their way home from Washington - I can hardly wait! But I will have to as their flight has been delayed and they won't get home until after 9:30 pm now!! They had delays GOING to Washington, and now coming home. They have been up since 2:00 this morning and they are tired and just want to get home - plus, they have school tomorrow - SO, while I wait - I craft!!
Some of my favorite images are my Sugar Nellie's and over at the Sugar Bowl not only are they celebrating their 50th challenge, but they are having their SECOND birthday and the prize is delectable!! A set of Nestibilities and SIX super sweet brand new Sugar Nellie Stamps for TWO lucky people!! This is the sketch that I followed to enter this challenge. You can turn it sideways - or leave it as it is - I chose to use it sideways due to the image that I am using. The added challenge was to use embossing. I chose a red and white color scheme because over on the All Things Sugar Nellie forum at Paper Craft Planet the challenge for Week 32 was to use red and white. Now this challenge was posted some time ago, so I am quite late in getting it done - however, the next challenge will be posted sometime tomorrow, so I am getting it in just under the radar - I seem to be flying that way a lot lately!! I have used a new DSP from Stampin' Up called Love Impressions. It is available for order starting tomorrow and it is a wonderful package of beautiful papers just in time for Valentine's Day. For the embossing part of the challenge, I used one of my Cuttlebug folders that has hearts all over - I found this one fitting for the challenge. I also used large pearls for the embellishments and a tiny little pearl for the ring on her finger. My flowers are from WOC. (Just LOVE those flowers!!) Of course, I colored with prisma color pencils.
I hope you like my little princess and I am glad that you stopped by today.
Thanks for all your comments they mean a lot to me. Keep coming back each day for new inspiration and something else - you just never know when I might throw in some candy!! :)
~Paula~

Day 2 and a GDT Call

2011-01-02T18:02:00.000-06:00

How are you all doing on your decision to make cards everyday of the year? Is it working so far? Well, it is okay if you haven't made that decision - I have and so far, so good. Today, I have made a card - just in the nick of time for the Guest Design Team call over on the Digi Bell Design Team Blog. Now, are you familiar with Elizabeth Bell and her beautiful designs? I LOVE them. For the Call, we were given a couple of sketches to use for our creation. I used this image that I got last year from Funky Kits when her designs were available through that shop. This one is called Demure and was one of the first ones that I purchased. I have used her in so many different cards and have loved everyone of them that I have colored. Here I used some new DSP that I got last week. I used a couple different border punches and flowers from Wild Orchid Craft. I just love these flowers and they go SO well with Elizabeths' beautiful designs. I added a bit of diamond stickles to the flowers to make them sparkle.
Thanks for stopping by to see my card for this GDT spot.

Have a glorious rest of your day and remember to come back tomorrow to see what I cook up!!

~Paula~

Happy New Year!!

2011-01-01T23:32:00.001-06:00

I am determined to make at least ONE card a day throughout this year - we will see how that goes. It took me awhile to get going on this card today - simply because I am still trying to organize from the move. I added more shelving in my under stair closet - thanks to my sweet husband that helped me with that - so now, the items I had in my big box are out where I can use them if I so choose - like my bind-it-all and my cricut!
Anyway, so I got started very late on my card - but combined a few challenges with this one. I used one of the new Magnolia images that I got in my Fall kit JUST before I left California. I have not had any time to stamp them, so took the time tonight to see what these cuties look like. I also got some new papers from Stampin' Up - these papers are lucious and will be available starting on Monday. This paper pack is called 'Springtime Vintage' and it is full of lovely two-sided papers. So, with my image stamped and my papers chosen, I set about to color my image with my prisma color pencils to coordinate with the colors in the DSP.
I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Mojo Monday - a sketch challenge - two choices, I obviously chose the square.
Magnolia-licious Highlites - a recipe: 4 flowers, 3 patterned papers, 2 magnolia images (I am wondering if my Edwin and Tilda count as one or two??) and 1 ribbon
Totally Tilda - Ribbon and Roses
Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central - Anything Goes
7 Kids College Fund Challenge Blog - Anything Goes
I am very pleased with the way this turned out and wonder if this is a sign of the way my crafting will take off this year?? I sure hope so.
Well it is now way past my bedtime and nearing tomorrow - so I better get to bed.
I appreciate you coming by to take a look, I will be back tomorrow with some more fun - there are other challenges I will be making cards for, so stop by the spa and see what relaxation you might find.

Paula

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

2010-12-22T18:38:00.000-06:00

It is TRULY the Christmas season - and many of you know that by the white all around you and others by the ioncredible amount of rain and wind that you are getting. Wherever you are - I wish you a Peaceful Holiday Season.
After moving across the country, and then settling into our new home in Alabama, I just haven't done ANY crafting as I have wanted to get everything all in it's place so it will be easy to find things when I do set about to craft. I think my Christmas cards will be a bit on the late side this year! :)
However, I am working on some other projects at the moment and have thought about THIS project since it was challenged on the Elizabeth Bell Challenge Blog

I LOVE her images and wondered how I was going to use Eden's 2nd Christmas (used on last month's project) for the candle. That image is a digital and it is a wee bit hard to pass tissue paper through the printer - SO, I used this image - which I have not used very much, but it is PERFECT for this time of year.
Now, putting an image on a candle is something I have NEVER even tried, but a friend of mine told me how to do it and it is QUITE easy that I think I might just do a few more of these in the future. Basically, you stamp your image on tissue paper and then color it. You can use markers, but I used my colored pencils and think that the image is just as bright as if I had used markers. Besides, I have MANY colors of pencils and not so many markers!! Then I tore the image out from the tissue paper - you want to do this for the feathered edges you get. I stamped the sentiment on a separate piece of tissue and tore it in the same way as the image. Then I placed the images on my candle - which is vanilla scented - in case you might be wondering! :) I then took a piece of wax paper and completely covered the image with it. I got out my heat gun and began heating in the same way you would do if you were embossing something. You can watch the image 'melt' into the candle - much the same as watching embossing powder go glossy. Once you have done the whole image - let it cool just a bit and then peel away the wax paper. Your image has become part of the candle and it is so AWESOME looking! I have left some room at the bottom of my candle for ribbon, or a candle ring.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing my project - which I have completed JUST in time to get it into the EB challenge for the month.

Happy Holidays
~Paula~

Busy - non-crafting!

2010-12-14T08:03:00.000-06:00

As many of you now know - we moved out of California and bought a house in Alabama - just south of Birminghan. It is a beautiful home, however, I have been so busy with unpacking boxes and settling things in that I haven't had time to craft. I have had alot of people ask me for pictures, so I have uploaded a few of them here for you to take a peek. These pictures were taken prior to us moving in, so it has a very uncluttered (think 'unlived in') look to it - but believe me, it is getting well lived in now!
So, come along on a tour of the downstairs! When you first arrive at my home - you might get the feel of stateliness - I did when I first saw the pictures, and well - it DOES look that way in real life. It is considered a 1 1/2 story house - I understand what they mean, the upstairs is not a full upstairs - there are rooms to the left and rooms to the right, but the space in between is all open. There is a bridge that connects the two sides of the upstairs - but we aren't there yet - we have barely come in the front door. We are going to walk straight ahead and off to your right you will pass the guest bathroom (or should I call it a powder room??) I must tell you, I do NOT like the color and intend on changing that fairly soon. Paint is cheap!! :) If you need to stop in there before we continue on our tour, we will wait. :) Now, continuing on into the livingroom you will see the beautiful fireplace. It is a gas lit fireplace with a fake log. We are talking about eventually replacing the box and putting in one with a blower, that way the heat that is generated - and believe me, it DOES generate alot of heat - will blow out into the air and gas is SO much cheaper than electricity for heating. I have already decorated the mantel with my Christmas village and my snowmen stocking hangars. I also have a clock above the mantel that has snowmen on it and it plays a Christmas song every hour. I found it in a little shop southeast of us. Now, if you turn to the right, you will see a doorway that takes you into the masterbedroom suite. This picture was taken after they repainted. There was a leak in the bathroom, so they fixed that and then had to replace the carpet in the walk-in closet and repaint. I was able to select the carpet, flooring and paint color, so I went with this light lavendar for the walls and a darker for the drop down part of the tray ceiling. I didn't think the bedroom was that large when it was empty, but now that it has our furniture in it - well - it is quite spacious. I won't show you the masterbath or closet because there isn't anything real special about them - just a counter with two sinks, a tub and shower. The closet is a walk in, with wire hanging shelves on all four sides. It is quite full now with all my crafting stuff! So, back out of the room and across the livingroom to the kitchen. I LOVE my kitchen. It is not too large and not too small, just perfect. There is a 'eat-in' portion - which is actually not IN the kitchen itself but just to the north of the counter. It is a spacious area and I have placed my Precious Moments display cases there - the figurines are still not out of the boxes - maybe later this week. We took the white refrigerator out of the kitchen and replaced it with our black one. The stove is black, so it fits well with the white and black color scheme.I have already had the pleasure of cooking several wonderful meals in my new kitchen and even serving guests.Now, continuing through the kitchen - wafing with wonderful homemade scents of yummy stuff, we come to the formal diningroom. Now, until this past weekend, the table was not set up in the formal diningroom. Now it is not only set up, but it is also set for a formal dinner. We have enjoyed one meal in there already with our friends James and Lisa - who put up with us for a month at their house while we were waiting to close on our house.If you walk out of the formal diningroom, you will see that we are back in the entry way and if you turn and look back toward the livingroom, you will see the staircase to take you to the upstairs. I have garland and ribbon to decorate the banister rail - which is 16 steps from the entryway to to the top - and then the railing across overlooking both the livingroom on one side and the entry way on the other.
So, there you have it, a tour of the downstairs of my lovely new home. It still doesn't feel real to me - but I am sure it will become more so as time goes on.

Thanks for stopping by today - I hope to have some other items of a crafting sense to share with you later in the week. I REALLY need to get my Christmas cards started!!
Have a beautiful day wherever you are.
~Paula~

A little Snowmen

2010-11-29T13:54:00.000-06:00

I LOVE snowmen! I have quite a few snowmen stamps - but this is one of my Sugar Nellie stamps. This week on the All things Sugar Nellie forum on Paper Craft Planet the challenge was to make a 'step' card. Well, here is another kind of card I have never done. There are several types out there and I really wanted to make a different style, but couldn't find the directions on how to do it. Of course, I didn't really look that hard. I had a raging headache this morning and just did something simple. I hope you like my snowman.
Thanks for visiting my little spa on this blustery sort of day. I have not been out since I took my husband to work - but planning on going out shortly so we can do the final walk through on our house.

~Paula~

A Change of Vintage!

2010-11-29T09:36:00.000-06:00

This past week was a Vintage Week over at the 365 Card Blog and I had so much fun making vintage cards all week long. Creating beautiful vintage cards has helped pass the time while waiting for closing on our house - which will happen tomorrow!
Anyway, I want to show you the last card that I made for the week long challenge. For my last card, I decided to change my DP and use my Deck The Halls DP as I LOVE this paper and think it gives that vintage feel just as well as the Vintage Rose DP I have been using on my other vintage cards. The Vintage week started with a blog hop. We were to hop to each DT members blog and see what item they were contributing to a recipe. The first day there were five blogs to visit and the rest of the week we hopped to one blog a day getting the rest of the items to make up our recipe and then on Saturday we were to put all those items together on a card. The first two items were paper piercing and stitching (real or faux). Since all my stuff is still on a moving truck, I chose to use faux stitching. I 'stitched' two lines around two sides of my card. For the paper piercing, I pierced all around the edge of my die cut oval. Using a die cut was another one of the items on the recipe from the first day's hop. We also were told to use a button and I just happened to have this 'vintage' looking button in my items I brought with me. I was more than happy to use one of my deck the hall buttons, but this one worked out nicely I think. The last item we were given on the first day was the size of the card, which was to be a 5 x 5 card. Then we had to wait until the next day and each day after that to find out the other items required for the card. By the end of the week, we had added a hatpin, a stamped image I chose to use a new just rite stamp and colored it just a bit with silver and gold smooch. Another item on the recipe was distressing. I distressed the edges of my DP and the matting and then edged all with Early Espresso. A dimensional sticker was another requirement, but since I didn't have any, I made my own by popping my oval mat off my card and then popped the stamped image off of that. The last item was lace. How can you NOT have lace on a vintage card? I really like the way this card turned out and may even consider making a few more similar to it for Christmas cards to send. Yeah - I haven't done that yet!!
I hope you have enjoyed viewing my vintage cards this week. Later today I hope to have a couple more cards to share with you - so come back when you get a chance and visit for awhile.

The teapot is on!
~Paula~

Vintage with Lace

2010-11-27T17:55:00.000-06:00

Old Lace - yellowed with age - so old fahioned. Right now, I am picturing in my mind a lady of the old days with a BIG hat on her head with a PUFFY sleeved dress - and decked out and ready for tea! Hmmm - that DOES sound yummy - and it WAS!! Yesterday, my husband and I went down to a tea room and had high tea. It was LOVELY. We used to take tea often when we lived in Washington state and talked of doing that while in California. Now - only in Alabama a few weeks and we have had our first spot of tea at a tea room. I am sorry - just reminiscing about old fashioned things - which is what the Vintage Blog tour over on the 365 Card Blog has done to me this week. As I anticipate moving into the home we are purchasing and the way in which I will decorate - it is hard not to think Vintage. I love old fashioned - pretty things. I really like this card - adding a bit of lace - which was the challenge for Day 271 in addition to making it vintage. It was fun to add the different layers and the floral spray - which I haven't done to much of this week with my cards.
I hope you have enjoyed the cards that I have shared with you today - I will have the final card ready soon - but there are SO many elements to add to the card - however, if you want to know what all to include on your card - you will have to check out the blog and the DT hop from the week. You REALLY don't want to miss it - and you still have time to win some fabulous prizes from my friend Gloria, who is the sponsor for the week.

Thanks for stopping by - do check back soon for my final Vintage Card.

~Paula~

Vintage Christmas

2010-11-27T17:45:00.000-06:00

What images pop into your head when you hear those words - Vintage Christmas? Hmm, I think of old fashioned pictures of children skating on the ice. Old photos of old fashioned Santa's. Aged items basically - which is what I mentioned in my last post - Vintage is a feel of aged, antique items. As the 365 Card Blog Vintage Week continues - Day 270 brought us Vintage plus a dimensional sticker. I just happened to have these old fashioned - looking - stickers that I had purchased JUST before our move for another project. In fact, that project was for Operation Write Home and the Joann's Creativity for a Cause - they made it into the top 3 Finalists - so be sure and vote for them! Anyway, back to my card - I made it quite simple adding just a bit of lace and the ribbon and then the sticker.
I have one more card to show you from the week - and then on to the BIG FINAL card - so stick around for just a little longer.

~Paula~

More Vintage!

2010-11-27T17:26:00.000-06:00

Day 269 continues the Vintage Week at the 365 Card Blog sponsored by my friend Gloria. Vintage is such a varied technique - it really can be anything you want - you just have to make it look aged - and what better way to make something look aged than by distressing it?? That was the challenge on Wednesday - Vintage plus distressing. My choice of paper was easy - as I am using my Vintage Rose DP for these challenges, however, I just didn't know WHAT I wanted to do with this challenge. It is easy to distress the paper and add a bit of ranger ink. I decided to use my LARGE flower - I ordered these awhile back from Wild Orchid Craft and hadn't had an opportunity to use them. I tried spraying with my Silver Foil smooch - but I don't think it comes out silver - it is more of a black and made SUCH a mess. I added some gold and called it good.
Thanks for checking back to see what else I did today - but wait - I will have more - so hang around.

~Paula~

It's A VINTAGE Week . . .

2010-11-27T13:32:00.000-06:00

. . .over at the 365 card blog and my friend (she truly IS my friend - not just an internet friend, but a real live friend - that now lives thousands of miles away on the West Coast!) Gloria is the sponsor for this week. She is not only on the 365 Card Blog DT but also on the coveted Graphic 45 DT - so she has TONS of Graphic 45 goodies that she has shared with her teamies and now wants to share with a few bloggers. Gloria LOVES doing vintage cards - so that was the theme this week - and I am just getting caught up on all the challenges for the week. On Day 268 the theme was VINTAGE plus a stamp. Well, in my limited supply of stamping items, because my stuff is still 'on the truck', I have this 'vintage' looking tea stamp set. PERFECT for this challenge! I used my Vintage Rose DP on this card again - it is so 'vintage' looking - I think anyway - what do you think?
Well I have some other cards to show you - so stick around, or come on back in a little while when I have uploaded them here.

~Paula~

Vintage Easel Card

2010-11-22T20:31:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Day 266 on the 365 Card Blog and the challenge was a Sketch to launch the start of the Vintage Week. My good friend Gloria gifted the members of the DT with her excess Graphic 45 DT stash. Now, I don't have any Graphic 45 papers, but I was able to find this vintage rose paper amongst my limited stash. I had some Core'dnations cardstock that worked nicely with the vintage rose - so I cut the nesties scallop circle out of the core'dnations and then sanded it to bring the blue color forward. I then glued this piece of one of the vintage rose papers on top of it. I decided to make the card an easel card and added the sentiment to the inside of the card. I know it is hard to see the sentiment from this picture.
I am looking forward to more of the challenges that will be posted each day this week on the blog. Each DT member will be added an element to use on a card that will be revealed on Saturday -so stick around here to see how I create the card, but come back each day to see what other challenges are going on.
As always, I appreciate your comments and you stopping by to ready my musings and see my creations.
~Paula~

Double Challenge

2010-11-22T18:00:00.001-06:00

This week has started off quite busy in the land of blog. I participated in the bloghop over at Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog over the weekend. It is their birthday and they had a fantastic bloghop with all the DT members giving away some yummy candy.I just discovered this blog through my internet friend Lorraine - who happens to be on the DT.One of the rules of the hop was creating a card using the sketch provided. What a FUN sketch, full of lot's of angles. I had fun creating my card. So, the double challenge is that I am also entering this card in the 365 Card Blog Challenge for Day 267 Which was to make a Vintage card and use a stickpin!! WELL - I love the vintage look, but don't feel that I create it that well. With limited supplies right now - since our possesions and most of my stamping supplies are still on the moving truck - I only have a few packages of paper at my disposal - however, one of them is called Vintage Rose - so I found it fitting for this challenge. Now the stickpin was a different story. I didn't have any, so went in search of some. I was only able to come up with a corsage pin, but I guess that will do. Since it is Vintage Week all week long at the 365 Card Blog, I have decided to use this paper pack to create my cards. So, come back each day to see my take on the challenge for each day.
~Paula~

A NEW Gift Project!

2010-11-17T13:22:00.000-06:00

Several months ago, when I discovered Sugar Nellies, I also discovered Elizabeth Bell images. At that time, some of her images were sold through Funky Kits and I ordered some. Since then, I have discovered that she has MANY more darling images. Recently she launched a NEW CHALLENGE blog and I KNEW I just had to get in on the ground floor on this one. I LOVE her images and find coloring them with my prisma color pencils to be so relaxing.
Anyway, her first challenge was posted on October 25th - JUST before we had to pack up and move. I was able to purchase a few digital images and get them printed on my whisper white and very vanilla cardstock before I had to pack away all my crafting tools and the printer. Sinced then, I have been thinking about the project and FINALLY got a chance to play yesterday - and finished up this very fun project this afternoon.
I chose to do a box as I seldom do those and have done totes in the past. I used this ADORABLE image called Eden's 2nd Christmas. I only used part of the image for the box top, but the full image is really quite adorable. Since this IS a Christmas image - the delightful innocence of a child as they discover the wonders of Christmas - I chose to use the new Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke cardstock for my base and box top. The new Designer paper in the holiday mini catalog goes along quite nicely with these colors. I chose to use a variety of patterns from this same package. For the edge of my box I used a punch that would go nicely with the scallop edge of the circle.I used Early Espresso satin ribbon on the edge of the box top - gluing it down so it stays in place. I also added a few of the flowers from Wild Orchid Craft to the top of the box. Then, inside my little box I have 4 little 3 x 3 cards. Of course, this isn't enough to fill the box, and should I decide to give this as a gift, I will add several more cards to make a nice little gift. Each of the cards has a different sketch design. I just looked through the various different sketch blogs that I like to visit to find something that would work for a mini card like this. I had considered putting the image that is on the box top on each card, however, since I only printed a few of the designs before I moved, I didn't have enough to do that. So, I decided to keep the scallop circle theme going and added the pearls for a nice touch to each of the cards. I only had a couple sentiments that fit inside the circle - 'thinking of you' and 'thank you' - so used those switching the colors to give two of each. I had considered just making them 'thank you' cards, but decided I wanted a variety and here again, with more little cards, I could add more sentiments (If they fit inside the circle).

So, that is my project for the first Elzabeth Bell Challenge - and just in time. I am looking forward to seeing what the next challenge is going to be - of course, by the time that one is posted, I will be looking at unpacking the moving truck as we hope to close on the house we are buying on the 30th.

Thanks for stopping by and reading through my ramblings - hope you have a glorious day wherever you are!
~Paula~

Christmas Image with a twist!

2010-11-17T13:09:00.000-06:00

I had to miss the last Sugar Bowl challenge because I was in the thick of moving. However, I decided I was NOT going to miss this one - even if I am pushing the deadline hugely!! One of my internet friends on another forum reminded me that the deadline for the challenge was TODAY! And it is GMT - which translated means Scotland Time - so if you look at my clocks - you will see, I am nearly there.
So, on to my card - I already had this sweet Sugar Nellie stamped out and cut to size (more or less), but I decided I wanted to use purples rather than the traditional greens and reds. So, I started out with no particular theme in mind - but as I was working on it, I was thinking of my friend Lisa (we are staying with them right now) and her mom. Her mom has been out of sorts lately and I decided that I would make this card to cheer her up. I don't believe she has seen any of my cards yet - Lisa was going to show her one when she was visiting the other day, but I don't think she ever did. So, with that theme in mind - I set about to finish the card - trying to keep within the theme of the challenge - using ribbon and bows.

I have another project to show you - so stick around for a little bit.

~Paula~

Making gifts!

2010-11-12T16:12:00.001-06:00

It has been awhile since I posted - but that is simply because I packed up my house in California and moved clear across the country to Alabama!! We are staying with friends temporarily while we wait to close on the house we are buying. So, while I wait, I am starting to make some gifts for Christmas. Of course, I have gotten a little help from my online forums and inspiration from my friends across the miles. This week on the 'All Things Sugar Nellie' Forum at Paper Craft Planet the challenge was to make a tealight candle Card. WELLLLLL - I had never done one of those before, much less even seen one. There aren't that many examples of this out there either and the one that I did find had the dimensions and score lines in centimeters!! I needed inches!! So, my good friend PEP, over in Wales (no less) sent me dimensions in inches. I sat down and measured out and it worked perfectly!! I will probably adjust just a tad to make a taller card, or a slightly wider card (if using 12 x 12 cardstock) but this one worked out nicely. I used my sweet snowman from Funky Kits that I have had for awhile. He is getting used alot it seems. I will be ordering more of these beautiful images just as soon as we get moved into the new house - sooner than later I am hoping! Anyway, I used my prisma color pencils - just love working with these pencils - though I did find a local store in my new community that sells Copics - it IS a temptation!! Just one, or two, or three - or . . . Perhaps I will get a job there and then I can get a discount!! :) I actually did apply! Anyway, back to the card. I used a retired SU designer paper. This paper is really quite versatile - it is a wintery paper, with snowflakes on some, but I have used it throughout the year on a variety of projects. This card allowed me to use three tealights - and will make a wonderful gift for friends. On the inside, I used another piece of designer paper from the same package. I added the sentiment from one of the new Christmas sets in the Stampin' Up holiday mini catalog. I am really pleased with the way this turned out and plan to make several more to give away - they make great gifts for friends, co-workers, teachers, etc.
Thanks for stopping by the spa today - I will be adding more projects in the coming days - my friend set up a 'sanity space' here at their house for me. :)

~Paula~

Make a card - and Envelope to Match

2010-10-24T09:14:00.000-05:00

Do you ever stamp a card and then make a matching envelope? I seldom do that, but always like when it turns out. I really LOVE this new Fall set from Stampin' Up! It lends itself so well to doing a collage style. With Fall upon us, you can choose so many colors to mix and match. I think the only thing missing on this card is maybe a button or sparkle or something on the bow. This challenge was posted yesterday on the 365 card blog and when I saw it I immediately thought of this stamp set. So, I dug out all my stuff once again and had fun laying down the colors in the leaves. As I stamped the card, I did the envelope too. I really think that stamping matching envelopes and even doing the inside of a card is something I want to do more of in the future. It doesn't have to be fancy - sometimes just a single image or a strip of cardstock or patterned paper is all it takes to really dress up a card.
Well, that is it for today. I may attempt to do the sketch challenge for today at the 365 Card blog - it is a simple one - but thinking that I need to pack up alot more stuff than I had intended on taking on the road with me. I will probably end up with my baggie full of Sugar Nellie and Magnolia Images and my colored pencils and be happy to color my way across the states! The countdown has started - yesterday was my last day at the spa - and Tuesday the moving truck will be here.
Thanks for stopping by - I hope you have enjoyed your visit and I will be back very soon.

~Paula~