Hippo Birdie to You!

An oldie but goodie. This hippo stamp was one of the first stamps that I had ever bought. I found him at the inky antics booth at the Stamp Away convention a few years back and y'all know how I love my animal sayings...

I wanted to do something different with this one so I stamped him out numerous times so I could pop out the individual layer and give the card a little *something*.
I also learned a new term in the card making world... "fussy cutting"...yup, that's me a fussy cutter. I love taking the time to cut out all of the little details so I can use a foam square for dimension. Some say I'm nuts, I say thank you to my favorite cutter bee scissors.

In additon to my insane cutting, I chose colors that could be used for male or female birthday card...okay, colors aside, this may still be too cutesy for a guy, oh well!

Happy Stamping!

Better to be over the hill....

It's time for another visit from our dear friend Gus...Sorry it took me so long to get back to posting cards again. Life has been so busy over the past few weeks that my blog kind of took a back seat to a scrapbook retreat, my daughter's First Holy Communion, and about a zillion other things.

I should be back on track now to get the old blog back up and running. I went to a scrapbook retreat a few weeks ago and spent the entire weekend designing cards. I have a bunch to share with you over the next few weeks, and old man gus is my first one. Of course he is a Bugaboo character but the saying is from Artistic Impressions.

He reminds us to always look on the bright side...sometimes we need his wisdom to put it all in perspective.

Scrapbook Retreat Weekend

I know you are probably waiting to see my next card creation but I had to take a break from my usual posts to blog a little about a fabulous retreat I went to this past weekend in Palestine, Ohio. Its about an hour or so drive northwest of Dayton...in the middle of nowhere! Golden Eagle Retreat Center is a remodeled "old" Palestine High School. I believe the center can sleep 60 (maybe more) but our group had 40. I took a bunch of photos (on my iphone)so they are not of the highest quality, but you should be able to get a good idea of what it was like.

First things first...what was the cropping area like?

The crop room was set up in the "gym-atorium" of the high school. We easily had 35 people with plenty of space in this room. The center sets up all of the tables for you! Plus there are 2 annex rooms (carpeted) that can easily hold 8-10 more croppers each or to set up as a "store". Lots of ledges, plus the stage to set up cricut machines, drying areas, etc. (The outlets are sparse so bring an extension cord! )This was my view of the crop room (Hi Dora!) The stairs leading up through the chairs take you to the sleeping area.
At the top of the stairs is the main hallway of the school. Probably where the principals office was.
Another view of the same hallway that shows the doors to our bedroom hallway. Love that it still has the lockers. When you go through the doors you will be in our bedroom hallway. there are six room that have 2 or 3 sets of bunk beds in them.
Oh the beds....they are soooo comfortable! They have sheets, a blanket, and down comforters! Enough combinations to satisfy the hot or cool sleeper. I dont think I have EVER slept so well in a bed that wasn't my own! The top and bottom bunks have their own outlets to recharge cell phones, use computers, etc. They also have several night lights, a full length mirror, a counter with a large mirror, dresser, hooks on the wall, and alarm clock in each room. You couldn't hear any noise from the crop room in your bedroom...BUT...and this was my only BUT...the hallway and bedroom floors are kind of creeky but I guess that goes with the character of the place.
Although the rooms did not have their own bathrooms, I didnt mind at all. There were 2 bathrooms that each had 4 potty stalls and 4 showers (VERY CLEAN & nice). Each guest is provided with a towel and a wash cloth and there were quite a few fresh bath mats available as well. The lighting was great for your hair and make up (what? make up on a scrapbook retreat? Yes, some people still get all gussied up!)
Below is the view as you walk out of our bedroom hallway. As you can see, the opposite end has another hallway with bedrooms too.

So I know what you are thinking...great rooms, great crop area, but how was the food? In a word HOMEMADE...it was fabulous!
Every meal was yummy and filling! If you are dieting, this isn't the place to go! From the crop room, you go down stairs and pick up a premade plate from the kitchen line. 3 ladies and 1 gent were our great chefs. Friday night was a pork tenderloin, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, and peach cobbler. Saturday breakfast was scrambled eggs with cheese, sausage, and a bagel. Lunch was potato soup and a tuna or egg salad sandwich. Dinner was a baked breaded chicken breast, rice pilaf and steamed veggies. Sunday morning breakfast was scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, and monkey bread-ooey gooey cinnamon roll type thing! Lunch on Sunday was a chef salad...Oh, and did I mention that each meal was accompanied by water, tea, lemonade AND most importantly a homemade dessert! (The only thing not provided is soda) After eating, you just got up and went back to cropping, our lovely hosts cleared the tables and everything. Everyone brought snacks for in between meals and we even ordered a pizza from a local pizza place late Saturday night. A small kitchen with a full size fridge is located just outside the main scrap room to keep your personal snacks.

If you needed a break from scrapping, there was a beautiful lounge area, complete with a fireplace and a piano on the bottom floor near the dining hall.


We scrapped the day and night away...some til 4 am on Saturday night..and when it was time to go on Sunday at 5, the only thing you had to do was take your personal trash bag to the larger can in the room. We didn't have to break down tables, strip beds, or vaccuum!

Had a fantastic weekend with my Simply Scrapbook ladies but most especially with "Sour-Puss"...LOL!

If your group is looking for a girls getaway weekend to crop the night away, I'd HIGHLY recommend the GOLDEN EAGLE. The cost was $135/person with a minimum of 20 guests. Six hot meals, set up and clean up are included.

My Mom's BUTT....

Sorry Mom! but this stamp is FUNNY!

Ahem, let me get back on track....Mother's Day is approaching and rather than begin with a normal mushy gushy card with roses and embossing on the front, I made a card that I would actually give to my mom. We are always trading funny cards and the nastier the better!

Inky Antics makes the gal and the sentiment "How did my mom's butt get back there". They have quite a few funny ones that go with their gals..."My friend, my soul mate, my accomplice"..."Retail Therapy"...lots of ones about wine.

I think this would be a funny one that you could pass along to your sisters, aunts, or other relatives on Mothers Day too.

However you use it, she makes a darling card!
Happy Stamping!

Can I borrow some Weight Watcher's Points?

If you have ever done Weight Watchers this card is cracking you up! I did a search one day for "funny old lady stamps" and Artistic Impressions came up. I was familiar with the "Golden Oldies" stamp line but didn't know they had so many different ones.

I found some great saying but this one...sorry, gotta say it...takes the cake! My friend and I vowed to start on WW in January...she is doing MUCH better than me! So this card is dedicated to her.

So, Seriously, do you have any points I could borrow?

Denami Designs Monochromatic Blog Hop!

Hellooooo Hoppers! Are you having fun? Welcome to my little corner of the Internet that I call Imagine That! Glad that you hopped over from Julie's page The teal colors that I chose were inspired by an upcoming trip to Hilton Head Island in a few days...can't wait! The cool blue ocean water, sand between my toes...did I mention that I can't wait?! I wanted to make an elegant card that is out of my normal cutesy comfort zone and I chose DeNami's "Leafy Vine" stamp for this challenge. I started with a dark teal piece of card stock and created a basic gate fold card. I went a little crazy with the pearls, I know! To create the background, I used an ordinary piece of cardstock and scored it diagonally, both ways. I added a pearl at each intersection that would show when the card was closed. Martha Stewart's punch was used for the border along the bottom and again I accented with pearls. The medallion like scallop, courtesy of spellbinders helped to create the closure in the middle of the card. It is only adhered to one side so the card can still open. Denami's Leafy Vine stamp was used to create the background on the white cardstock. The real beauty (at least to me)is the inside of the card. But unfortunately, you will need to tip your head sideways because I couldn't figure out how to flip the picture. I wanted to make the card a gift card holder because that seems to be what people generally need for a wedding. You could also tuck in a check or cash in the pocket too, I suppose. I went crazy with my Leafy Vine and stamped all over the place, intertwining the images(much like a a marriage is a mix of the new couple...awwww, Hallmark moment!) Lastly, I replicated the border from the front of the card and added a bow. Be sure to leave a comment on my blog, as well as everyone's on the hop to be eligible for one of the $20 gift certificates. Time to get you hopping along to Nicki's Blog.

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails...

That's what little boys are made of!

I didn't have any snails so I went with the puppy theme for this Denami Challenge. Its not often that I make a card for a little boy but you never know when you'll need one.

My stash probably could have used a card that would more suit a 2nd graders birthday party but I opted for the baby theme instead.

My color inspiration was from my cousin Michelle son's nursery. Mikey turned one this past week! (Time flies!)

Like I said, I don't often make boy cards so this one was most definitely a challenge for me. I looked through my stash of Denami stamps and almost used the surfer chickie with "Surfs up Dude". If it weren't for the fact that I have a million things to do before we leave for spring break, I might have made that one too. But onto the details of the doggie card....

I used the following Denami stamps to create my card:

A85 Paw Print

A86 Doggie Bone

PF 17 Cuddly Pals Set (dog)

E114 Small Dot Circle Frame

I53 Medium Dot Circle Frame

B85 Small Solid Circle

My card basically has 2 parts, the card background and the scallop medallion that the puppy is sitting on. For the background, I stamped the bones and embossed them with white embossing powder and stamped the paws using a light blue ink pad to fill in.

For the scalloped medallion, I alternated my colors of card stock and ink and used the circle frames to decorate. I was undecided about what I was going to do with my puppy in the middle...should I color with Copics, water color, flock??? So many tools, so little time...

Then I thought of something that I hadn't done before...I first stamped the Small Solid Circle in the light blue, then used brown ink to center my puppy on top. (I'm sure this is not new to the Denami Design Team but it was to me.) Finally, I used a small circle punch.

To finish off my card, I did some faux pen stitching down the left hand side...There you have it...blurry scanned pic and all...someday, I'll learn how to use this darn scanner better. It does not like it when I use pop dots.

Sorry, I could not get Abby to join me on this one. She has had her fill of "projects" this week: Holy Communion prep scrapbook, book report with shoe box project, regular nightly homework...not to mention that the weather is awesome today and she wanted to shoot some hoops outside. Maybe next time...

Happy Stamping!

More Medallions

I just cant help myself! I will go a few months without picking up these stamps and then I will go crazy making them in every color combination imaginable. I knew way back at Christmas that I wanted to teach another class in the spring using purples. I held that class a week ago and it went great. After the class, I decided to make a few completed ones for the store just in case people likes them but didn't want to spend the time making them. And TIME they do take! Trust me, my "make a few" became 18 cross cards and 12 of the flower medallions. I spent the greater part of my week and weekend stamping, embossing, and cutting...and cutting....and cutting! I made 12 purple crosses and 6 of the flowers. Thinking that I was done, I decided to design my next class with the citrus colors. So I went to the store with my daughter Abby to pick the colors. I guess I didn't explain what I was looking for but Abby picked up two teals that were just beautiful. I immediately thought of making more medallions and picked up a peach for contrast. After I made these two, I almost abandoned the citrus altogether. I ended up making more completed ones in these colors for the store. The pearls looked amazing so I abandoned the rhinestones this time but used a bunch of the iridescent glitter. The quicky glue pen makes adding the accents so precise. I ordered 3 more stamps on Friday and planned on using purples and pinks but I just may use the teal and peach again. One of my new stamps is a butterfly! I can't wait to use it!

Citrus Medallion class

Simply Scrapbooks is ready to reserve your space in the next Medallion class!
Sunday, May 22,2011
1:30-4:30 pm
Cost is $15

<---Rats, my little rhinestone moved in the scanner!





My scanner did a horrible job in picking up the colors. These are no where near the citrus colors I used. Stop by the store to see the lime green, lemon yellow, and peachy orange that I used on the samples...oh, and loads of glitter too. (Just the way we like them)



Items to bring to class with you: Fine detail scissors. I highly recommend the cutterbee scissors. Large scissors will leave you very frustrated. You will also need a quicky glue pen for glitter, your regular adhesive of choice,and pop dots....oh, and maybe your favorite credit card! Vicki will be placing an order for Holly Berry stamps prior to class. I'm sure she will order class samples as well as a few new ones.

Space is limited....don't delay in signing up to make cards that just scream SUMMER!

Medallion cards are back

WOW! Thanks to all of the wonderful ladies that attended my class on Sunday. We had a great time learning how versatile the Holly Berry House medallion stamps were. Since class was a sell out, I did not have any extra kits left over and I have been getting quite a few requests for them or another class.

Good news, I made 10 of the cross cards and 10 of the flower card shown since class and will be dropping them off to Simply at 3pm today. They are almost certain to fly off the shelf. 5 of the crosses are already spoken for. Val has a card making class tomorrow at 11 and I doubt they will be there much after that, so if you want one, hurry in!

But don't despair if you can't make it. I am already planning on teaching another class or two and incorporating some of the past medallion stamps that we have used as well as adding a few new ones. They have a beautiful butterfly that I can't wait to make as a sample.

I have also been thinking of new color combinations...how about a citrus themed card class to get us in the mood for summer? I was thinking lime green , a lemon yellow, and a peachy/pink color. The set I design with the butterfly will likely be pale pink, light blue, and a soft purple....are you getting excited?

Stay tuned to my blog and watch your emails from Simply for class announcements. My last 3 classes have sold out so don't delay in reserving your place. I will post samples as soon as I have them made.