Celebrate!

This card is a result of a challenge on Paper Wings. The challenge was to use the Scor-Pal to score at least 2 lines, a button, 1 piece of designer paper, no layers, some ribbon, a technique (I used heat embossing) and stamps. I may have used 1 line of ribbon too much but I think it came out ok!


Stamps: Good Timber, Laughter (hostess set)
Inks: Versamark
Paper: Sands of Time SWIC, white cs
Embellishments: ribbon, button, scrappers floss, green embossing powder
Tools: Scor-Pal, Heat tool

Have you sent in anything to TAC™'s Paper Crafters challenge?? I did!!! Wahoo! And I sent 4 cards to Take 10 by Stampers Sampler magazine. I'm hoping.... If I win or get published I will let you know!

Cupcake Celebrations

Here's my other Little Cupcake samples:


Again I used Pop Rockz SWIC for my main paper on both cards. This top card uses a Cuttlebug embossing folder which I brayered with Calypso K-pad (we don't carry this color anymore). Also used red sheer ribbon and an Elmer's product called 3D Pretty Pearls glue pen in a yellow to color the sucker head. It does have shimmer and dimension.

This 2nd card is real fast and easy to make! I colored the cupcake with my Prismacolor Pencils then used Crystal Stickles on the frosting. I layered it on a circle punched with the 2" Super Jumbo Circle punch then layered that on a 2 1/2" white circle punched with the Mega Circle punch then trimmed with some scallop decorative scissors to fit better. All images were stamped with Noir PH ink. This is definitely a very bright and cheery card!

Are you ready for another Blog Hop?

Can you guess what stamp set I'm playing with now??



Should I tell you? Hmmm.... Here's a clue; it's from our Serendipity magalogue. Did that help? No? Ok. This set is Little Cupcake! The paper is Pop Rockz SWIC, purple, and white cardstocks. I used Noir & French Lilac PH inks to stamp my images and I colored the cake with my Prismacolor pencils and added Crystal Stickles to the frosting. Doesn't this just make you want to celebrate a birthday? Well, maybe not yours but a friend's or child's or spouse's?? My dad's birthday is the end of April and I think I'll make him a cake. Not this fancy but he'll enjoy it. He'll be 75.

Watch tomorrow for 2 more cards! Today I'm going to Tucson, AZ to watch a spring training baseball game. The weather is a bit cooler, we might hit 80 degrees with a slight breeze. Just perfect for a game! So, stay tuned tomorrow!!

A Tisket, A Tasket, See my Baskets!

This is another little project from my Wednesday class.

We made these cute little baskets which can be used for a variety of things. One lady said they'd made great placecard/nut cups! How about party favors? May Day door hangers (do people do that anymore?). How about little Christmas ornaments? You can really get creative in decorating these little rascals with Stickles, eyelets, brads, assorted punches.... What do you think?

Here is a closeup of the lamb from our Spring Fling special (which sold out quickly!). I used white Liquid Applique to give texture to the cute little sheep and I did a little bit of coloring with my Prismacolor Pencils. You can use Hoppity Skippity for this if you didn't get this fun set. Also used was our Giga Scallop Circle punch, cardstock, coordinating sheer ribbon, Sweet Goodies stamp set, the word Easter from one of our great GWPs (1 free on a $30 order), and coordinating inks. Just too cute! I got this idea from my good friend, Diana Maldonado, a fellow angel in Puerto Rico.

Box Card

This morning I finished my card that I started as I taught class yesterday. I tried to adjust to colors to actual but it didn't work on the first sample. The open version is very close to natural. Anyway...

Here is the closed view. I did a gate fold on the cover so that my main image wouldn't be cut in half. I hope my students see this. They had some ideas but I didn't think of this until I worked on it's completion.


Here's the open view. This was a bugger to photo open! But you can see the inside of the box. The Thank you is basically a pop-up.
Stamps: Butterfly Bits, Fancy Curls, Thank You GWP
Paper: brown and white cardstock, ivory textweight paper
Ink: Burnt Umber PH

Tomorrow I hope to post the little baskets that I also taught. Don't want to give it to you all at once! So, stay tuned!!

BTW, Trisha who left a comment on my post concerning the Box Card Class. I get coasters from different restaurants, like Chili's. If you'd like a few, just email me! I have also gotten some in a group purchase.

Box Card Class

I taught my class today how to make an origami box card! They did find it a bit tough but fun.


Here are my wonderful "students" showing off their boxes! Standing is Sheryl Aamodt and Donna Troxel. Sitting is Joyce Lambert and Linda Fett. And, since this was my last class through the Green Valley Recreation Dept. for this year I gave them a free class and we made little baskets. I will post pictures of my creations when I finish them.

These 2 cards were created by Joyce using our great downloads that you can get at The Angel Company website, just click here! The top card is a squash book using 4"x4" coasters which I taught last month. The little dimensional bee just sparkles! I think Joyce just had too much fun with these! Unless I get invited to do a special home class or FUNshop I won't be having any more classes with GVR until next January. I will be working on getting my ideas and projects put together this summer as I have to have my paperwork in before Sept. 1 for these classes! I've already got some ideas so if you're one of my students, I think you'll really enjoy next year! I will miss them this summer as most will be headed back home to Iowa, Wisconsin, etc. soon.

Updates on my personal blog

I have updated some info and added pictures to my Livin' Hot blog. Just click on the link in the left side menu under Personal family blog. Thanks!

Think Spring!

My challenge post for today, whether it's a card, scrapbook page, altered art, etc. was to have a spring theme. Here are my 2 projects!


This 8" x 8" scrapbook page is of our youngest granddaughter, Rowan. Isn't she a beauty?!
I started with a page from our Kaleidoscope Girlz Wing It paper. I matted her picture with some coordinating blue cardstock and adhered it to the center of the page. The text is from our This Girl set stamped with Noir PH ink. I punched assorted flowers from papers in the pack which I creased to add deminsion and adhered with Pop Dots.

My card uses orange cardstock and I stamped along the bottom edge one of our cool Edge Designs using Orangerie PH ink. If you look closely you can see a flower stem (from the Spring Dream set) under the accordian-fold flower and a cool swirl design in the upper left corner which is from our Summer Elegance set as is the text. I stamped the text on white cardstock, punched with our Super Jumbo Scalloped Oval punch then swiped with Orangerie on the edges and punched holes for my yarn.

Here is a closeup of my accordian-fold flower. I used 2 pieces of our Country Cottage Designer paper (retired), cut 1 1/2" wide, taped together, folded, and adhered on a piece of cardstock. I added the orange button laced with white scrappers floss. I really like this!

Looks layered!

Can you tell if there are multiple layers or not? Actually there is only the brown base, the large stamped area and the little tag! This is called Mono Masking technique from the Technique Junkies! Click on their link in the left column!
Stamps used: Hieroglyph Horses, Aged Ornaments, and Distressed Designs (retired)
Paper: dark brown from DCWV Neutral Cardstock Stack, white cardstock
Ink: Burnt Umber PH
Misc: brown ribbon, Color Duster, Pop Dots, 1/8" hole punch
You can use any variety of stamps for this technique. I didn't have the current set I wanted so I used a retired set to get the effect I was wanting. This was fairly easy and fast! So, what do you think??

Another card from Melissa

I really like the layout of her card today. But I have been totally unable to find these images in our catalog (Melissa and Carol H. told me that the images are from SU!). This is such a nice and easy but sophisticated card. So, if you see Melissa in Sierra Vista, tell her you've seen her cards on my blog! I hope to meet her tomorrow in Tucson at the Rubber Stamp and Scrapbook Expo. We've chatted by phone and email a few times. She is such a sweetie. So, finish your coffee and go stamp already!! LOL!

A cute little note-book!

My wonderful recruit, Melissa Jones of Sierra Vista, AZ, heeded my challenge to put some cards on my blog. This is her great creation and there's very little stamping!!


Here is the book closed. She used our great Hemingway SWIC, cardstock, and ribbon. Isn't this cool! The stamp in the circle is from the Affirmation Badges set. It's faint but I rather like it!
Here is the book opened. On the right panel is some posty notes. The left panel, and even the center, can hold photos of your grandchild, child, spouse, or best friend! Great for keeping in your purse!

I will be posting a card she made after I get the info on the stamps she used. So, if you're in the Sierra Vista area look her up! She's a fairly new angel and a great gal!

Criss Cross card

I played a bit with the challenge on Scor-Pal Pals yahoo group and here is what I came up with. I think it looks pretty good but I'm not impressed with the amount of cardstock the original directions call for. I'm hoping to change it a bit to use only a 4 1/2" x 11" piece instead of the 9" x 11" amount.

The designer paper is now retired but I used it because I liked how it looked with my solid cardstock. I also had different ribbon but I didn't like it so I changed to this yellow fiber. I also took a closeup of the little flower bead I attached. What do you think? What would you change?
Stamps: Little Things, Interact, Petal Pack, and Just For You hostess set
Ink: Noir P.H.
Paper: DCWV Cardstock stack, Country Cottage Designer paper (retired)
Misc: Super Jumbo Flower punch, smaller matching flower punches, beads, yellow fiber
For the directions I used please click here.

A friend from a yahoo group sent this link about breast cancer and support for the survivors. The art is amazing!! Check it out!

In case you missed me posting this past weekend we went to a baseball spring training game in Tucson, AZ. We watched the AZ Diamonbacks play the Chicago Cubs. What a game! The seats were sold out with 11,455 in attendance! We left at the top of the 9th inning and the Cubs were ahead 7 to 4. I don't know if any more runs were scored. This next Saturday we'll be going to another game, the DBacks will be playing the Kansas City Royals. Baseball is really fun when you're there in person! My aunt mends the uniforms for the 3 teams who spring train here so she gets free tickets to take us. Also, my cousin (her son) is the head groundskeeper for one of the stadiums so we can also get in where he works. We've been behind the fence there and seen some of what goes on behind the scenes.

Isn't Christmas over???

Each month on Paper Wings we're challenged to make a certain number of Christmas cards so that we'll have enough made and ready to mail when it's time! Well, today I finished a dozen with the snowflake theme we were challenged to use.

The top photo shows the cards. The bottom photo shows the "bling".
Stamps used: Snowflakes, Christmas Circles, and a current GiftWithPurchase (GWP) stamp.
Paper: white and blue cardstocks (I've had the blue forever!)
Ink: Starry Night PH
Misc. : Mega Circle Punch, Souffle Gelly Pens, Crystal Stickles

I like how the "bling" really brought the simple design to life. Are you going to have enough Christmas cards come the holiday season?? If you make a few each month you'll be ready and won't be flustered to go purchase any. So, what are you waiting for??

Love Candy

This was a project I made for Paper Wings for February. The theme was The Music of the Heart. I made the box right after Christmas for my project and it was a bit time consuming but fun. I think the most difficult part is getting my stamps and embellishments to work together. I spend most of my time setting out and working my ideas around until something "clicks". This can happen quickly or in hours! This project fell in-between!


Love makes my heart sing and, after blurfing (blog surfing) and seeing this cool box on a very talented stamper's blog, I just had to try it!! Can you guess what I used to hold the M&Ms??
I'll tell you at the end of this post. I made the box from red & white cardstocks and the stamped images are from Love Doodles and Linear Sentiments. The felt flowers and button came from the Ava Embellishment Jar collection. I used L'Amore PH ink for all stamping. I had some burgundy/wine velvet ribbon and I think it worked real good around the base of the box. Now, have you figured out what those 2 little containers are?? Think hard! I'm sure you've had them in your house! Think flowers. Maybe roses. Yeppers!! Those little rascals held water and the stem end of roses!! I even punched little circles to cover to holes in the lids. Now, what have you "recycled" recently??

Recycled photo frame

We had a challenge for February to recycle, reuse, and go green. Can you figure out what I used to mount my photo? It's a fruit can lid!! I'm sorry that my photo of my lovely granddaughters didn't print good, it's just not as sharp as it should be. I used my Coluzzle Nested Circles to cut the black cardstock which I adhered to the can. I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch the hole and set the eyelet. The white flower is from my Assorted Bitty Blossums and I punched a 1/2" circle of black cs and used a white brad to embellish the flower. Since I didn't have any black scrappers floss I inked my white with black ink and let it dry before using to wrap around the white ribbon. The text is "priceless" from the This Girl stamp set. Just a fun project. What have you "scrapbooked" lately??

Tutorial - Fantasy/Friendship Box drawers

Are you ready to make your drawers?? Start with 4 pieces of color coordinating lightweight cardstock or text-weight paper cut in 6" squares.


Using a pencil and ruler find the center of each square by carefully marking from corner to corner a large X.

Fold up one point of the square to the center as shown. Use your bone folder to make a good crease.

Fold up the folded edge to the center, crease. Unfold and repeat for the other 3 corners.

Your square should look like this!

Here you can see 4 dotted lines, look closely! Carefully cut where the lines are.

Now fold in the 2 sides as shown.

Stand up one side as shown.

Fold the flap over and I added a small piece of double-stick tape to hold the point down.
Fold over the other flap and tape down. Here you have a completed drawer/box for your Fantasy/Friendship Box. Complete the other 3 and attach to your Box!

Tutorial - Fantasy/Friendship Box

Well, here is my tutorial as promised.
Supplies used: pattern paper, chipboard, adhesive, coordinating cardstock, stamps, embellishments, inks, whatever!!

I chose my exterior paper and stamped using Fancy Curls and Moonlight White Brilliance ink. It measures 8 1/2" x 11". I also cut 4 strips of thin chipboard to 7 1/2" x 2 1/2".

I adhered the chipboard to the back of the exterior paper. I used a piece of scrap chipboard to space between the 4 pieces. I did a horrible job of centering these 4 pieces but it did work out in the end. I mitered the corners and adhered the edges over the chipboard. I also scored between each piece of chipboard to help with the bending of the box.

Here I cut another piece of pattern paper (Sands of Time SWIC) to fit over the chipboard side. Please measure the chipboard section and cut yours to fit. Score this side between the chipboard pieces to aid in folding.

Here I attached the 4 boxes (and I will post a tutorial showing how to make them) by spacing them evening on each panel and adjusting the height of each.

The lid and bottom are made from 2 squares (4 5/8" x 4 5/8"). I scored 1" on each side, cut slots and adhered. From this point you can embellish to your heart's desire!! If you have any questions, please contact me. Have fun!

Fantasy or Friendship...... Box, that is!

I created this cool box because of a challenge on Paper Wings. I've seen this before but Jany changed the size a bit and I like it better than the first time I'd seen it. It's called either a Fantasy Box or Friendship Box.


Paper used: Amelia SWIC (dark brown exterior), Sands of Time SWIC, white cardstock, Bazzil Reds cardstock
Inks: Moonlight White Brilliance, Noir & Burnt Umber PH
Stamps: Life is Short, Fancy Curls
Misc: Super Jumbo Flower punch, Essential Elements, Ava Emb. Jar, white scrappers floss, Bubblegum paper posies, a border punch, pink sheer ribbon, miniature dice, 3/16" glue dots, Kokuyo Adhesive

The Cardstock Strips would work wonderfully for the top and bottom boxes rather than using a border punch like I did. I just didn't have the pink at this time.

I will be doing a tutorial this week and would love to see what you come up with!! How about some ideas of stuff to put in the boxes?? I was thinking of: office supplies (paperclips, rubber bands, pushpins) or beauty supplies (cotton balls, Q-tips,).

I give a hoot!

I did a Case It Challenge on Paper Wings today. We were shown a card by another angel and had to come up with something similar. Here's what I did.


Stamps used: Artsy Owls, What a Hoot
Paper: Tutti Fruitti, DCWV Brights Cardstock Stack, white
Inks: Chartreuse & Noir PH
Misc.: Spellbinders Labels 1, Scallop Oval Punch, Coluzzle Nested Ovals (mat & knife), Prismacolor Pencils

What do you think? It is bright and cheery!

Samples using one of the free downloads!

I just had to play with this free download that's available on the TAC™ website. The top images are of a card using our Extra Jumbo & Super Jumbo Flower punches, Dove Blender Pen, Shimmer Chalk Kit, white scrapper's floss, Paris Lights & Noir PH inks, button, white & dark green, and yellow cardstocks, and Kinder-Bet. I included a closeup of the cute little duck "painted" with the chalks. Rather cute and fast!


This 2nd project I used Orange Peel & Pink Stickles and Noir PH ink. The text is from our Just for You hostess set. I barely used the Stickles as I didn't want it overwhelming my image. I think I'll put this in my hubby's lunch on Easter.

So, have you played with our new free downloads?? If you made something using them please scan and send to me and I'll put it on here!

Just for you!

I seen a wonderful card on a blog when I was doing some blurfing this morning and thought it was great! So I had to give it a shot!
Now the tree is stamped on white cardstock but it sure looks pink here!
Stamps: Good Timber, Just for You hostess set
Paper: light green, dark green, and white cardstocks
Inks: Hint of Pesto Versamagic
Other: light green brads, Fiskars Treading Water punch, slot punch, white sheer ribbon

I think it turned out pretty good! I just don't know why the white looks pink! I hope to create something other than cards one of these days. I gave my daughter a mess of cards for Christmas and need to replenish my stock so I'm getting there!