March Christmas Cards

I don't have all 5 of them made yet, but here is my card for this month's Christmas card challenge over on Tracy's blog:


This month's challenge was to use black, white and one other color AND a button! I have everything cut, just not assembled, so I'll put up another picture when they are all put together!

Edited to add:

I got them all done - and before midnight MST! Here they are:



Thanks for visiting!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Usual Monday Madness

The gals came over last night for some stampin' fun and here's what we made:

Sabrina:

Sabrina also made a whole bunch of cards for this month's Lime Light project. I can't show those to you yet, but later this week I'll have a slideshow showing off her handiwork!

Diane:

Me:

I made some more cards for the Lime Light project as well and they'll be in that slideshow later in the week too!

Things are crazy - trying to make sure that all my pc's in all my offices are protected against whatever payload this April 1 virus might bring. Yikes!

Thanks for visiting.

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

This week in Courtney's Closet

Here's our little cutie patootie Courtney modeling this week's spectacular outfit. Isn't she just adorable!


Here's the card I made inspired by her sweet outfit:


I didn't have the right colors in my dp stash, so I took a piece of black and white in a pattern that I wanted and scanned it in on the computer. I opened the file in my graphics editing software and changed up the colors to match the RGB codes for Tempting Turquoise and Chocolate Chip and like magic I had some dp from my printer to work with! I wish I could get this printer to feed the heavier cardstock, but it just wouldn't cooperate today so I settled for plain copy paper and the colors are not as intense as I'd prefer. I might try switching up the colors tomorrow and playing with this again. We'll see.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Aloha RAK from Tracy

I have a whole bunch or RAKs to post and there will be a slideshow featuring all of them on Tuesday. I wanted to get this one posted so that Tracy would know I received it though. This is what I got from Tracy - queen of the Aloha RAK - in our exchange this month. Isn't it wonderful? I was really intimidated getting her name this round - I sure hope she likes mine when she gets it!


I got a few things done today and so I don't feel so behind the 8-ball. I'll be back with more fun things tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Quickie Note Cards

I needed a quick gift and found a perfect solution! I used my pcCrafter's graphics from the Season to Season clipart collection.

Here's the front:

Here's the inside:

I used digital paper that I altered to match the So Saffron cardstock, made six notecards, added envelopes and wrapped it all up with a sparkly ribbon and bow and viola - instant (almost) present! Although not hand stamped and colored, it is hand made by me and was well received by it's recipient. Being a computer junkie (read nerd) for quite a long time, I am always jazzed to be able to do creative things with technology. That whole left brain/right brain fun stuff.

I'm playing catch-up today from a whirlwind week full of pesky health issues and lots of creative activity. My craft studio is a total wreck and I really need to get things in order before Monday night's stamping pals show up! Here's what the work table looks like today:


DH is up directing the sail club crew putting the docks and slips in the lake for the season, so I am on my own today to get my act together. Once I get things cleaned up it's on to getting a number of projects finished that I will be sharing with you throughout the coming week! Looks like the old hit counter is approaching another milestone as well, so look for some blog candy this week too!

Thanks for visiting.

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Let's get stampin!

I have a workshop tomorrow with some gals that I only see about once a year and I'm really looking forward to it. Here's what we'll be making.


I'm going to hit the swimming pool first thing in the morning - I'll let you know how that goes. My blogging buddy Diane and I are exercising together even though we are miles apart! What an inspiration this gal is! Visit her blog and leave her a little love and check out all her wonderful creations!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Quick Report

Just a quick note to let you know what's going on. I'll be back later with some pix of my cards for tomorrow's party.

Cardiologist does not think there is any big issue, but wants to see results from a stress test (chemical since I can't get on a treadmill) and an echo cardiogram. All will be complete by the 6th of April and I see him on the 10th to (hopefully) get the go-ahead for my knee surgery. Thank you all for the prayers and well wishes. He wants me exercising right away (before the surgery) to build up some strength, so dh took me to the local rec center and I got signed up for some swimming classes and I'm going to try out a stationary bike and see if my knee will do it. I'm feeling a little less stressed out after talking to this doctor - he's really nice and pretty no-nonsense, so I think I can believe him when he says things will be okay!

Back later with some pix!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Courtney's Closet #35

I'm probably too late with this, but I really didn't want to miss this week's challenge from Courtney's Closet! I combined it with this week's sketch challenge on Splitcoast.

Recipe:
Stamps: Oval All
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Orchid Opulence, Whisper White, Certainly Celery, SU dp
Ink: Certainly Celery
Accessories: punches, brads, embossing folder

Thanks for hanging in there with me this week! I've been a bit scattered. Hopefully tomorrow's visit with the cardiologist will go well and my knee surgery will be back on track!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

3 Clovers Thursday Challenge

There is no way I could not do this challenge! Purple is my all time favorite color and I love glitter - so here it is:


Here's a little closer look:

Recipe:
Stamps: Hero Arts
Paper: Orchid Opulence, Whisper White, Pale Plum, DP from PTI
Ink: Orchid Opulence craft
Accessories: clear ep, punches, stickles, PTI ribbon

Thanks for visiting. I'll be back later with a slideshow of some of the wonderful cards I've been honored to get in the last few weeks!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Templates added

I've added two new templates over under the Handy Tools section on the right side of my blog. One is the card folder template and the other is the tutorial for making a double slider card. The tutorial still needs a little work, but the basics are there. Please check them out and leave me a comment if I've missed something.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Quickie update

Just a quick post - no surgery this week, rescheduled to April 22 so that I can spend some time with my friendly local cardiologist and figure out if I've had a heart attack or not! Don' think so, but .... I'll know after my Friday appointment hopefully! Back later!

Thanks!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Plain and Simple

I made these cards to unwind from our stamp camp yesterday. I picked these papers up at Archiver's a week or so ago and really wanted to show them off on simple cards.


I took some pix of the gals in action, but they must have really been in action because all of them came out blurry! Either that or I just couldn't stand still long enough. We had a great time and everyone made wonderful cards!

Pre-op tests tomorrow morning and a workshop tomorrow night, but I'll try to post some pix of our workshop projects tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Stamp Camp stuff, a challenge and a digi card

Stamp camp is this afternoon and I thought I'd share some goodies. These are atc's that I made for everyone attending today. One of the Monday night gals (thanks Sabrina!) suggested that I make these for swaps for my last downline meeting but I decided to do them for the stamp camp instead. The back side has some of the basic card measurements for a little quick reference!


These are some little scissor charms that I made to go in the door prize basket. I love making these little things and they are such a nice touch to personalize one of the tools you use often. Couldn't get a good picture of these - they are really very sparkly irl.


I also wanted to play in this week's Weekend Sketch Challenge hosted by Beate. This week's sketch was desiged by Cambria Turnbow and just looked too fun to pass up.


I also made a couple thank you cards using some wonderful digital images from pcCrafters. My Monday night pals are getting a little thank you for helping me cut up all that paper this past Monday night!



Thanks for visiting. Depending on how wrecked I am after today's stamp camp, I may be back with some pix of the girls in action and some of their creations!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Same layout - different card

I made up some cards using the layout from the Mother's Day card for tomorrow's stamp camp. I think that I will put the sample MD card with these and give it away as a door prize tomorrow. I did decorate the insides a bit too - nothing fancy, but didn't take pix of that.

Busy day today getting ready for tomorrow. DH will be at the lake doing his dockmaster duties and getting all the docks and slip fingers in tip top shape for next weekends put-in. I asked him yesterday when he thinks we'll get Belmira in the water and he thinks mid-April so that should give me time to get the old knees in shape for sailing!

Thanks for visiting. I'll put up some pix of tomorrow's stamp camp and some of the creations the gals make tomorrow evening.

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Photo Tag and I'm it!

My blogging buddy Libby has challenged me to a game of photo tag. the rules say go to the 6th folder and share the 6th photo. This is always fun for me as I work on multiple computers and they all have different stuff on them! On today's computer, this is my picture (baby Julian in his car seat):


I just have to let you see how this gorgeous little boy is growing up! Here is on his 3rd birthday at the Aquarium:

Julian and his twin sister Isabella were premature and only weighed 2 pounds at birth. They spent the first two months of their lives in the NICU in Denver. They have thrived and are now happy wonderful 3 year olds!

I have 5 of the most gorgeous grandchildren (and I'm only slightly prejudiced)! Maybe next week while I'm on forced rest, I'll put together a little slide show and show them off a bit!

So, I'm supposed to tag six more: Cat, Allison, Tracy, Megan, Juanita, Curt - play along if you want to and if you do come back and leave me a comment so I can go see what you came up with!

Thanks for visiting today!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Happy first day of SPRING!

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush." ~Doug Larson

I am finalizing the cards for Sunday's stamp camp and I think this is the final version of the Mother's Day card:

What do you think? I also made a bunch of center panels with different colors and different sentiments to show everyone what else they could do with this layout. I'll put some pix up of those later today when I get them finished (hopefully).

Thanks everyone for all your kind and encouraging words. I think that everything will be just fine and I'll be up and about again in no time. Surgery is just outpatient and it will be nice to be pain free!

Thanks for visiting.

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

The results are in ....

Don't have any eye candy to share today, but I thought I'd let you know the results of the mri and my meeting with the surgeon. Sure enough .... I have a torn meniscus. Surgery is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon and I'll be a bit out of commission for a couple of days. Rumor has it that it's not a bad procedure and recovery should be fairly quick! Keep your fingers crossed!

Back later with something more pleasant!

Thanks!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Monday Night Madness

Monday night is stamp night at my house. DH heads off to play bluegrass music and my stampin' buddies come over to stamp. This week we made shaker cards:

Diane's


Sabrina's


Mine

The gals also helped me make final decisions on the cards for this weekend's stamp camp and then they helped me cut all the paper! Who could ask for better stampin' buddies! These aren't going up till now because a certain slacker (namely me) didn't get her card finished until last night. And yes Diane, I cannot resist the lure of my dp stash and my image is centered (once again) in the middle of my card. I'll try to be a bit more innovative on our next project, I promise.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Easter Cards

We are also making two Easter cards at this weekend's stamp camp. Here they are:



Recipe:
Stamps: Mike's $1 bin
Paper: Lemon Tart (PTI), Apricot Appeal, White
Ink: Black, markers
Accessories: ribbon, brad



Recipe:
Stamps: Mike's $1 bin
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, dp from Joann's, white
Ink: black, markers
Accessories: brads, ticket corner punch

I have quite a few different images that the gals can use, but I really think these are fun.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Another Possible and a Bloom

Here's the Father's Day card possible for this weekend's stamp camp. I made another one using some Basic Grey dp and thought I'd just try making my own and see how it looked and I liked it a lot better!


Recipe:
Stamps: DRS - H363 & H369, All Year Cheer II
Paper: Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Whisper White
Ink: Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, black
Accessories: brads, ribbon, punches

Also, we have our first spring bloom on one of the hibiscus plants in the "plant room!" Isn't it gorgeous?


Another busy week this week. MRI this morning - keep your fingers crossed!

Thanks for visiting.

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Challenges and Possibles

There's a great sketch challenge over on the Kaboodle Doodle blog this week. You should click on over and check it out. You could win a free didigital paper pack if you choose to play along! Here's my card:


I've also been working on some ideas for my stamp camp next weekend. I got some great inspiration from the oh so talented LeAnne (Wee Inklings)- see her card here. Yes, I know that I am a terrible procrastinator! Here's my first possible:


And last, but not least, here's a card I made for Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge this week. The challenge was to use white matting to brighten up your card. I pulled out another pcCrafter's image from the Easter Bunnies set for this card.


Thanks for visiting!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Playing with Digital Images

As I mentioned yesterday, I made something for my friend and stamping mentor Roselyn who has a great bathroom full of chickens! When I saw these images from PcCrafter, I knew exactly what I wanted to use them for. This is a card folder with six note cards and envelopes. These images are from this set.

The cards

On the inside

The folder

I also really love to play along with Libby's weekly challenge From Courtney's Closet. Here is our little princess all done up in pink and I had these images and the pink paper sitting on my desk waiting for me this morning and I think it's perfect for this challenge today.

Outside

Inside

I am still working on a tutorial for the coaster clipboard (pen holder) project from last week and hopefully will have that up this weekend. I also hope to have the pdf files for the card folder and the double slider cards done this weekend too! Thanks for your patience with me on these - I know I'm really slow, but I want them to be comprehensive and easy to follow!

Thanks for visiting today. I'm off to see the orthopedic surgeon about my knees - keep your fingers (and toes) crossed for me that he has good news!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Downline Meeting Swaps

As always, Roselyn was the perfect hostess. I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful this group of ladies is! I always come away from our meetings so inspired and so grateful that I am a part of this group. Here's a slide show of the wonderful swaps from today's meeting.

The ideas were flying and Kathy taught us all how to use vinyl in our big shot! I'm always up for learning about anything I can put through that bad boy!

I made the wonderful Roselyn a little gift that showcases some of the digital images I have been playing with lately and I'll show that to you all tomorrow. She has the most wonderful bathroom - completely decorated with chickens!

Thanks for visiting! See you tomorrow.

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

March Downline Meeting

Here are my projects for this month's downline meeting tomorrow morning. I had hoped to do something with the Manhattan Flower textured impressions die, but ... my order won't get here in time. So, here's the next best thing.

Front

Inside

Recipe:
Stamps: 5th Avenue Floral
Paper: Choc. Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
Ink: Choc. Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: SU Backgrounds 1 texture plate, ribbon, lace edge punch

I am also doing a make and take for tomorrow's meeting and here it is. I wanted to use one of the SAB sets as they will be gone after the end of this month!

Front

Inside

Recipe:
Stamps: Polka Dot Punches
Paper: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, SAB designer paper
Ink: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Certainly Celery
Accessories: 5 petal punch, 1/2 circle punch, dotted swiss embossing folder

I am also working on lots of projects for my stamp camp, two workshops and my design team projects this month, so stay tuned!

Thanks for visiting.

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles

Early start on Mother's Day Cards

I'm having a stamp camp this month and we're making Easter, Mother's Day and Father's Day cards. I am in love with the 5th Avenue Floral set and was just messing around and came up with this card.


I think it's simple and elegant. I used my Baja Breeze re-inker and a blender pen to color the petals of a flower that I stamped with black craft ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder. Once the flower was dry it just looked a little flat to me, so I painted the colored petals with Angel Wings Shimmerz and added some stickles and I think it came out nice and sparkly.

The sentiment is from PTI's Women of Life set. Cardstock is Baja Breeze and the designer paper is from Green Tea (sadly retired).

Thanks so much for visiting!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Guest Designer for Kaboodle Doodles