VSN Vacation

One of my favorite things at SCS is VSN, or Virtual Stamp Night. It's actually a two-day affair, where challenges are posted at regular intervals and you have 45 minutes to complete a card or other project in that time period. I love it, partly because the challenges really get my creative juices flowing and partly because I can refill my card stash in a weekend! This is just about everything I made last weekend during March's VSN weekend Getaway. Some things I tried for the first time, and others were old favorites. But I love the variety and selection of the challenges. And I look at this collection and feel so happy and proud!

Check it out!

Okay if any of my three readers out there haven't already seen this, please go check out the blog of Gina Krupsky (known as GinaK on SCS): http://blog.ginakdesigns.com/. Gina is giving away Marvy Giga Scallop punches each day until April 1 as part of a promotion for an announcement April 1. Gina is so generous with the blog candy, and this puts her over the top! Please pay her a visit and check out what all the excitement is about.

A confession

I'm ashamed to admit it, but this is the first card I ever watercolored. And I just did it a couple of days ago. I know it's all the rage in stamping, and not doing it definitely sets me apart in the stamping world these days, but I just haven't! A couple of reasons, I guess. One, the supplies are expensive! Even though I've been stamping almost 10 years, I'm still buying ink pads, markers and reinkers. If I have to start buying watercolor pencils or crayons, too, I'll never have enough money for stamps. And that's all I really want anyway! Plus, it seems like a lot of work to learn to watercolor and perfect the technique, and I don't really have anyone to teach me. That's the downside of living so far from my stamping buddies and my demo (my sister, and before her, a friend from college.) Then I heard that some people watercolor with reinkers, or with marker ink scribbled on CD. So I used a coupon for Michael's to buy an aquapainter and decided to try it. I have some watercolor paper from a stint when I thought I could paint. (I can't.) Overall, I'm happy with how this turned out. But I definitely need practice. And I'm having a hard time thinning the color without it getting too wet. So I guess I will keep trying it with the supplies I have on hand. Heaven knows I don't need any more - I barely have room to store what I do have!

Challenges to crafting

So I was trying to take a picture of this card so I could tell you all a story. But I was having trouble getting a good photo. I took two photos that turned out blurry, and two that had a giant gray blob in them! Of course, I mean my cat Eliot, who for some reason seems to think that when I set up photos, it means it's time for her to jump on the table and get some attention. She doesn't budge easily, either! So the story about the card will have to wait until tomorrow, when I can take a new photo in the daylight. I much prefer daylight photos to nightime photos! I hope to be taking a lot of them tomorrow, it's VSN weekend at SCS (www.splitcoaststampers.com). VSN, or Virtual Stamp Night, is a fun stamping weekend where challenges are posted every hour, and those participating have 45 minutes to make a card or other stamped item to fit the challenge them. This month's theme is VSN Getaway, so everything has a vacation theme. It is a great way to learn new techniques and get the creative juices flowing. Plus I usually end up with 10-15 cards out of the deal, a great way to replenish my stash!

They really know me ...

So I just had to take a moment to post a photo of all the cool papercrafting loot I received for my birthday. I take this as a sign that my friends and family really know me well! My mom picked out two huge packages of beautiful handmade papers for me, Joni (jstartbright on SCS) mailed me some fun paper and embellishments, and a I received some fun fibers in birthday RAK. The rest of the goodies, including some craft keeper storage cases, all the slide mounts, the Making Memories ribbon and slides, fibers and Hero Arts stamps came from my sister, who is a bargain shopper extraordinaire! She found some great deals at Craft Warehouse on super-duper clearance and shared her loot with me!

The best gift

I think this is the best aspect of being part of a wonderful community of papercrafters. The bond we share at SCS (www.splitcoaststampers.com) is more than just stamps and ink, it really is a bond of friendship. These wonderful people, and a couple of my "real life" stamping friends filled my mailbox in the last week with these wonderful cards. Most of them were birthday cards, but a couple were "just because." Each and everyone of them is very special to me and brightened my day! Now they are lined up on the shelves in my TV cabinet. I smile each time I see them!

Trying, honest!

I told myself if I was going to give this blog thing a try, I would need to post something every day, or close to it, at least to start. Though I doubt I have any loyal readers at this point, I feel need to put on the record that I am leaving at 6:30 a.m. in the morning to head to a conference and will be gone overnight, so no new post tomorrow. But look for something Friday evening - possibly even something stamped, when I return from my sojourn to the big city. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to stamp anything since Sunday. But I did get a new stash of really cool stamping and scrapbooking supplies in the mail yesterday, and I am awaiting my Sellabration order from Stampin Up! as well. So if nothing else, I will post some pictures of my new stuff this weekend! Have a great Thursday everyone. The weekend is right around the corner.

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!

Okay, I had a lovely post all ready to go, then hit publish and Blogger ate it. It's late and I'm in no mood to re-upload the photos and retype the text tonight, so this will have to suffice for today's update. Also, it is a reminder to me and all bloggers out there -save your work frequently!!! I am still getting the hang of this system and the blogging in general, so I will chalk this experience up to beginner's bad luck!

Picking out ribbon

No stamping for me tonight - the time change is kicking my behind and I am headed to bed early. But in my quest to post every day, here's a photo of Eliot, my trusty assistant. She said she was trying to help me pick the perfect ribbon for a card, but I know she was really hoarding it all for herself. She loves to help me create, especially when I get out the ribbon, or when I take photos - she likes to be in each picture!

A Photo is Worth ...

I was on a hunt through the photos uploaded on my computer so I could enter one in a blog candy contest hosted by smallpigpig on her blog, http://smallpigpig.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/, when I found this photo. It is the perfect representation of spring in my home state of Oregon, largely because of the raindrops. But it respresents something else, as well. When I was growing up, my family would spend a Saturday in May participating in a local parade. My parents belonged to a car club for owners of 1955-1957 Ford Thunderbirds, and the club members would ride in the parade, tossing candy to the crowd. My sister and I would get new spring outfits - usually sundresses or matching shorts and t-shirts - and wear our new outfits while riding on the back of the family T-bird at 2 mph, our legs dangling on the seat where our parents rode. After the parade, we'd all head to the nearby farm of a family friend named Tom, where the car club would hold a barbecue. We'd go to the parade and barbecue rain or shine, and some years it poured! But mostly, I remember the smell of grilling meat - Tommy believed in charcoal only, no gas - and flowers blooming, particularly on the snowball bush in the backyard. Tom was a car guy, and the car clubbers would usually end up in the shop, talking and tinkering with whatever Ford - only Fords at his house - was parked there. Tom died of lung cancer 18 months ago, but his family waited until spring to hold a memorial barbecue, so people could come from all over the country. I took this photo that day, of cars Tommy had worked on over the years, including some from the old Thunderbird club, long since disbanded. The rain, the cars, the barbecue on that day in May were all a fitting tribute to a wonderful man.

Giant clothespins

I was reading Taylored Expressions' blog when she posted about these cool giant clothespins available on clearance at Kohl's. There is a Kohl's just a few minutes from me, so I had to go look for some. My Kohl's had some, so I picked up five, four in cool carribean and one in celery, since the selection in celery was a bit limited. The celery ones were clearanced at 80 percent off, making them $3.99, but the carribean ones were only 70 percent off, at $5.99.

I decided to alter three of them using yummy Crate papers from the Birdie collection. Two were gifts to coworkers and one was for me since we just moved into a new office and the colors go so well with it. I'm using mine as a photo holder. I adhered the paper with Mod , altered artPodge and added two coats of MP over the top to seal the paper. I tied ribbons on the sides and added paper flowers from Prima and Making Memories to the fronts.

I followed a similar pattern for the other two, but I used scraps of Moonshine Designs paper. My mom and sister are getting these as part of their little Easter baskets - the paper matches two paper totes I made to fill with Easter grass and candy. I love being able to use my stash of craft supplies for quick and easy gifts, and I love a good bargain! These clips work for both of those things. Even better is that my handmade gifts seem to really be appreciated.

Fun with Phoebe

I fell in love with the new Basic Grey Phoebe papers shortly after they debuted at the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) show in Anaheim a few weeks ago, but I'd only seen them online. Then Friday, I stopped by my local stamp store (LSS), Violet's Rubber Stamp Inn, and found a 6 x 6 pad of the new papers. I just had to have it. So last night I played with my first sheet of the paper and came up with this card. I wanted to really showcase the paper - this pattern is called The Presidio - so I cut out the flowers from a Joann's $1 Rhonna Farrer clear stamp. The flowers are colored with a Stampin UP blender pen and ink from the retired marvelous magenta ink pad. I then sponged chocolate chip ink over the flowers to soften them!

Welcome!

Welcome to The Crafty Cat. I decided to jump in on the blog bandwagon, for a couple of reasons, I guess. One, I'd like to use the space to talk more about my papercrafting projects, including cards, scrapbook pages and other altered art. Two, I'd like to showcase some of my other craft projects that aren't related to paper and ink. Third, I'm a writer by trade and at heart, and blogs are a great tool for communication! I can't wait to get started. Thanks for reading.