Lots to share....

Hello friends, and Happy Thursday!

I have a lot to show today, beginning with a card that my friend Shirley and I made yesterday after watching a video on Stamp TV.  To see Shirley's card, check out her blog!  As there are SO many photos, I'm keeping the verbage to a minimum, so if you want to know anything, ask away!

This uses the Stampendous "Narcissus" stamp.  Beautiful isn't it?  And, Oh My!  That Amuse yellow dot CS is perfect!  I've become a huge fan of their CS.  It's just the right thickness to work with, and looks so pretty.

Next, we created another card fashioned after a video on Stamp TV.  It features the Stately Flowers 2 Stamp set by Melanie Muenchinger that I guest designed for a few weeks ago.....

The sample in the video was done in greens and dark colors, but I wanted to try some pink!

Next up, are the gift bag sets that the ladies created in my workshop at the YMCA Women's Wellness Weekend event at Trout Lodge last Saturday.  Every single set was different - we used a ginormous paper pack from K & Company that had such beautiful prints.  The morning workshop was sort of shabby chic, and the afternoon had fun with Easter/Spring colors.

Last, I made up some diaper shaped favors, some candy bar favors, and some Thank you cards for a lady in town who is co-hosting a baby shower this month.  This darling image is from Just Some Lines, and the sentiment is Hampton Arts. Again, Amuse CS was used for everything.  The favors were pretty simple, and I didn't even take photos (sorry!), but here are the cards, and the little box that I made for them...

In closing, I am asking for your thoughts, well wishes, and prayers if you are one that prays...

Our wonderful new son-in-law had to leave Colorado this week on his third deployment.  Of course, we pretty much wanted to tie him up and keep him 'stateside', but that could not be....   It looks like it will probably be several months, at best.  If you are interested in putting Nick on your card ministry, please get in touch with me, and I'll pass on his mailing address.

Prayers are needed for our dear daughter, as well, as the bright spot in her days is on assignment elsewhere.  Please keep the newlyweds in your thoughts, as well as Nick's parents, who must be devastated that he's had to go again, for the third time. Thanks!

I'm entering the Narcissus card here:
CCEE Stampres - Spring Scene
Cute Card Thursday - Signs of Spring
Delightful Sketches - Spring Colours


Have a great day - I think I'm almost caught up on visiting all of you!  Will be back to see what you've been up to tonight. Hugs and blessings,

Patti J.

Hope Perches...

Hello, and happy Thursday to all!

So, have you ever had a card that totally just fell together? This card is one of those. I spent the afternoon with my friend Shirley yesterday, and we literally crafted ourselves into exhaustion! We tried several fun new things, a couple of which are on this card. I brought all of the pieces home, as just that - pieces. I intended to make a few cards. When I dropped them on my workspace last night, they just went together so well, that I decided to make ONE card with all the pieces!



The background is from the StampTV video that Gina K. had up yesterday. It uses a brayer and rubber bands, as well as heat embossing and distress inks. We had a lot of fun experimenting with this technique - we'd used brayers, rubber bands, and ink before, but never embossed with them! Head on over to StampTV and Gina will tell you all about it!

Shirley also wanted me to try a new technique that was in our Technique Junkie magazine this month. She had already done this technique, but wanted me to try it. I will be using it again and again! I love it!!! The stamp set is "Hope Perches", by the Angel Company. (Shirley is a TAC demo if anyone needs stamps or catalogs!!!)

I used her Nesties Labels Eleven to cut and mat, and cut one of the birds a bit outside the 'box'.

I used several colors of Tim Holtz Distress Inks, and I can't remember them all! The gorgeous ribbon is StampinUp! binding ribbon, that was sent to me by my good friend Amanda! Be sure to check out Amanda's blog - she is very talented, and I'm sure she'd help you if you needed some products too!!!

Hope you like it! Thank you for stopping by.

I also have an Itty-Bitty Blog candy winner! The last question was whether or not you listen to music while you craft, and if so, what type. The answers were:

80's
Country
Enya
No music
Christian
Josh Groban
Christmas
Television
Glee
Quiet - no music except for the birds chirping and singing
Television - NCIS marathons
60's
Classical
Michael Buble
Lady GaGa

How's that for variety? Me, I have a STACK of CD's. They range from all of the above, to Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Ozzie Osbourne, Sarah Brightman, and many, many more.

The winner, by random 'names in a hat' is: Sue from Oregon! Congrats Sue! Email me with your snail mail address, and I'll get your Itty-bitty, Teeny Weeny candy out to you!

Hugs,
Patti J.

Food for thought: Humor is the WD-40 of relationships, which stops the creaking and groaning almost immediately!

Exciting News

Excitement at Patti J.'s house...

...DH and I bought a 32' camper yesterday! Wahoo! Hopefully, when he has to travel, we can travel together now. We are looking forward to spending some quality time together. Life is just too short for us not to spend as much time as possible together! We have to get a 5th wheel hitch put on our truck, have the brakes checked out, etc., so it will be maybe 1.5 weeks before we are ready to boogie! We are very excited!

I have a couple of fun cards to show today. The first card is for the color challenge this week at Stamp TV...yellow and green. I've chosen to use the free downloadable green and yellow papers from Stamp TV, and Theresa Momber's oh so fun set, "Hang in There". All coloring is with pencils and LOMS. Don't you just love this little frog?

I will also enter this darling frog at Craftalicious challenge: Cute Card

This next card was a birthday card for dear BIL. He turned 62 yesterday. The stamps are from Skipping Stones, and I think this set is just too cute. There are other sentiments included, so you will be seeing it here again! The fun hand is from a set by Pink Paislee, 365 Degrees, that I won in Stephanie Castro's fabulous blog candy last month! You will also be seeing more of these stamps - they are wonderful!





We also got one more row of tiles up on the wall last night - slowly but surely! Ugh...but I ate pizza. BIG honkin' slices of supreme pizza - TWO of them. Sigh.... but I've done better again today! And I'm not weighing here anymore at all - I'll do that only at W.Watchers on Thurs. nights.


The picture above is terrible, but it gives you an idea of what we are doing on the backsplashes.

That's all I have today! Hope your Tuesday is wonderful, and that you are finding lots of crafting time. I have some painting to do in the kitchen tomorrow, but will be back at some point in the day to check on all of you!

Hugs,
Patti J.

Food for thought:
Why do they call it a running back, when he is running forward???

New Baby!

NO, not me!

I told you a few days ago that I'd let you see what I've been working on the last week. I was asked by a friend, to make 40 baby shower invitations, and a card. The new baby's room will be decorated in a sporty theme, and the colors are primarily black and red.

I have very few sporty looking stamps, so I was literally THRILLED when I won a challenge at Stamp TV a few weeks ago, and was able to shop for a new set. What better set to choose than Melanie Muenchinger's "Sporty Accessories" - great timing! If you are familiar with this set, the card I'm going to make next, will use the locker theme. I'll share it tomorrow, hopefully!

Here are my invitations. All coloring was done with Tom-Bow markers. While shopping last week at For Keeps Sake in St. Louis, I found this fabulous 12 x 12 sheet of basketball 'leather', and another of football 'leather'. Sheesh! How cool was that - stamp and cut! The footballs were trimmed with a white Vision Pen. Several of the pieces were popped up on dots for some dimension. I can't show the inside as I don't know how to blur the names, but I re-used the star stamp (Stampland) on the inside top and bottom flaps. All of the stars were dotted with a Starburst Gelly roll pen for a bit of pizzazz. The 'grid' stamp in the background is from Morning Star Stamps

I hope the lady will like them. Off I go to work on her card. Have a great weekend, everyone - thanks for stopping by. See you very soon.

Patti J.

Food for thought: I've been told that one should never, under ANY circumstances, take a laxative and a sleeping pill at the same time!

Is it the weekend yet???

So, I know it's not the weekend yet. :( I just can't help being a bit anxious! I am in high hopes that my new hero, the computer tech, will bring my desktop back to me all fixed and working good as new, or maybe a new computer with my old 'brain' in it.... either way, I am so ready to have my own machine back! Thank you so much, Melissa, if you are reading, for loaning me your retired laptop - I would have been in the looney bin without e-mail!

The cards posted above were entered into contests at Stamp TV this week. I used the GKD Spring Florals set, and colored with pencils and LOMS. The challenge for the first card required the use of glitter. I remembered a card that my BSFF Shirley helped me make in a workshop several years ago, and cased the idea. I simply added a strip of red line tape to the bottom of the card, sprinkled blue glitter, and voila! The flowers and stems were also touched with a gelly roll starburst pen for some sparkle above. The card opens like a regular card in addition to the little flap opening.

The second card was a sketch challenge. I used the GKD Hope set, colored with pencils and LOMS, cut out the butterfly, sprayed with Glimmer Mist, and adhered with a 3-d dot. The pearl flourish is from ZVA, and was in my blog candy box from Chris Olsen that I posted last week (thank you Chris - I love these flourishes!!!).

On the home front....I am about halfway finished with the upper cabinets in the kitchen. I spent the morning removing the center panels in 2 of 4 doors that are in a pass through cabinet. I am planning to put some sort of glass center in, replacing the wood. Again, I didn't take before pics - what a knucklehead I can be sometimes! Anyway, as I don't have a lot of places to 'spread out' into, it's slow going, but it is going, and is looking nicer!

DH has follow up visit with doc tomorrow, am looking forward to hearing what the good doc has to say.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I leave you with a little food for thought (I know Lisa is waiting for more of these!!!)...


Have you ever noticed that after Monday (M) and Tuesday (T), the rest of the week is WTF???

Lol.... I knew you'd smile!

Blessings and hugs - Patti J.

I'm so excited!!!

I am SO excited to be a part of the StampTV Member Blog Hop, featuring the new sets! As soon as this was posted, I knew it would be a lot of fun!

Melanie's Festive Frame is the beautiful set that I chose to use. It is so versatile, and different from any set I have owned!

As you can see, I made a set of five cards, plus an A-2 size box (details on SCS). I also snuck the beautiful tree from Theresa's 'A Very Merry Christmas' set in the center of one card, and versamarked snowflakes from that set on another! And...Gina K.'s sentiment from her Comfort and Peace set is included as well!!!

I hope you like these! Let me know if you need any information on anything shown here!

It's very difficult to see in the photo, but the 'white space' in the card below is full of beautiful Versamark Dazzle snowflakes...


The poinsettia's in the card below were bleached to give them this transparent look. This CS is actually a navy blue - I just couldn't make it LOOK navy in the photo! lol...



This green CS is from The Great Outdoors, free downloadable CS at Gina K. Designs.

Card box from the side showing edge.

Card box from the top. Used Crystal Laquer to make it pop a little... cut center out with my trusty exacto blade, put a sheet of acrylic on the back.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I love having visitors. Hope you saw something you liked!

To follow the weekend-long blog, please go to Gina's blog!

Have a blessed weekend! Patti J.

NY 3 - PA 2

So, is everyone watching the World Series?

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Even though my beloved Redbirds aren't playing, it's so exciting to watch 'good' baseball being played! These games have been very close, and nervewracking! I'm ready for spring training to begin!

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Okay, enough about baseball!

I took a few minutes tonight, and sat down with this week's sketch from Stamp TV.

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Once again, I pulled out Theresa Momber's new set, "Very Merry Christmas".

I used only the snowflakes and one of the sentiments.

I chalked the embossing done with my Cuttlebug folder, and just edged everything with my trusty Sakura Starburst pen! Super quick, and easy!

Hope you like it.

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It did not photograph very well and I apologize for that. Something about taking pictures at bedtime, you think??? Anyway, the sentiment looks crooked, and it's not, up on the left, it looks like something is on the card, and it's just a couple of holly leaf berries, etc....looks much better in real life!

Speaking of bedtime, the alarm is set for 5:30, so it will be a short night. I'm off to try to catch a few z's. Have a great evening!

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Patti J.

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What's the difference between a bad golfer and a bad skydiver???

A bad golfer goes, WHACK, "Darn...!"

A bad skydiver goes "Darn", WHACK!

Happy Halloween Bekah...

Did you know that October is Spina Bifida Awareness Month? One of our fellow bloggers, Giovana Smith, has a young neighbor girl, Bekah, who has spina bifida. Giovana has begun a card drive to surprise Bekah with. To read about it, and to see a picture of a darling Bekah, check out Giovana's wonderful blog!

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Also, please don't forget about the fundraiser for Priscilla from Midnight Madness Blog. You can follow the link on my sidebar to Nikki's blog to read about her illness, and her family's troubles.

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My card for Bekah is a Halloween Card. I'm going to be sneaky, however, and post it to a challenge or two before I mail it!

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The challenge at Stamptacular Sunday is "Character Counts". We're to use a cartoon character on our card. The challenge at My Time to Craft is "Quick and Cute". I'm hoping that by posting it to two challenges, more folks will read about Bekah, and choose to send a card!

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My next project today is a rather silly one! Donna Baker at Stamp TV posted a challenge to make a project from a toilet paper roll! How much fun is that! Talk about a challenge!

You all need to run over to Stamp TV and check out the challenge - the tag is 3doctober09. There are some outstanding projects there!

My DD loves Biscotti, so I decided to make a Biscotti Holder and gift card that slightly resemble Santa!

Hope it makes you smile a bit - it was fun to brainstorm this one!

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Last is a card that I've made for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge, using the Mojo Monday sketch. Elephant image is TAC. The ABC block was a Michael's $1 stamp.

I spent hours today sorting, and pitching, and Goodwilling 'stuff' from my craft drawers. I've barely touched the surface! Tomorrow, however, is another day!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Patti J.

~Did you know...the blood of a mammal is red. The blood of an insect is yellow. The blood of a lobster is blue! (Funny what interests me!)

Holiday Cards

Today was a busy day here!

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Little white furball had to be groomed today, it was Stamp Club Day, and three checkbooks had to be balanced. I made time to play a bit this evening, however!

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This first card is one of my favorites. I really like the way it turned out! CS was GKD Pure Luxury Ivory, and Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay. Ink and Ribbon were Stampin'Up Bermuda Bay. Stamps were once again, Theresa Momber's "Very Merry Christmas" set.

Hope you like it!!! I submitted it into a challenge at Stamp TV that was to make a 'kickstand' card.

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This card was made for the Cuttlebug Spot Challenge, which was to make a monochromatic card, and for sketch challenge STVSC33 at Stamp TV.. I used DCWV CS, misc. embossing folders, and Rupa Shvede's "So Grateful" stamps. Ink was Versafine Brown. Image was stamped on GKD Pure Luxury Ivory, punched out, and then stamped again. I colored and fussy cut the second image, and used pop dots to adhere it over the first image. Flower is Martha Stewart punch. Flower center is a scrap of embossed CS.

Hope you like this one too!

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Yikes! We get up at 4 a.m. tomorrow - must get some sleep!

Have a great night - rest well!

Patti J.

Teeth of the Wicked Witches....

Good morning, and happy Saturday! I think I'll start this morning with another amazing image from Nina at "There's Magic in the Air".

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Each Monday morning, Nina posts a new free digital image that she encourages us to grab, create with, and enter into her weekly challenges.

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I don't normally like 'rodents', but this little guy very quickly made me smile!

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Really..... he looks like he's saying "Hand over the chocolate and no one gets hurt"! Hmmmm...maybe if it's a rodent, he's looking for the cheese, who knows???

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Anyway, he was so adorable, I just had to play!

Supplies: DCWV CS, DP scrap from my stash, Martha Stewart edge punch, brads from my stash, Kooh-I-Noor Pencils and LOMS, and I used some Marvy and Stampin' Up inks to stipple around the scene. The sentiment is TAC.

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This next project was made for Gina K.'s 'Candy' Challenge at Stamp TV this week. I am also submitting it to Three Clover's challenge, which was also to make a Halloween Treat Box!

I created an ornament box from the downloadable pattern by Jennifer Carter, on TAC's website.

I did not have any Gina K. Halloween stamps, but I downloaded all of my DP from the Freebie's on Stamp TV.

Maybe this will count on the challenge as using GKD supplies!

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The box is pretty self-explanatory.

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I found these adorable glass ornaments at Hobby Lobby, and decided that I shouldn't save them all for Christmas!

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I thought they'd make a cute Halloween treat as well.

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However, when I found this wonderful purple candy corn, I quickly discovered that they would not fit into the ornament opening. (very sad face here).

So....I decided to cut them in half! When I began cutting, I realized that they resembled rotten teeth, so I'm calling them "Teeth of the Wicked Witches"...

Thanks for stopping by today to look!

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I'm off to do a few chores, and will be back in a little while to check out all of your blogs to see what beauties you have created!

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Have a good day!

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Patti J.

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Things to be happy about:

falling in love

laughing so hard your face hurts

no lines at Wal-Mart!

All that glitters IS gold!

Yep, all that glitters IS gold! On the following card at least! Giovana, over at StampTV posted a challenge this week to use gold, gold, and GOLD! This is a color combination (tee hee) that I rarely ever work with, so I couldn't resist the challenge! Way to get me out of my comfort zone, Giovana! Again, I grabbed Theresa Momber's new Christmas set for this card! I stamped the tree and sentiment on GKD's Luxury Ivory CS, matted on shiny gold and then on a gold swirly DP from my stash. Card base is also Luxury Ivory. The bows are glittered with gold, the apples on the tree are Crystal Lacquered so they appear shiny. The trim is some awesome gold that I found last trip to Hobby Lobby.

The next card was made for several challenges!

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Paper Blooms - Monochromatic Card

FlutterBy Wednesday - Add a fairy or butterfly to your card

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #22 - Sketch

Stampin' Sisters in Christ - "Show the earth rejoicing...flowers blooming, oceans roaring, trees bursting with fruit, etc."

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All papers hail from DCWV's cute little paper packs! Image and sentiment are The Angel Company, CS is DCWV

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Sure hope you see something you like!

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Have a super Friday - I'm off in the pouring down rain to Wal-Mart - ugh...someone can shoot me now and save me the trouble!

Patti J.

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Did you know...a cat has 32 muscles in each ear... (come on now, you canNOT count muscles - you have to take my word for it!)

After all, I read it on the internet, so it must be true, right???

How I spent my Friday...

Hi there! What a gorgeous COOL and breezy day in Missouri! I am simply lovin' this fall! Hoping to do a bit of outside painting tomorrow if the breeze dies down.

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The first card I'll post here is one that looks much better IRL. I'm not sure why it photographed so poorly. I'm disappointed in the way it looks on "the big screen".

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Anyway, this week, Gina K. offered a tutorial on using the Sakura Clear Starburst Pen to create your own Shimmering Background Paper.
After the tutorial on Stamp TV, Gina posted a challenge for us to create our own shimmering background paper.
I first ran the CS through my Cuttlebug, using one of the new CB Embossing folders.
I took a scalloped rectangle Nestie and cut out the opening.
Every part of the embossed image was colored with the Starburst Pen.
I then stamped with Gina K.'s 'Friendship Blooms' on the inside, using her Luxury Ivory cardstock.
(The inside really isn't crooked, I just sort of slanted the photo - ugh...again!!!




Okay, enough of that one! So glad I have another day and more cardstock to play with!!! Tee hee. Bet you've all had days like that!

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So...Georgia and Cat, hope YOU had a good day at Archiver's! My friend Shirley and I drove about 70 miles to St. Louis Mills for a class at our Archiver's. We stopped first at Xpedx for some envelopes and 'bargains', met up with two of Shirley's friends, and the four of us continued on to "The Mills" for our class. Here is what we created there...

These all look very cute on "the big screen", but we were quite disappointed. This was labeled as a Copic Christmas Card Class. We assumed we would learn a Copic trick or two. What the class amounted to was just 'grab a Copic and color an image'. Even this would not have mattered, but all of the cardstock was paper thin, the markers all bled through, and the ink used was Versafine, which, of course, bled considerably. The instructor was adorable, and tried to be helpful, but she knew very little about the Copics, was certainly not certified in them, and could only do what she could do with what corporate allowed her to use.

Anyway, all in all, we had a lot of fun. We did a little bit of shopping (I know you are shocked at that bit of news!), had lunch, and didn't have to wash dishes or mop floors!

Have a great Saturday - I do, indeed, need to go mop floors today!!!

Patti J.

~When in doubt, wear red! (Bill Blass)

Peace out Dude...

Today was my final day at work. I thought I was going to be fine, and I was for an hour or so. I guess it just suddenly hit me. About the same time, one of my favorite students/residents stopped by to give me my daily hug. She saw a few tears and that was all it took for her to break down. I decided at that moment that it was time to go. So, here I am, and I decided to utilitze some of my day to tackle a couple of challenges!

Today's card is for Mojo Monday's challenge, which is the sketch you see below, and also for The Greeting Farm's challenge, which is Polka Dots.

The little girl stamp is from The Greeting Farm. Isn't she adorable? This is the first of their stamps I have ever owned, and I must say that I am hooked. What beautiful detail, and images they have! The sentiment is Hero Arts, and the DP is from Gina K's freebie section on Stamp TV. I used my Kooh-I-Noor pencils, and low odor mineral spirits to color. CS is DCWV.

I hope that you enjoy her - she sure gave me a smile! (Pat, there are a few of her stamped for you in your package I will be sending in a few days!)

Have a good evening, and I will see you all tomorrow!

Patti J.

~Don't ask God for what you think is good; ask Him for what He thinks is good for you. (Matthew 6:9,10)