Hello out there!

Hello!  I'm back, and feel so rested and ready to get back to my desk!

Hopefully, your holidays were as full of blessings as ours were!  

I promised to tell you all about it when I got back, 

so here goes...

Wow...what an amazing Christmas week we had.  

Our DD and her fiance (and grandoggie Rosie), our DS and grandoggie Wimpy, were all home for a few days.  Our family celebration began in St. Louis. We went to a wonderful Scottish restaurant, and had traditional Scottish appetizers, food, and drink. Yum!  Wonderful food, indeed, and so much fun to try something we'd never had! Next, DD and her fiance had purchased tickets for us all to go to the Fabulous Fox Theater to see a live production of Beauty and the Beast.  Oh my goodness!  It was beautiful.  We hated to see it end.  DS had reserved amazing rooms for us at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, overlooking the Arch, downtown St. Louis, and the River.  We visited in one of the rooms that had a full living room and kitchen, and finally crashed for the night.  The next morning, we headed back down the highway for a couple of blissful, relaxing days with our loved ones.  Sadly, the holidays came to an end, and after a trip back to St. Louis to the airport yesterday, everyone is back home, either in Colorado, or California.  It is certainly quiet here!

I have been crafting today, but can't show you what I've been doing, as it's for some new release 

postings that will come in a few days!

However, I do have another publication reject, and I'd love to share with you.  

I had seen this drawer box tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers, and thought that it would be fun to add an easel card to the top of it.  Inside the drawer, is a full set of matching A-2 size note cards.  The background was created by laying a large piece of lace over the ivory cardstock, and spritzing with red Glimmer Mist.  The image was heat embossed, and the color was painted on using the Glimmer Mist.

Here is the box: 

And here are the cards:

Supplies used:  Glimmer Mist, Gina K. Designs Ivory Pure Luxury CS, Sentiment from Create with TLC, Image by Stampland Chicago, Spellbinder's Fancy Tags, Kaiser Craft Pearls, Spellbinder Oval and Scalloped Oval Dies, Offray Ribbon, Dimensional Squares, Martha Stewart Border Punch, Marvy Circle Punch, Ranger Black Embossing Powder Ultra Fine. Black Bazzill Basics CS.

So very sorry about the blurry photos.  I don't know what happened to make them so fuzzy.

Have a wonderful evening!

I'll be back very soon with something special.  I can't wait to spill the beans!

Hugs and blessings,

Patti J.

Food for thought: If someone gave you a nickname that was descriptive of your character, would you be proud of it?

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!

Double Trouble!

The challenge this week at Stamptacular Sunday, is "Child's Play". Participants are to create a project for a child. This sounded like fun! So...in lieu of a card, today I chose to make an embossed felt flip book fit for a teen! My friend Shirley had given me all of the supplies needed to make this little treasure for my birthday in April, and I JUST got around to it! Thank you Shirley and shame on me for waiting so long! The free instructions for this great project are in the Serendipity catalog by The Angel Company. The photograper (me) was not spot on today and just couldn't get the vivid, neon colors to show up well, but I love how bright it is! All supplies and stamps are TAC.

So, my title was Double Trouble! This means that I was at my crafting desk for TWO projects yesterday! My second project was a canvas art. I found a stretched 11 x 14 canvas at Big Lots on Friday for $3 and couldn't wait to play with it! Using the technique that I learned from Darlene at the Gateway Rubber Stamp Convention this year, I just masked, stamped, dusted until my hands were cramping! I like the final project, although I have no clue what I will ever do with it! Let me know how you like it! Stamps and inks are from Stampland Chicago, Inkadinkado, The Angel Company, Marvy Heritage Collection.

On to very importang business!!! I have received two Kreativ Blogger awards this week. Thank you and big hugs to special blogging friends, Carolyn and to Pat for this honor. In return for receiving this award, I am supposed to thank the sender(s) (I did!), and list 7 things about myself that others might find interesting, and nominate 7 others for this award. I will list some 'interesting' facts below, but folks, I just cannot choose between all of you to pass this on. I would love it if you would grab the award, and pay it forward! You are all equally special to me!

1. I was born and raised in Chicago!

2. I always wanted to be a doctor.

3. DH and I hope to be healthy enough when HE retires to spend a week or so each month in Memphis, Tn., volunteering at St. Jude's Children's Hospital. (We have made a monthly donation to St. Jude's now for about 12 years, never missing a month!)

4. I love dark chocolate.

5. I hate that dark chocolate makes me 'rounder'!

6. I love gadgets! Anything that moves, clicks, snaps, opens, closes, slides, etc....

7. I hate having my picture taken or hearing my own voice!

Hope you all have a blessed Monday!

Patti J.

~We started out with nothing. Good news!!! We still have most of it!

Paper PIERCING, not piecing!

So, today, I was on the ball! I was actually going to have a challenge done early, posted early, and get some cleaning done. Ha! I misread piercing for piecing and had to start planning all over again! Best laid plans....gotta have a sense of humor in this hobby! Notice that once I got started, I nearly pierced this thing into obliteration!

The challenge for day 139 at 365 Cards, was to use the paper piercing technique to create a pattern on our cards. Here is mine.....



Looking at it on the 'big screen', I realized that it would have been prettier if I'd pierced the two outside edges in reversed format so that the little round part in the center was to the outside edges. Oh well, I will for sure know next time!

Supplies:
Stamps: TAC, Stampland, Inkadinkado
Piercing Template: Lasting Impressions (a gift from my bestest stamping bud, Shirley)
Inks: Marvy Heritage Collection
Dusting Brushes
Starburst Glitter Pen
Colored Pencils
Flat Brown Pearls

Since this has a butterfly, it may also be entered in the Flutter By Wednesday challenge if I'm not too late!

Off I go - am headed to St. Louis on an excursion to find eyeglasses for DD.

Hugs to all! Have a great day! Pat, you are in my thoughts and prayers, chin up girl!

Patti J.
~Dance your little heart out...

Dream Girl...

Happy Thursday!

I saw that there was a challenge over at Three Clovers. The challenge was to do a ONE LAYER card! You could add an embellishment, but the card needed to be one layer. Wow - that's a big challenge for folks like me that just keep adding another layer, another flower, more bling...you get it, right?

Well, I thought - what better opportunity to show the new duster technique that I learned from Darlene Domel last weekend at the Rubber Stamp Getaway!

So, without further ado, here is my card. I will be nice, and just list the supplies below! I've named this card "Dream Girl", as my only embellishment is a little metal piece that says "dream", and this gal looks to me, like she's dreaming of a handsome man coming to rescue her on his beautiful white stallion! If I had to name her, it would be something exotic, like Jasmine, or Genevieve.... I hope you like it! Let me know what you think!

Supplies: Stampland Extra Special Matte Cardstock
Eclipse Art Masking Tape
Marvy Uchida Matchables Dye Ink
Judikins Color Duster Brushes
Stamps: Clock, Tower, Star, Girl are by Stampland Chicago - Vines are Inkadinkado


Thanks so much for looking!

Patti J.
~Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?

Fun, fun, fun...!

DD and DH have slipped off to play some tennis, so I thought I would slip off to the computer to report in on our weekend!

Yesterday was our baby shower. It was pretty successful! There were around 20 present, and all seemed to enjoy themselves! If possible, I'll post a few photo's later - they are all on DD's camera.

Today, my friend Shirley and I went to the Gateway Rubber Stamp Getaway in Illinois. We had a wonderful time. There were so many wonderful exhibits, and we learned some amazing new techniques and tricks. I do have some photos to show you from our day today!

We visited "Stampland Chicago", where the most amazing folks were. We met Darlene, and her very helpful and knowledgeable husband. They have Stampland Fine Art Rubber Stamps, and Stampart Museum and Gallery in Chicago, Il. In their factory, they make all of their own stamps, and in their museum, they have stamps dating back into the 1800's. They are open by appointment only, but it you are in Chicago, it would be well worth a call and a visit! Their number is 773-478-7696. The first photo is one that was done with Darlene. She uses ink and dusting brushes! They sell the most phenomenal masking tape, and a wider tape to use for actual masking of stamped images. She'd been using the same strips of tape for about 150 cards at the point where we sat down to play! I love the collage look, and bought a bag FULL of new items from her booth to play with!

The brown card with the deer is one that I made at The Paper Cut's booth. This is another of my favorites each year. They have many precut albums, cards, etc., and the gentleman that runs the booth each year is fantastic about picture taking so that you remember what to do with your kits when you get them home! The card pictured is one of their precut cards, and the deer is actually a real photo printed off of the computer in black and white, onto a piece of acetate, and then inserted in the open rectangle. I did not stamp a sentiment, as I wasn't sure what I wanted it to say, but isn't it a wonderful masculine card? It's definitely worth a stop at their website to look around! I spent much of my allowance there as well!

The last photo's were just so much fun, I couldn't NOT take them! Jan McGowen is a Stampin' Up demonstrator, and has a booth each year. She is also very willing to 'share' her knowledge and techniques, whether or not you purchase a thing. She was probably one of the most pleasant and cheerful vendors on site today. Jan was very open to my photo taking, and I took her up on her offer! She had some of the cutest little match boxes, treat containers, cards, etc. Even her business cards were just too much fun! There was a York Peppermint Patty in between the two scalloped circles! I'd seen this done before, but never for a business card! Great idea Jan!

All in all, it was a great day. We pretty much closed up the place at 3:00, stopped by Arby's for a flavored tea, and headed home. The trip home was uneventful, and the evening has been relaxing and quiet.

Hope you have all had a nice weekend too! Tomorrow is the start of a new week, and I think my countdown is at 14 or so.

Blessings....

Patti J.

~No man ever impaired his eyesight by looking on the bright side of things...