Belated tagging.

Things have been crazy for me the last couple of weeks, getting ready for VSN (It's Friday and Saturday! Please join us for some fabulous challenges. Find out more HERE! ) Not to mention getting ready to move. Oh, and getting ready for SoCal StampMania on April 19. I am way, way behind on pretty much all of it! So my blog has gotten neglected, too.
But tonight I'm catching up a little. My friend Katherine of Blame it on the Mojo tagged me a few days ago, and I'm finally getting around to playing. I won't be tagging anyone else specifically right now, but if you want to play along, please do so and post a link in the comments.
The tag is Seven Random Facts About Me! Here you go:
1) I love irises. They are one of my favorite flowers. It's hard for me to pick just one favorite flower, but I really, really like irises. I grew up near the iris growing capital of the world and visited one of the test gardens last year and took some photos, including the one above. I love the colors of the flowers - those vibrant shades of purple, lavender and blue are so pretty.
2) I love Red Vines. Fresh, soft delicious and chewy, they are a wonderful treat - and fat free!
3) I spoil myself with really expensive haircuts. My stylist is a quasi-celebrity stylist -she's appeared on some makeover shows on cable and even on Dr. Phil once. I don't color my hair or have any other special treatments, just the haircuts. They are about $100 but so worth it. And I usually stretch them out for 3-4 months before going back.
4) I hate doing laundry at the laundromat or the apartment laundry room. Knowing that other people's dirty clothes have been in the same washer as mine gives me the ick. So I am super excited that my new apartment will have its own washer and dryer. Yay!
5) I love Duran Duran, and have since the early 80s, when I was in elementary school and plastered my walls with Tiger Beat magazine pictures of Nick, John and Simon.
6) I like baseball. Today was opening day and my team won! I'm a loyal fan of the Seattle Mariners, even though I'll soon be moving to Anaheim Angels country.
7) I have an eclectic coin collection that includes everything from pennies dating to the late 1800s to the current state quarters, as well as a bunch of different coins and bills from my time in Europe. Someday I want to use the foreign coins - which predate the Euro - to make a charm bracelet.
That's all for tonight. I promise to have some new stamped stuff this weekend, when I can finally share some VSN projects!

More birthday cards!

I'm sharing some more of my pretty birthday cards today! The first one is from my friend Patty (pattyb), who is a wonderful stamper and blogger. I love how she embossed the image on vellum, then colored it. Check out her blog, PaperPatty.
This card was a true RAK, from Mary Duncan, aka nowstampin on SCS. I love how she paper-pieced the cake, so cute! Mary's also a blogger; you can check her out HERE!

I hope to have something new for you this weekend, then I'll be starting to pack up the stamp stuff for the big move!

RAK-ing up the birthday cards!

I haven't had much time for stamping, with the big move looming. And the little time I have had has been devoted to making samples for the challenges for the upcoming Virtual Stamp Night Fashion Weekend on SCS. It's April 4-5 and we'd love to have you join us!
That being said, I don't have anything new of my own to share today. But I do have a stack of birthday cards that stampers have sent me in the last couple of weeks. My birthday was March 15 and my mailbox was full of happy mail this year! Here are a couple of the cards I received - I will share more in the coming days!
The first card is an adorable Hershey kiss - isn't that clever? This card was from Kandi (aka Kandicejo on SCS) and I love it!

The second card was from Karolyn (garkarlon on SCS) who sent me this adorable Fluffles card. I love Fluffles and the colors and patterned papers on this card are so cheerful! Both of these cards came from ladies who are hosting fashion challenges for VSN. Thanks, ladies, for the cards, and for your hard work on our event!

Happy Easter

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday today! I found a couple of Easter cards that I hadn't posted yet, so I figured today was the day to share them! I had a lot of fun with Bunny Hugs this year; it's too bad it was a one-season wonder for SU. The first card is a more masculine version - with blues and greens instead of pink and pastels. The DP is from my scrap stash.
The second one is another using some ancient retired SU pastel patterned paper. Since I'm getting ready to move, I need to clear out my stash a bit! I'm slowly making headway, but I still have a ton of stuff (hopefully not literally, though, since my movers are probably going to be charging my by weight - stamp/scrap stuff is heavy!) Again, Happy Easter everyone. Hope your day was full of family, fun and a chocolate egg or two!
Supplies:
Stamps: Bunny Hugs
Paper: brilliant blue, brocade blue, bashful blue, pretty in pink, glorious green, green galore, whisper white
Ink: stazon black, misc. SU markers
Accessories: corner rounder, scallop punch, eyelets, diamond Stickles.

Target quickie!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but there is a direct correlation between lack of posts and lack of stamping time. My life has turned upside down in the last week, hopefully in a good way! I got a new job and I'm moving 120 miles across Southern California. My last day of work is in two weeks and my move is about three weeks away. Of course, I don't have a new place to live or movers lined up yet, and so far all I've managed to pack are three boxes of books! :eek:
What little stamp/craft time I've had has been devoted to getting ready for Virtual Stamp Night on Splitcoast. It just happens to be occurring the weekend before I move! Aaack!
I've been at my current job for 7.5 years, so leaving is going to be difficult. I wanted to make a few thank you cards for some of the special people I've gotten to know in the last few years. Time is limited, so I knew they'd need to be simple. Fortunately, the Target clearance endcaps came to my rescue. I picked up a package of 10 red 4-bar notecards (3 1/2 by 4 7/8ths) and some pale blue envelopes to match. The cards were 48 cents and the envies 58 cents, which will make each pair about 11 cents!
Of course, I came home and had to design a card to go with them. I used some bashful blue paper and stamped the flower image from my new Embrace Life stamp set, then colored in parts of the flowers with my white gel pen. A few snaps and voila! A simple thank you!
Supplies:
Stamps: Embrace Life, Artfully Asian
Ink: Stazon black
Paper: notecards from Target, bashful blue, basic black
Accessories: black snaps, gel pen

Fashion birthday duo

My partner in crime for the April VSN Fashion Weekend is Denise of Handmade by Me! Though we're on opposite coasts, we have a lot in common, including that we both have March birthdays. I made a little gift package to send her way for her big day. I found this fashion-themed paper on clearance at LSS and used it on the card and a matching pillowbox, which I filled with ribbons and some felt flowers I found that I thought she could use for VSN. I love the bright colors and textures with this set.
Supplies:
Stamps: Noteworthy, All Year Cheer
Ink: Stazon black
Paper: DP (including the solid pink) is from Reminisce; tempting turquoise, basic black, orchid, lovely lilac, only orange
Accessories: round tab punch, rhinestone brads, Cuttlebug, May Arts ribbon, pillow box

Faux silk

This is the last of the mini VSN Fashion Show challenges. Stacey (Little Lou's) challenged everyone to use the faux silk technique on our cards. Red tissue and my favorite Asian stamps seemed to be the perfect combination for this challenge. Faux silk is pretty easy - you stamp on tissue, crumpled it up, then spread it back out and adhere it to cardstock using your Xyron, a glue stick or even mod podge. I used red tissue on red cardstock and my glue stick - a fun, fast way to add a cool effect to your card. Tomorrow is the last day to upload your cards for the mini VSN Fashion Show. If you want to play, check out the challenges HERE! And don't forget to join us for VSN Fashion Weekend April 4-5.

Supplies:

Stamps: Artfully Asian
Paper: river rock, black, red, tissue
Ink: Stazon black
Accessories: ribbon, snaps, tissue

Model thin

I know I'll never be model-thin - it's just not in my genes! But there's no reason my card can't be model thin! I made this tall and skinny card - it fits in a traditional business-sized envelope - for one of the mini VSN Fashion Show challenges. Maren (MMBC - check out her blog HERE) challenged us to channel the famous fashion models by caseing a traditional A2 card (your own or someone's else's) but with a twist - turning the standard card into a tall and skinny card. For simplicity's sake, I cased one of my own cards. I love the simplicity of this layout. And how come I don't use Kraft paper more often? It really is a fun product to work with.
The mini VSN Fashion Show challenges will remain open through Saturday, so there's still plenty of time to play! Find out more HERE!
Supplies:
Stamps: Fabulous flowers
Ink: purely pomegranate
Paper: whisper white, kraft, pomegranate, prints DP
Accessories: ribbon, corner rounder

Pretty pearls

This was my card for the second mini VSN challenge Saturday night. This challenge from Jennifer (aka Scrapbookmama) was to use pearls or something pearly like Pearl-ex or liquid pearls on your card. I wanted to showcase these pretty pearl brads from K and Co. and I need to finish my Easter cards, so this card was born! The challenges are open til Saturday, so if you haven't had a chance to play, come join us HERE!
Supplies:
Stamps: Bunny hugs
Ink: Stazon brown, blush, celery
Paper: Coral, celery, vanilla, Basic Grey two scoops
Accesories: Ribbon, pearl brads

Saturday night stamping!

Tonight was the mini VSN Fashion Show on SCS! We had four fantastic challenges presented by our Fabulous Fashionistas. The great thing about the mini VSN is that there are no time limits and you have an extended period of time to play. The mini VSN upload deadline is Saturday, March 15, so there's still time to play! If you want to join us, click HERE to get all the details!

The first challenge was hosted by Jean (Naturecoastcrafter), who asked to channel Coco Chanel and make a split negative card. This was my first attempt at this fun technique. I will definitely be trying it again! I gave this card to my boss for her birthday, and she declared it my best one yet. That's quite a compliment!

Supplies:

Stamps: Fabulous Flowers

Ink: versamark

Paper: tempting turquoise, whisper white

Accesories: EP in white and retired sky blue; cuttlebug; organdy ribbon; horizontal slot punch

Time to stamp!

I really enjoy Sharon's (notimetostamp) blog and weekly challenges, but lately I haven't had enough time to do all the challenges I'd like. This week, though, with my three-day weekend, I had a chance to try her challenge. This week's mission was to make a flat panel card with a flap on it for your message. My friend Cary (Miss Minx) sent me a card once with a tag closure like this, so I thought I would try it on my flap card. I wrapped the ribbon around the flap, then threaded it through the slot in the layered tags and tied a bow. You just untie the bow to open the card. Thanks Sharon for the challenge, and thanks Cary for the idea!
And just a reminder, the mini VSN starts tomorrow at 4 p.m. EST! Hope to see you there!
Supplies:
Stamps: Bunny hugs
Ink: Stazon brown, celery, blush blossom, pretty in pink
Paper: coral, celery, vanilla, Basic Grey two scoops
Accessories: tag punches, horizontal slot punch, eyelets, primas, brad, vanilla organdy ribbon, diamond Stickles

Three-day weekend

I kicked off the start of my three-day weekend with a little Thursday night stamping! I worked Sunday, so I have Friday off. I have errands and chores to do Friday, but I wanted to spend some time tonight with my stamps. I checked SCS to find that the Limited Supply challenge had been posted. This week's challenge was to make 4.25-inch square cards or smaller, quick and easy, using scraps. All of the papers and even the ribbon on this little square card came from my scraps! It was a fast, fun card, and I can always use another Thank You card.
I'll get some more stamping in this weekend because Saturday is the Virtual Stamp Night Fashion Show, a mini VSN event featuring four fun fashion-themed challenges. Two challenges will be posted at 7 p.m. EST and two at 10 p.m. EST. You can find all the details HERE. I hope you can join us.
Supplies:
Stamps: Happy Harmony
Ink: bordering blue, brocade blue, gable green
Paper: bordering blue, brocade blue, whisper white, Deja Vus DP
Accessories: ribbon, SU corner rounder

Many thanks!

I have a little collection of thank-you RAKs going, and I'm overdue in thanking the senders! The first card and goodies came from my friend Katherine who sent this as a thank-you for hosting a Virtual Stamp Night challenge on SCS. I used these goodies to make the Smile card posted below!
This card came from my friend Patty, who sent it as a thank you for a little treat I sent her after she had surgery! I love what she did with the paint chips and the white craft paint on the background. Very cool! I'm glad you're healing well, Patty!
The last card is from my friend Vicki, who sent a thank you just because! Thanks, to you, too Vicki! I feel spoiled with all these fabulous cards.

You make me smile!

My sweet friend and new blogger Katherine sent me a little treat bag with some punched flowers, matching brads and ribbon. So I decided to put them to use on a card for the Dirty Dozen challenge to use epoxy on your project. I am a dork - I had to ask my friend Patty what epoxy was! Once I learned they used it to make stickers, I went to my sticker stash and found a bunch of epoxy! This one came from a set from Target; I think it was in the $1 spot? I added a cuttlebug die and embossed piece, and voila! Thanks Katherine!

Supplies:

Paper: artichoke, summer sun, pumpkin pie, mustard

Accessories: punched flowers, brads, CB, ribbon, epoxy sticker

Bunny for Beate

It's been awhile since I had a chance to play Beate's weekend sketch, but today I thought I would give it a try. It was perfect for a fun Easter card. I found these ancient SU patterned papers in my stash; I think they might be close to 10 years old! It was time to put them to use. I got the stamp set, Bunny Hugs, last year from SU's spring mini catalog, but it arrived too late to use it for Easter cards, so I saved it for this year. I love that adorable little bunny!
Supplies:
Stamps: Bunny hugs
Paper: bordering blue, pretty in pink, whisper white, SU patterned
Ink: bordering blue, pretty in pink, black stazon, yoyo yellow, sage shadow
Accessories: markers, eyelets and cropadile, stardust stickles