Blogger Candy PIF Update

CLOSING THE PAY IT FORWARD THREAD. I have all 3 of my bloggers now. Check out Hilmarose, SoftAngelKisses, and soon to be functioning blog of my good friend, Catt871 . Click on the links for a chance to win some blog candy. Good luck and PIF everyone! 'Tis the Season! :)

**UPDATE** My good friend Chris--Catt871 from SCS-- has her blog up and running. Stop by to see her by clicking on her name above.

More Christmas Gifts

It's top secret, I can't tell you who these are for, but I can show you a picture of them. I have been making coasters for Christmas gifts. Actually making quite a few homemade items this year, so stay tuned. Hopefully, I can get them all done before Christmas gets here. I really think these are very quick. Hmmm, maybe I should make these for everybody! :)



I purchased a couple boxes of tumbled marble 4 x4-inch tiles at Lowe's, stamped them with StazOn black ink using a flower from the In Full Bloom set, masked the flowers, then stamped again with StazOn timber brown using the French Script bg stamp (both of these stamps are from retired SU sets). I then colored in the flowers using my SU markers and chalked the background with light brown chalk to make it look more aged (an almost Tuscan look I think). The specific markers are Elegant Eggplant, Orchid Opulence, Bashful Blue and Ballet Blue, Regal Rose and Pink Passion, and Yo Yo Yellow for the centers. Then you lightly spray them with clear coat sealer for the first coat and then layer a heavier coat on afterwards. If you layer the first coat on too heavy the colors will run a bit, so beware of that first coat of sealer. I really think they turned out well, and I hope the recipient likes them as much as I did making them. I made one extra so I will keep that one for me. I guess this is a good idea too just in case they break one I will have a spare. So let me know what you think.

**NOTE: I still have not heard from one of the ladies in the post below. If you commented earlier but did not send me your address, please do so, or I cannot send your gift to you. If you are a blogger and would like to participate in a Pay It Forward, see the post and comments below. Thanks!

Blogger (blog candy) Pay It Forward

There is a blogger pay it forward going around. It goes like this. I have three goodies. I will send them to the first people who leave a comment on this post. By doing so you agree to send three goodies to three people who comment on your blog. (so yea, you have to have a blog to play, sorry non-bloggers, I love you guys too!) The things you give away can be anything, supplies, stamps, hand made items, whatever you like. It can even be a suprise.

I am giving away three grab "envies" if you will of stamped images, primas, brads or eyelets, and ribbon samples. The images may be Penny Black, House Mouse, TAC, or SU. They will more than likely be ones you have seen me use here on my blog. If you are up for a mystery blog package and have a blog --the first 3 to comment will win!! Please email me with your address at Littlekel90@windstream.net so I can send you your goodies! :)

Thanks for playing! Fun, fun, fun!

(sorry not the best picture but it was from my Ebay purchase)

ADDITION: I just purchased some Studio G Christmas sets--I hear they are hard to find even at your local Michael's (I wouldn't know--don't have a local Michaels), but anyway . . . I will include a Studio G clear acrylic Christmas stamp set in your grab "envies" as well. Come on bloggers, I know you are out there, and I am looking to share! :) Lets PIF!

Makin' Christmas gifts

Hey, everyone!

I am trying to get some gifts made for Christmas. I have so many ideas and so little time! Eeek! I wanted to start on some coasters earlier today, but we had a dinner with my Pap today. Although we had turkey dinner last week with my whole side of the family, I was still hungry for turkey and left overs, so we had a turkey dinner with all the fixins . . . mmmm. :)

I started these last night and this morning before church. The first picture up top is the folder that will hold the 4-6 cards I will be giving as a gift, and the other two -- well, I just had a few touches to make to the birthday card. I am trying to keep them pretty much flat so the recipients don't have to worry about extra postage when they mail them.

These are all made with the In Full Bloom set from Stampin' Up. I used some dp and certainly celery card stock, ribbon, and of course my prisma colored pencils, white gel pen, and stickles.

Snowy wishes?

I finally finished my magic snowflake ATC today for Jlazarski's technique ATC swap

I have been procrastinating a bit. I really wanted to use something other than a snowflake but still kept coming back to a snowflake (from the Frosty set) anyway. I used baroque burgundy and positively pink reinkers, my "Nests" for the scalloped circles, which were on glossy white and vv cs. The vv cs was sponged with b. burgundy and then doodled on with a mellow moss marker. The back layer of cs is mellow moss with the swirls from Frosty stamped in white. The wishes sentiment is from the Sincere Salutations stamp set too. The other two layers are navy and garden green cs. The navy was cuttlebugged with the divine swirl folder to keep with the snowy theme, and burgundy organdy ribbon added. I don't know why I procrastinated so long, after I got going, it went pretty smooth.

**note: the colors look a lot brighter after I tried touching them up in PhotoShop--couldn't get the quite right, either too dark or too bright, but I think you get the idea with the colors I mentioned above.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I did not get a chance to make a new "full-sized" card for Thanksgiving to show you all, but I was working hard on these ATCs last weekend and early this week for a swap. I made 11 of them, so I have a couple left over. Guess I better make a card early tomorrow morning for my Mom and Dad to show my appreciation. They are taking us out for dinner at a local Turkey Ranch--they have the best food--and the best turkey you can find!

Anyway, this card was made for Delfinaus' ATC technique swap using SU stamps only but NVR. We have been having a lot of fun trying different techniques in her swap. This one was made for the faux stitching technique.

It started out on close to cocoa cs, then layered the vv cs on top. It looked to "neutral," so I colored it lightly with the orange wc pencil from SU, paper peiced the apple with real red cs and the pumpkin with pumpkin pie cs, then colored with my prismacolor pencils and used gamsol to soften the pencil lines. There are yellow microbeads glued to the center of the sunflower. A white gel pen was used on the apple for the highlighted spot and garden green SU marker was used for the stitching. The stamp set is from SU-- Thoroughly Thankful, and a word window punch stamped with the sentiment from that set "counting blessings" completes the image. I hope you like it, and don't forget to count your blessings!

I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving Day with family and friends tomorrow!
Take care, and I will be chattin' with you again soon!

Elzybell for WSC28

Okay, here is another Elzybell card using Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge. If you would like to play along click on her link for the details.

I used the following:

cs: Garden green, purely pomegranate, vv, ww, and a smidgen of mellow moss

ink: pomegranate, garden green, StazOn black, prismacolor pencils, and white gel pen

accessories/tools: Scalloped classic circle nestabilities, designer punch, snowflake cb, paper piercing, and pomegranate ribbon

More Santas and a cute little Elzybell

I got in some stamping time today!!! Gotta love Friday mornings, they are my time off if I so choose! Yeah, and today, I CHOSE!!!!

I totally cased this card by bwstamper, and I hope she does not mind. Her card is prettier, but I hust had to try it too. I used pomegranate cs and ribbon from my friend Jlazarski (Jessica) and the acetate and Santa Collage stamp are from my new friend Crooked River (Nancy). Thanks so much, girls! Without your wonderful gifts these cards could not have been made.I stamped swirls and snowflakes from the Frosty set and used a Merry Christmas stamp on vv, lightly sponged with pomegranate and layered on mellow moss.Edit: Forgot to mention, I used prisma colored pencils, sakura gel glitter pen, and crystal effects on the Santa and his glasses.Thanks for looking! :)

Then just before I started working tonight, I saw Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge, and since I already had some scalloped circles made with my Elzybell's skaters, I thought I would try this too. I used Not Quite Navy cs, black for an underlay of the scalloped circle, dp from my DCWV Christmas pack, blue ribbon, and these cute little heart medallions are from my good Canadian friend, Chris (Catt871 on SCS). She's the sweetest, and I hope to meet her and my good friend Jessica (above) some day! :D

Some better pictures

These are the same cards from yesterday, just some better pictures!

The group one still has some shadows though from the other cards sitting in their light. Uggh! Okay, okay, photography was just a minor for me in high school *wink*

Santa or Elzybells?!

Oh, I think these images are so cute, I hope I did them justice. I know this picture isn't the best. I will try and post a better one tomorrow. I ran out of natural light tonight, and took these from the kitchen table. After I did it just right to get all four of them in the picture and brightened them on PhotoShop, I realized that I took the picture straight on--not the best angle to see detail and dimensions--duh, Kelly! lol





So . . . anyway, I got to play with my new nestabilities, SU dp, some old SU dp, SU designer punch, party punch stamp set and my new TAC Santa. The ribbon I used is slightly off white with gold swirls to match the swirls in the background of the Santa card (and only 75 cents at AC Moore, can you believe it?!) It was a GOOD day! :) Well . . . except for running out of work this morning--holiday's usually do that to the medical transcription profession.



I really enjoyed having the time to play though. I used a Fluffles stamp with that one Elzybell mouse, because that corner was just so bare, and this Fluffle looking down like that just looked too darn cute. He is not sure whether to stay under the missletoe or check out that mouse on a limb. LOL



So, please let me know what you think of them! The Elzybell's were a Wish RAK from a fellow swapper and friend, Sandye Curry (sgc). Thanks, Sandye!



Added 2 closeups so you could see the sparkle in Santa's beard (sakura gel pen) and the crystal effects used on the glass ornament. Sorry, I forgot to mention them earlier.

As a followup to last Tuesday's addiction . . .

I added all of my blogs that I frequent to the list, so you can see how bad my habit is. LOL

Quite a list, huh? Good thing I don't pay much for this addiction . . . or then again, do I? As I suppose seeing all of these different creations doesn't cost me anything until my little brain gets working, and I decide I just HAVE to have that stamp to make a card like that or those dies, or that _______ (fill in the blank, as I am sure you all know what I mean). Are they truly enablers, or am I just terribly weak?! LOL

Okay, this was just some chit-chat for now, but I hope to get "inky" later to show you some more Christmas cards. I have to get my Christmas Card Challenge done for November, and dog gone it--I have told myself that I am NOT waiting until the very last couple of days this month. ;) Kelly ............................P.S.--See you soon!

Blog addicted?!

Wow, I think I am getting blog addicted for sure. I have at least 25 blogs that I keep a close eye on with my Google Reader, which is awesome by the way--if you use email that is great too. I really like FeedBlitz when they send them all in one email, but I was getting 13 in one email and then quite a few scragglers in separate emails, which really was time consuming to open. So . . . now I use Google Reader through http://www.google.com/ and sign in there with the name and password (same as I use here, so not another pw to remember) :) That is a plus! They update as soon as someone types a new post too, so I just made Google my home page, and voila--I see when one of my talented "friends" (if I may call them that) posts to their blog. Cool, huh? The only draw back is that you have to type the name of their blog in your add subscriptions box on Google Reader (or copy and paste it there after you visit their site--that is what I do).



Alas, that was not all of what I was here to tell you . . .



I recently inquired about a ribbon contest on a web site that sells gorgeous ribbon (not sure what all I can tell yet as this is being submitted), but hopefully I am not breaking any rules by showing you my card. I have purchased ribbon here before, and for the most part it all matches very closely with SU colors, and the owner is kind enough to give you a list of SU comparisons to these colors too! I found her previously on SCS when I purchased my ribbone. So anyway, the other day I found her web site, and I asked to take part in the contest. She sends you a random color/type, and you have to make something either a card or 3D item with it. These will be judged around Dec 1st, and then added to the gallery at her web site. So anyway . . . I just had to show off my creation. The image is Elzybells Ice Skater, which was a RAK from a sweet lady--Sandye Curry (sgc on SCS). Thanks, again, Sandye! I just had to use this image yesterday with my ribbon! :) Isn't she sweet?!

I did have some trouble getting a really good picture, as I believe the image looks a little fuzzy . . . hmm not sure why either.



Stamps: Elzybells Ice Skater and "bliss" from SU's noteworthy

Ink: StazOn black, blush blossom, tempting turquoise, SU markers, prismacolor pencils, white gel pen, and Sakura gel pen.

CS: SU designer paper certainly celery (palette of prints samples), white cs, tempting turquoise, and blush blossom.

Tools: Nestabilities small oval dies and SU round tab punch

Accessories: gorgeous argyle ribbon, Star Dust Stickles, and pale green brads

Thanks for dropping by!! :) Kelly

Santa Collage Christmas Cards

I am so *in love* with this image. It is so easy to use, looks good in any color, and adds a vintage look to your cards. The red one is my absolute favorite even though I stressed over what to do with that ribbon slider, because I was running out of room. I want to make about 5 more of these, because there is NO way I am giving the red one up! LOL--I think this one really has old fashion country charm--I think Shabbychick might like this one too *wink* She is my inspiration for the vintage style.

CS: Brilliant blue or real red and ruby red, black, dp from DCWV, and blush blossom scalloped SU punch from my good friend Jlazarski

Image: Santa Collage by Rubber Stampede from Nancy (Crooked River). Thanks, again, Nancy!!! *hugs*

Ink: StazOn black and Distress Ink (tea dye) around edges

Accessories: Off white ribbon with red snowflakes (given to me from AlliesMem), stickles, and sakura gel pen both to add sparkle to Santa's beard and the snowflakes.

And the winner is . . .

*Insert drumroll here* . . .

#24--
Rochelle W said...
Congrats!I really like your blog. I love altered items. I make a lot of gift sets and it is fun to find new ideas.
October 31, 2007 11:31 AM

Congrats, Rochelle! If you can email me your snail mail address, I will get this little package out first thing Monday a.m. to you.

I appreciate all of your comments! I loved hearing that you enjoy looking at my creations (about as much as I enjoy making them too), and I enjoyed hearing what you would like to see more of. Most of you said altered items with new techniques/tutorials coming in second, so . . .

I have a few things up my sleeve for Christmas gift ideas, so you will have to stay tuned here for more . . . hope to see you commenting again soon. Have a great weekend! :) Kelly

R U Creative early in the a.m.?

I made this card late last night or early this morning (actually around 2 a.m.) for a post-party challenge. (Didn't really think I would be that creative at 2 a.m. especially after only 4-5 hours sleep the night before) but . . . Gina K opened up her new web site/store at midnight Central time (Nov 1), and she was having some give aways. Awesome gal, terrific stamps, such talent . . .
I could go on and on, but I won't.

This cute bunny stamp was stamped on a ww scalloped oval with a regal rose one cut in half and separated behind so it showed. I used wc pencils and a black marker to color and doodle, then added some cotton for the fluffy tails. There are Star dust stickles on the bunnies noses and around the pink scalloped edge to spruce it up a bit and add some bling. Pop dots hold it up a little bit to give it dimension.

The cb piece is cool carribean (I know it is discontinued, but I still have some hoarded back, and who can resist?). That is layerd on brilliant blue cs for the card base. The sentiment is handwritten--"Hoppin' Good Time?!" for all the fun we had last night from 10-12 midnight before the grand reopening, and this was punched out with a small oval punch and placed on a large oval punch of brilliant blue, held on with pink MM brads and a little glitz again with the Stickles. Matching ribbon helps add some softness to the layout as well. Hope you all like it . . .

OH, DON'T FORGET THE BLOG CANDY BELOW . . . You need to comment there by Friday night, as I am drawing a name/number early Saturday morning (I am done working at 5 a.m. on Sat's).