LA 2008 - I was there!

Yep, that's me, just before entering the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the 10 p.m. Friday night Garth Brooks concert. I bought tickets for my mom and I for her birthday. We saw Garth live in Portland about 10-12 years ago, and I was so glad to get the chance to see him again. The show was absolutely fabulous - and I think we got lucky, because even the concert reviewers said that our show, of all five he played in LA last weekend, was the best one!
Our seats were straight back from the stage, on the first level up below the suites. While Garth was small, we had a straight on view of all the action, and they had these giant screens to bring him up close, too. I don't have a great camera, but I did manage to get a few shots. I also accidentally shot a brief video while he was singing the chorus of Rodeo.
The concert was more than two hours long, and included nearly all of Garth's best known songs, and some new ones, too. He also had a couple of special guests. This is him and Tricia Yearwood onstage. They sang a duet, then he joined her, playing guitar and singing harmony for Walkaway Joe, which is one of my favorite songs. Later, Huey Lewis came out and he and Garth sang their knew single together, then Huey sang Bad is Bad. I sang along to all the songs, and cheered so much my voice is still hoarse after three days! Hopefully I didn't do any permanent damage, but if I did, it was worth it! All the ticket and souvenir proceeds benefited a California wildfire relief charity, so Mom and I also picked up some sweatshirts that say LA 2008, with the signature Garth "G" and "I was there" on them! I just hope I don't have to wait another 10 years to see Garth in concert again.

Killing time ....

My mom's flying in today for our big girls' weekend in Los Angeles, but she had some delays getting here, so I have some time to kill before leaving to go pick her up at the airport. What better way to spend it than updating my blog? I have a couple more cards to share from last weekend's Virtual Stamp Night on SCS. The tie that binds these two cards is the hopping! The first is another Valentine's Day card. The challenge was to use a non-traditional fold. This one uses a modified version of a tri-fold I learned from Beate. When you untie the ribbon, the top flips up and the bottom flips down.
Supplies:
Stamps: Toucan of love
Paper: chocolate chip, pretty in pink, whisper white, Marcella K patterned
Ink: Chocolate chip, pretty in pink, bordering blue, creamy caramel
Accessories: Horizontal slot punch, ribbon, eyelets, blender pens for coloring, diamond Stickles

The second card was for a challenge to use bling. I needed a congratulations card, and I love this little frog image from one of last year's SU sellabration sets. The card base is gable green, with a layer of whisper white over the top. I stamped some frogs in black (without inking the sentiment). The focal image was colored in and then coated in versamark and embossed with iridescent ice EP. The green galore band was run through my Cuttlebug. I finished it off with a pair of 7 gypsies rhinestone brads.
Supplies:
Stamps: Very Punny, SU
Paper: gable green, green galore, whisper white, basic black
Ink: Green galore, gable green, stazon black, versamark
Accessories: SU scallop punch, CM circle cutter, Cuttlebug, 7 gypsies brads, iridescent ice EP

More VSN fun!

Here are a couple of more projects from last weekend's VSN. I haven't stamped at all this week. I am in the process of packing up all of my stamp stuff for a few days; my mom is coming for a weekend visit. I got her and I tickets to a concert for her birthday - then made her fly down here from Oregon to go :) ! Fortunately, it's a very special concert - we get to see Garth Brooks live at the Staples Center in Los Angeles Friday night. All of you country music fans will understand how cool this is. My mom is super excited. Our seats aren't great, but we'll take binoculars and a camera just in case. At least I have lots of VSN projects to share until I can get back to my stamps next week! The first card was for a challenge to make a thinking of you card for a friend. I love this paper and from My Mind's Eye; it was in the Costco pack last year. I hate to cover up the design, so I just added a few simple embellishments. The scallop was made with the SU scallop punch. I saw this idea on someone's blog; you punch the scallop, then attach it to a piece of scrap paper using temporary adhesive, turn it slightly, and punch again. It's a great effect and I will do this again, I bet.
Supplies:
Stamps: Heartfelt thanks, SU; sentiment A muse
Paper: Mellow moss, barely banana, real red, shimmery white, MME Dp
Ink: Rose red, banana, moss
Accessories: CB slider die, May Arts organdy ribbon, scallop punch
The second project was to make an altered composition book. I just happened to have a mini comp book on hand, so that's what I used here. I'd never actually covered a comp book before, but it was really easy. I used some more DP from the MME paper package, and added some black cardstock for the binding. I finished it with some grosgrain ribbon, Primas and a rhinestone brad.
Supplies:
Paper: MME DP, black cardstock
Accessories: turquoise and celery grosgrain, primas, rhinestone brad

Criss-Cross for Corie!

So one of the challenges for VSN this weekend was to make a criss-cross card, and since Corie's been making so many of them lately, I figured I ought to give it a shot. I've made a couple of these before; I forgot how easy and fun they could be. Even better, I used scraps from my scrap drawer! I hate to throw out designer paper, unless the piece is too small to even imagine using. But I'm really bad at actually using the scraps later! But I found this Crate paper and figured I could put it to good use on this card.
The second photo shows the back side of the insert - this is where I would write a message to th recipient. When I don't have a specific use for cards, I often just turn them into thank-yous. You can never have too many thank-you cards, right?
Supplies:
Stamps: Good Things (Simply Sent kit)
Paper: Certainly celery, whisper white, cool caribbean, Crate Birdie Collection
Accessories: Primas, Making Memories eyelets, ribbon, horizontal slot punch, CM corner punch

More Girls' Night Out

Girls' Night Out Virtual Stamp weekend is winding down on Splitcoast, though you still have until tonight at 11 p.m. EST to upload cards for the challenges, so still have time to play! I managed to get about 12 of the 18 challenges done. I may try to squeeze in one or two more today, but I have a ton of other things I need to get done, too, so we'll see!
For the first card, the challenge called for stamping your main image on black cardstock, so I used versamark to stamp the car from Classic Convertibles, then embossed it in silver. The second black layer was embossed using the Cuttlebug Traffic Jam folder and then I distressed the raised parts with Colorbox silver ink. I also added a touch of brilliant blue for a splash of color!
Supplies:
Stamps: classic convertibles
Paper: brilliant blue, basic black, whisper white
Ink: versamark, silver colorbox
Accessories: Cuttlebug, embossing powder, MM brads, Q and Co. sequins

The second card was for two challenges - the VSN challenge to use a mask and the eclectic Paperie challenge to use a cupcake image. Eclectic Paperie is turning one, and they're celebrating with a couple of challenges this weekend. I used a scallop punch piece as a mask over the cupcake, then brayered spectrum ink over the top of the image. I colored the image using bold bright markers and then added stickles to the cupcake frosting.
Supplies:

Stamps: short and sweet, just for fun
Paper: whisper white, shimmery white, orchid
Ink: stazon black, bold brights markers, spectrum-style rainbow pad
Accessories: rainbow organdy ribbon, stickles, scallop punch, brayer

It's Girls' Night Out!!!

Virtual Stamp Night - actually a whole weekend - is underway on Splitcoaststampers! It runs through Saturday, though you can play any or all of the challenges until 11 p.m. EST on Sunday night. The theme this time is Girls' Night Out, and the challenges are themed accordingly! The first card was for my friend Melinda's challenge to make a circle card using a sketch she provided. I need to get some Valentines ready, so I made my card into a Valentine.
Supplies:
Stamps: Toucan of my Love
Paper: Rose red, pretty in pink, creamy caramel, whisper white
Ink: Stazon brown, rose red, creamy caramel
Accessories: CM circle cutters, Cuttlebug (embossing folder and tag die), stickles, ribbon, brad

The second card was inspired by a photograph of shoes made out of chocolate that my friend Jamie found and used for her challenge. I was inspired by the colors and the polka dots on the shoes. I think this will work great for a Valentine, too.

Supplies:

Stamps: Happy everything, Good things

Paper: chocolate chip, pretty in pink, whisper white

Ink: chocolate chip, pretty in pink

Accessories: horizontal slot punch, ribbons, Queen and Co. sequin, brad, ticket punch

Also, if anyone can tell me how to make the lines above not have so much space between them, I'd be forever grateful. I'm not sure what I'm doing, but I always seem to get them at the end of the second card explanation!

Easy being green

One of my favorite things about Virtual Stamp Night on Splitcoaststampers is the great friends I've made through participating in the fun. A year ago, a few of us VSN lovers met when we were all hostesses, and we've remained virtual friends ever since! We decided to celebrate this month with a series of challenges. The first challenge was to use your latest favorite stamping thing, such as a a tool or technique. I just had to use my new Cuttlebug. One of my friends from this group, Joni aka Jstarbright, sent me some Cuttlebug backgrounds awhile back so I could play, and she included some using CTMH cardstock with a white core so I could sand and expose it. So after that I had to have a Cuttlebug. And I knew for this challenge I wanted to sand my cardstock, but the only stuff I had with a white core was this two-sided green from Michael's. I put each side through the CB, punched out a scallop in the lighter shade, and sanded both pieces. I love the monochromatic look, but this really ought to be a St. Patty's Day card, I think, with all that green!
VSN starts tomorrow (Friday) and runs through Saturday on SCS. We'd love to have you join us for one challenge or several! It's a great way to get your mojo going and your creativity flowing!
Supplies:
Paper: whisper white, double-sided green from Michael's
Accessories: Cuttlebug thanks embossing folder, white flower brad, sanding block, SU scallop punch, CM circle cutter, May Arts ribbon, dimensionals

The secret's out

I made these things during December, but I can finally share them now! They are cards I sent to my little VSN secret sister. She got her reveal package the other day, so now she knows who I am and I can post them. The first card was inspired by the SU in colors soft sky and blue bayou, which just so happens to coordinate perfectly with this patterned paper from Creative Memories.
Supplies:
Stamps: Happy Winter, Snow Flurries (SU)
Paper: Creative Memories DP, soft sky, blue bayou, whisper white
Ink: Soft sky, blue bayou
Accessories: ribbon, ticket corner punch, scallop punch, CM circle cutter

The second item is a little "Jenn" box, or 2-5-7-10 box, which I filled with some fun embellishments and other goodies. I used retired Holiday Thyme papers.

Supplies:

Stamps: Peaceful wishes

Paper: Holiday Thyme, artichoke, cranberry, bashful blue

Ink: Cranberry, artichoke, chocolate chip

Accessories: cranberry stitched ribbon, corner rounder, scallop punch, CM circle cutter

The last is a Christmas card; I loved how this card turned out! I used my Paper Salon tailored tin stamps. The smaller poinsettia flower was inked in cranberry crisp, then stamped off once before stamping on the vanilla paper. I used more Holiday Thyme here, along with artichoke and cranberry papers and inks.

Magic flowers

My friend Patty hosts challenges for Stampin UP demonstrators on SCS, but since I'm not a demo, I usually can't play. This week is different, though. Patty shared her challenge on her blog, where she's also offering a prize for one of the people who take her up on it. The deadline to make and upload a card is Jan. 31, so there's still plenty of time to play!
Patty's challenge was to use the magic snowflake technique without using snowflake stamps or the color blue. Magic snowflake is similar to polished stone; you dampen cotton balls with alcohol, add a few drops of reinker, and dab them onto glossy cardstock until you get the desired effect. The magic part comes in first embossing an image in white, then when you're done coloring the cardstock, using your heat gun to chase the ink away from the embossed pieces, revealing the white image underneath. I thought Fabulous Flowers was a great choice for this challenge. I also used my new Cuttlebug to make a slider, which I sponged with cranberry and white craft inks.
Supplies:
Stamps: Fabulous Flowers, Short and Sweet (SU)
Paper: Cranberry crisp, rose romance, whisper white, glossy white
Ink: Versamark, cranberry crisp, craft white, rose romance
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Bazzill brads, organdy ribbon, sponges, embossing powder

Fabric swatches

This week's inspiration challenge was a photo of a bunch of Amy Butler fabric swatches. Since I don't have any Amy Butler patterned paper, I used some Making Memories designer paper and cut 1.5 inch squares of several different patterns, layering the pieces down one side of the card. I struggled a bit with how to place the image, then finally decided on the long Caribbean piece with the image from Artfully Asian on top. I colored the image with blender pens.
Supplies:
Stamps: artfully Asian, short and sweet
Paper: close to cocoa, wild wasabi, cool Caribbean, vanilla, making memories dp
Ink: brown stazon, old olive, orchid, pretty in pink
Accessories: diamond stickles, brown MM eyelets, MM rickrack

Who's responsible for this?

I felt so spoiled at Christmas this year. I was lucky enough to be chosen as a recipient of a Secret Sister swap package. I won't get to find out until February who sent me these goodies, but I have to tell you, when I opened the box I was so touched and delighted! The card is perfect for me; I love the beach and beachcombing for shells. Then there was the contents:
I split them into two parts. The above picture is the "pampering" stuff, including yummy chocolates and cocoa and lots of yummy lotion and potions for my winter-dry skin.
The second part is the stamping stuff! This stuff is awesome! I've already been playing with it. The box included a 6x6 pad of Making Memories DP (coincidentally, I already own the coordinating ribbon set!); 7 Gypsies and MM brads; alcohol inks, Primas, Stickles, Queen and Co. felt, a 7 Gypsies bracelet to alter, and my current favorite product, Heidi Swapp ghost shapes. Thanks so much to whoever sent me these wonderful treats!

Playing with ghosts!

I briefly hit my stamping groove the other night when I was making this card. I really, really like it. It's off in the mail tomorrow to a friend, so I hope she likes it, too. I started this card when I found these cardstock colors in my pile together and liked how they looked. The combination is river rock, old olive and so saffron. I'm also totally addicted to these Heidi Swapp ghost flowers I received recently in a RAK. The flower was inked in pearlescent beige Brilliance ink and embossed with clear EP. It really adds a cool effect to the flower, but you have to be careful not to overheat them! I ran the olive piece through my Cuttlebug and swiped the pearlescent beige ink over the embossed parts, too. The image and sentiment were stamped in olive Stazon and then I used blender pens to color the image using so saffron and old olive ink. I used the color spritzer to spritz river rock ink lightly over the image and the card base. I squeezed the bulb against the pad and sucked ink straight into the tube, then sprayed it out. It's a little messy and you have to wash the spritzer between uses, but it works when you don't have a marker in that color. I finished the card with some small SU brads in antique brass and a big Karen Foster brad in the same color.
Supplies:
Stamps: Artfully Asian, SU
Paper: River rock, old olive, so saffron, very vanilla, SU
Ink: olive Stazon, old olive, so saffron, river rock, pearlescent beige
Accessories: Heidi Swapp ghost flower, brads from SU and Karen Foster, dimensionals, color spritzer, blender pens, embossing powder, Cuttlebug d'vine swirl

Holiday secret sis cards

Virtual Stamp Night (really a whole weekend) is almost here! It begins Jan. 18 and continues Jan. 19 with lots of fun Girls' Night Out challenges. I always enjoy chatting, stamping and commenting cards during VSN. But what I'm really looking forward to is finally finding out who my VSN secret sister is. She sent me these adorable cards last month. I love the Fluffles card; I love Fluffles because he looks a lot like Eliot. And Eliot loves to help decorate (or undecorate) the Christmas tree!
The second card came in a fun package with some really cool rhinestone and pearl brads and some beautiful American Crafts ribbon! I can't wait to play with those goodies. I love combination of artichoke and pomegranate on this card. Hopefully next week I can start sharing some of the things I made for my secret VSN sister. I need to get her final package in the mail this week!

Sweet challenge

I made some special friends on SCS a year ago when we all hosted a Virtual Stamp Night even together. We have stayed friends ever since, so this month, in honor of our friendship, we're doing a bunch of challenges together. The card above was for an inspiration challenge using a picture from the Mrs. Fields cookies Web site, in honor of Joni Fields, the leader of our VSN and a true sweetheart. My card fits a standard business size envelope; I used au chocolat (retired) SU paper to make the stack of gifts, then "tied" them all up with yummy pomegranate ribbon.
If you'd like to make some cool friends and some cool cards, the next VSN, aptly themed "Girls Night Out" is coming Jan 18-19 on SCS. Please join us for some super fun challenges, chat and general good times!
Supplies:
Stamps: Short and Sweet, SU
Paper: Chocolate chip, very vanilla, Au chocolat (SU)
Accessories: Ticket punch, pomegranate ribbon (SU)
This photo is for Katherine :) ! She requested a photo of the "goodies" I received from Lindsey/Jacksonbelle. Don't these look fun? Later in the week I plan to share a fun project I did with the Glimmer Mist, which is a really cool shade of blue.

More New Year's Challenges

The postman knocked on my door yesterday with a great big package from Lindsey/Jacksonbelle! The goodies were my prizes from her New Year's Eve party on Splitcoast. The box included two packages of Prima ribbon, some Prima flowers, a bottle of Frosty Nights Glimmer Mist (such a cool color!) and a collection pack of Basic Grey Dasher paper (including alphabet stickers and cool tags). Thank you so much, Lindsey, I love it all! I'm already plotting some projects with the new goodies, too. First though, I thought I would share the last of my projects from the party the other night. The first card was for the "black and blue" challenge, and was one of Lindsey's randomly picked winners. I have been loving my blue bayou and soft sky inks and papers, and I also had some really pretty Heidi Grace Frost collection papers sitting fresh and uncut and ready to use - fortunately, they matched! Unfortunately, I've completely run out of soft sky paper. Time to reorder - though I'm holding out til Sellabration starts. I really wanted to showcase the pretty pattern of the paper, so I did not embellish a lot. But I did use my new Cuttlebug for the slider.
Supplies:
Stamps: Short and Sweet from SU
Paper: blue bayou, soft sky, whisper white, basic black, Heidi Grace Frost
Ink: Stazon black, blue bayou
Accessories: Cuttlebug, CM circle cutter, CM corner punch, white organdy ribbon

The last challenge was to make a Valentine. I was running out of steam, so I pulled out a CB background my friend Joni had sent me using CTMH white core cardstock and sanded it. I then embossed and die cut the Love stamp and sponged it lightly with ruby red ink for some dimension. I added the ribbon from Michael's, and voila!

Supplies

Paper: DCWV textured black notecard, whisper white, CTMH red

Accessories: Cuttlebug, sponging, ribbon, sanding block

Inspired sketch

Beate is back! She took a break from her weekend sketches for the holidays, but she's back this week with another fun sketch. I really look forward to her sketch and the SCS inspiration challenge on Friday nights when I come home from a long week and just want to get reacquainted with my stamps! This week I combined both challenges into this card.
The inspiration piece was an entryway picture from the new Pottery Barn catalog. I used the colors, the flowers, and the hardware as inspiration. I wanted the olive base to look rustic, so I sanded it, then dabbed on some antique linen distress ink along with a bit of pearlescent beige brilliance ink. It's hard to see in the photo, but it adds some dimension to the card in real life. The image was colored with apricot and pumpkin pie ink using blender pens and then spritzed with water before stamping.
I think I'm going to try to stick to a traditional supply list from here on out when I post. Unless I have nothing to say about a card, then I'll just talk about the supplies in the main post!
Supplies:
Stamps: SU's Happy Harmony
Paper: old olive, pumpkin pie, vanilla, non SU yellow
Ink: old olive, pumpkin pie, antique linen distress ink, brilliance pearlescent beige, apricot appeal Accessories: Primas, hodgepodge hardware, ribbon, diamond stickles, Heidi Swapp distresser

New Year's challenges

I thought today I would share another of the cards I made for Lindsey's (Jacksonbelle on SCS) New Year's Eve party. She had trivia and card challenges, and I actually won one of each. Thank you Lindsey! Lindsey's got a cool Ebay store, Jacksonbelle Embellishments, and a great blog, Embellished. This card was for the "Eyelets Galore" challenge, and I just happened to get some cool large eyelets with my pink Crop-A-Dile case. I designed this card around the patterned paper; a friend of our family travels all over the world, buys cool little trinkets and wrapping papers, then hands them out at the holidays. This year I saved the Asian paper she wrapped my gift in and recycled it on this card. It paired very well with my favorite image from Artfully Asian. The card base is a textured black notecard from DCWV; I layered some silver cardstock from Creative Memories over the top, then added the red and silver paper. All the corners are ticket punched, and I added the three brads. The main image was stamped in Stazon black on whisper white paper. I colored it using real red and glorious green markers, and real red ink and a blender pen for the larger flowers. I layered it on real red and basic black, did some more ticket cornering, added some more eyelets, then mounted the image on dimensionals! I'm really pleased with how this one came out.