A Grinchy Christmas

I'm just playing with my new set from MissyB Designs. Yes it's the same set that I got the Let's Be Naughty sentiment from. This card on the other hand has the caroler's from that set and has the qoute from that set that was taken from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Loving this set! I watercolored the image using my SU watercolor Pencils and the watercolor brush.

Some Christmas Cards

My internet was out last night so I had no choice but to stamp. *insert evil laugh here* Here are the ones I have done.







My Stampin' Up demonstrator Belinda taught these cards at our last club meeting. I loved them so much I bought the cardstock to make my own for one of the designs for my Christmas Cards, It is shiny in real life. I used Shimmery Cardstock (and matching envelopes). this is the masking technique. Ink colors are sponged Lovely Lilacm and the snowflakes and sentiment are done with Elegant Eggplant. Ribbons are wide Organdy and then silver cording tied to it to finish it off.

I love the new A Merry Little Christmas Set that was in the 2006 Holiday Mini. I have been looking for a good Santa set because I have a good friend who loves Santa Claus. I want to make her a card every year but I have never had a good Santa set to use to make her a card that fits her. So when I saw this set I fell in love and had to get it. Both of these cards were done using this set. The cardstock is non-SU, bought it at Hobby Lobby so I don't know the maker. It is textured. Anyhow, I distressed the edges of the image peices, the green and the burgundy using the side of my scissors. I paper pierced the images (although you can't see that in the scan) and watercolored the images using watercolor pencils and a brush. I used Staz-On jet black ink so that the black wouldn't run. I added an antique looking brad and some Hunter Green Grosgrain ribbon to finish it off. I got the ribbon from the ribbon share with Jody. (Thanks Jody!)

And for this final one, don't gasp mom, I had to do this card. When I saw this sentiment in the MissyB set Christmas Humor I had to get it to make this card. I used the couple image from the SU set Summer By The Sea and used my marker so that I was able to omit the grass from the image. I freehanded the fireplace and rug and watercolored the entire thing. The marker that I used ran a little with the watercoloring but ohwell. I made this for me hubby for Christmas. Like I said the sentiment is from MissyB Designs. I stamped it and then cute the cardstock so I could get it to fit the way I wanted it to.

I have a few more to do design and make tonight so I will post more in the next few days along with a tutorial on how to make the blue snowflake card. I got an email from my sister in law asking me how I did it so I thought I would just post a tutorial to help her out. So be looking for that.

Yay me!!

I am so in love with this card! A lady at church asked me to make 50 cards for her christmas using the shaving scream technique. After several attempts all of which didn't thrill me I came up with this. Hope she likes it. If she doesn't I'll just have to sacrafice and use these for my christmas cards. LOL

I'm on a roll! Posting 3 days in a row! What's a gal to do! LOL I made this for my Secret Sister but forgot to send it so I will slip it into the reveal pacakge along with everything else. I just love this set! I got it from MissyB Designs. Her stuff is great! Check out her website here: http://www.missybdesigns.com/index.html And if you get something, tell her Sharon (scrown8301) sent you. *wink* *wink* While your there, check out her idea gallery. I won one of her contests so my card is on it. It's near the bottom. It's a pink card with a little princess on it. Anyhow, now back to this card. I used More Mustard (SU) Cardstock for the base of the card. The checkers are from the Button Bear set from Stampin Up. The sentiment and girl image are from the Thanksgiving set from Missy B. First I stamped the sentiment and then I stamped the checkers above it. Then on whisper white (SU) cardstock I stamped the girl image. I used my watercolor brush (SU) and inks to watercolor her. Her jeans are done with two seperate colors to give it more of a worn look. (Night of Navy first and then Brillant Blue over parts of the jeans) The Belt, shoes and hair are Close To Cocoa and the shirt is more mustard. The spoon is Going Gray and the lips are Real Red. I dtp'ed the edges in Going Gray to give the image a little something extra. Then I added chocolate chip ribbon and layered the image over it. I added some more chocolate chip ribbon and some hemp to finish it off. Have I mentioned that I love stamping? :o)

I got to stamp!!

I stamped some stuff for the reveal pacakge for my secret sister on Splitcoast today. I am in love with how all this turned out.
I found create your own photo snowglobes at WalMart for I think like $2 the other day. So I picked up a couple. They are really easy. You just pop the bottom out, use their sample photo as a template for how big you need to cut you cardstock and then you stamp away! I printed the words Christmas 2006 in red on my printer before cutting the cardstock to size. I sure hope she likes this. I love it! I am thinking of going to get some more because they were just that easy. I also stamped some candles and covered some popcorn (her favorite treat) to go in the pacakge. For details on how to stamp on Candles you can either check out the resources page on Splitcoast Stampers.

This is the other gift set for my Secret Sister. I coverd a composition notebook using Basic Gray Paper and I ran the ink along the sides to give it an aged look. I ran twill tape up the side of the binding. The word Journal is printed from my printer. The RSVP pen was covered using the same basic gray paper. I have never done an acrylic post it holder before. This was so easy! I am definately going to do more. The Image on the post it holder is from the SU set Always on My Mind. The words Just A Note under the image is from All Year Cheer from SU. For details on how to make your own post it holder check out the resources page on Splitcoast Stampers.

A little holiday cheer for the Engineers!

I am a co leader for the family support group in Jacob's company. All the leaders for all the companies in the battallion got together and planned our holiday party. We had to have it early since our soldiers are all leaving for training today and tomorrow and won't be back until right before Christmas. The party was this last Saturday and was a great success. This year we thought we would do ornaments for each of the families to have if they would like. My co-leader pointed out to everyone that I was a stamper and "really crafty" so I was asked to help with the ornament making. We made 200 of these Christmas Balls. I had never done them before (only knew how to do them from Splitcoast). They were super easy and a big hit! We got these clear Christmas balls from Hobby Lobby for cheap and then we stuffed tinsel in them. I cut circles with my coluzzle ahead of time. Then we just stamped the Engineer Castle (since we are an Engineer Battallion) and we wrote (with a red sharpie) 70 (for 70th Engineer's) and then the year 2006. Then I rolled each of the circles up and popped them into the balls. After that we put the topper back on and tied a red ribbon at the top and viola! Here is another picture of the ornament up closer.

Jacob is leaving tonight at 11:30 for training and so I plan to spend the day tomorrow stamping. Check back soon for updated work.

I got some more stamping done today. Jacob watched the kids (did I mention we have two foster kids? I know some of you know, but I don't think I ever mentioned it on the blog) Anyhow I got to do some more VSN challenges. This is a buckle card. I had never done one before.




This was for the New Years Challenge. I had these stickers from Creative Memories so I used them. The background on this card and the buckle card are done with the Shaving Cream Tech.





This is for the Mail Carrier Challenge. I made a card for my mail man. He is awesome! When I broke my foot he brought my mail to me so I wouldn't have to walk out to get it. I used the Christmas Thyme Designer Papers from Stampin Up on this card. And I used ribbon I got from from Favorite Grandma (from Splitcoast)


This is for the Glitter Window Challenge. I have never done a glitter Window card before. Too fun!







This one is for the Give Thanks Challenge.





I just love how all these cards turned out. If you would like details on how I created them, check out my Splitcoast Gallery at www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/scrown8301

I made several cards for VSN on SCS today. Here they are. I haven't stamped in awhile. For details check out my SCS gallery at www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/scrown8301

Daddy Sirius meets his puppies!

Jacob took our Dog Sirius over to the neighbors to meet his puppies! The momma Sandy wasn't too happy that anyone was near her puppies. Sirius wasn't too impressed with them. He just sniffed them. Sandy finally left her puppies side after 36 hours to go outside for a couple of minutes so Jacob snapped a picture of the puppies by themselves too. Aren't they cute in their little piles.

Grandpuppies!!!

Our neighbors dog just had puppies! And guess what?!!! Our dog is the daddy!!! So we are "grandparents" to 6 adorable puppies! There were actually 8 but two died. One was stillborn and the other didn't live long after birth but the surviving 6 are healthy. Here are two pics. The mom Sandy is a Black Lab and our dog Sirius is well.... the vet told us he was a lab chow mix but the more research we do the less sure we are of that. We actually think he is a Black German Shepherd. He is pretty much a spitting image of the pics we have found on the net and all. So anywho, without further ado.... here are the puppies: They are 16 hours old in these pictures!

I know, I know, it's been a long time since I have posted. We have been busy, what else can I say. I haven't had much time to stamp unfortunately. We got two boys placed with us for two days. they were horrible, mean, rude little boys. But they went back to their dad. On Sunday we got three more kids placed for two weeks. Their foster mom had to go out of town so we were asked if we could take them. It's going o.k. although it has been a bumpy road. They are supposed to go back on the 12th so hopefully I will get some stamping done after that. Not much else to report.

I stamped a couple of pages today and yesterday for VSBN. This first challenge was to do a page highlighting the Royalty in your family. So I did a page of the King of our Castle, our dog Sirius. :0) I used an incentive paw stamp for the background and used an air arts tools splatter some color on it. Then I used a crown stamp from the Alexa set from Missy B Designs on the titles. I used stickles to give the jewels on the crown some bling. And added some dog bone shaped eyelets to the title page as well. The journaling says: The King of our castle is our dog Sirius. He is just like another person in our family. And he knows it too! He is so SPOILED! But we love him!

This challenge was to do a page with metal on it. I created this page to remember my grandparents who were married for 47 years before my Grandma passed away in 1997. My grandpa passed away this last March. I have never seen a love like theirs. The copper flowers in the background are all embossed. The title and Journaling are done on the computer and printed. I did the faux metal tech. on the flower in front of their picture. I add metal reinforcers underneath the eyelets next to the title. Always was their song. The journaling says: Jack & Barbara Zeigler Married on February 12,1950 Forever & Always.

News......

I have news..... Maybe not what ya'll expected but news none the less. My husband has been really concerned lately about adopting before he deploys in March. He has so much training before then too. He is afraid that any child we get won't be able to bond to him before he leaves. I called our worker today because she emailed me and said she needed to talk to me. I told her that about his concerns and she basically said what she needed to talk to me about was that the workers for the kids have expressed to her that they are not wanting to place kids with us because of him deploying as well. Because of this we have decided that we aren't going to adopt right now. So she closed our adoption file. If at any time (including when my husband gets back) we want to reopen it we can. But until then it's closed. We are going to provide foster care while he's gone though so at least that's something. I'm kind of sad but I think for now it's the right decision.

I got to stamp tonight! Wohoo!!

So I got to stamp tonight. I stamped some stuff for my secret sister for VSBN (Virtual Scrapbooking Night) on Splitcoast. She and I are both hostesses. This is for her "reveal package" letting her know who I am. I have sent her several cards throughout the last few weeks. So this is kind of the end of it all. Anyhow, Jacob is doing staff duty tonight (24 hour duty) so I finally decided what better way to spend my alone time then stamp. :o) I got a great package today from Christine P from Splitcoast. In it she sent me a template for making pouches and one for making boxes to put cards in. So this is a pic of the card I made her, the box that has blank cards and envelopes in it, and the pouch that I will put candy in. She likes pink and brown so that is why the colors I used were chosen. (trust me, it's brown even thought it looks black in the picture.)

This is one of the cards and matching envelopes that are in the box I made. There are 8 cards in all.

I found these blank frames by EK Success at Walmart the other day for $2 or so. Might have been less, I don't remember. Anyhow, I thought it would be fun to stamp on it to add to the package. I had to use craft inks and I only have the Rich Regals colors from Stampin Up! in craft inks so I went with So Saffron and Regal Rose. I love the way it turned out!

So anyhow, that was my night of stamping. :o)

Just a couple of cards

This card was done using the A Very Merry Christmas set from the Stampin' Up! winter mini catalog. I have been looking for a Santa set because I didn't have one and I fell in love with this one the moment I saw it!

I made this card using the new Country Blessings set from Stampin' Up! I love, love, love this set! I don't own it and I am not sure I can fit it and the kit it comes in into my budget but I have a friend who has it and she let me use her's to create this card. Thanks Belinda!

Welcome to the new blog!

Welcome to my new blog. I didn't like the old one so I deleted it. This new blog will have my stamping stuff, (i.e. cards, scrapbook pages, and other projects) as well as all things crafty that I like to do. I may every once and a while update on how our adoption process is going as well. Hope you like the new blog!