Back in the Lower 48

Well I'm back from my trip to Alaska and Portland and am enjoying the nice, warm, sunny weather in Colorado. Kaboodle Doodles has a new challenge - Celebrate Summer - and here is the card I made for it:


Our sponsor is Creations by Penny and she graciously donated some images for the dt to use in this challenge. We will be welcoming three new design team members at Kaboodle Doodles and I am soooooo excited!

I managed to get some flower pictures both in Alaska (during the two hour period the sun was out while I was there) and in Portland. My ds and his wife have gorgeous roses and lilies in their yard! I'll share some of those later on today or tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member:
Sentimental Sundays
Kaboodle Doodles


If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Sentimental Sundays on Monday

I'm late posting this, but ... better late than never. Our challenge for this Sunday was "All About You - Your Favorite Sentiment" and while it may not be my favorite, it kind of sums up what I'm feeling most of the time right now.


Card base is white with Lavender Lace stamped butterflies from PTI. The sentiment is layered on digi dp from pcCrafters, a MS tag and punched and die cut scalloped circles. The sentiment is by the talented Ann Vento, of course!

The sun actually made an appearance here in Alaska today! It was partly cloudy, but NO RAIN and lots of patches of blue sky. It was really nice to see some sky!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member:
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles


If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Greetings from Alaska!

Well I'm here and it's cold, rainy and the sun is up for 19 hours and 21 minutes, I only wish I could see it! I'm glad I took some card pictures to share with you before I left because it is way to dreary here to take pictures. Here is one of the cards I made at the Sassy Chic Stampers stamp camp that I attended before I left town. We made a total of 10 cards that day and WOW did I have a grand time. I learned so much and met so many talented stampers!


Card base is Kraft with panels of Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise and Island Oasis dp (all from SU). Stamps used are from the Pocket Silhouettes set and were stamped on Very Vanilla and punched with a square punch then layered on So Saffron that had been punched using the scallop square punch. Fun!

I hope to be able to do some crafting while up here and I also need to get the handouts out to my very patient attendees at my Big Shot Brunch. I haven't forgotten you guys!

I got my first Verizon bill since dh left town and WOWZA - he has a plan that lets him call Verizon to Verizon with no fees, but get this - my plan is just for 45 minutes and I just found out that I HAVE TO PAY when I call him AND when he calls me even if he doesn't! YIKES - we need a new plan! The boat is now in the water and he is officially living aboard! He hasn't had internet access so his blog is in dire need of updating - hopefully with pictures soon!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member:
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles


If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Case of a Case

I was blurfing the other day and came across this card on Wanda's blog. I immediately fell in love and just could not get it out of my head. Wanda says her card is a case of this card and so I guess that makes my card a case of a case! Here it is:


I really thought this MS apple punch would be perfect for this card and I am very pleased with how it turned out. Card base is Old Olive. DP is from the Homespun Collection from Memory Box. I punched Very Vanilla and then punched again with the scallop square punch (SU) and layered on Real Red. I had these little containers of buttons from the $1 bin at Target and I added some red grosgrain ribbon from SU (sadly this is being discontinued - but happily I managed to snag some for my stash before that happens). I used my rick-rack die from PTI and that finished it off!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member:
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles


If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

New Release Day at Catch the Bug

Tuesday is the day for new releases from Jodie over at Catch the Bug. Today is no exception! Here's my card (please, please excuse the poor quality of the photo - the sun finally came out today after days and days of rain, but I took this one during the dark time - ETA: I took another picture of this card in the sunlight - the other one was truly awful. I am going to make myself a light box!):

Card base is Tempting Turquoise (believe it or not) and I stamped the butterfly stamp from the Sprinkes set and colored their wings with a white gel pen. The image is colored with re-inkers and my aqua-painter (I've devised a hopefully safe method of packing some of these to take with me to Alaska - we'll see how they endure the trip). Contrasting card stock is Green Galore. There are really fun images today so be sure to stop over and check them out!

I'm using my new signature and watermark that were designed by the lovely and talented Ann Vento. You can check these out HERE and get some for yourself. I tried designing my own, but Ann's are soooooooo much nicer!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member:
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

New Challenge on Kaboodle Doodles!

It's time for a new challenge on the Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog. Our challenge this week is "Anything Goes with a dash of purple!" Here's my card:


I used some new SU dp on this - Peach Parfait - and embossed it with a new folder called Vintage Wallpaper. DP is some digi dp from pcCrafters and the accent color is Orchid Opulence. Sentiment is from the SU set Charming and the main image is from the Character Cafe (this week's challenge sponsor!). The whole card is spritzed with gold Smooch Spritz and it is really shimmery in real life.

I'm busily trying to get ready for my trip to Alaska on Thursday. What to bring ... I always struggle with this! I am so spoiled in my studio - I want to bring it all with me as I just know I'm going to want to use something that I leave at home. It's a challenge - a limited supply challenge! One really fine thing about Alaska though is that there are several really awesome bead shops that I will be visiting while I'm there. Expect to see a couple of jewelry items here next week!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

It's Challenge time at Catch the Bug

This week's challenge on the Catch the Bug Challenge Blog is to "Show Your Colors" and wow did the design team create some great projects to inspire you. Here's mine:

Card base is Lovely Lilac and my image panel is mounted on black - purple and black - the colors of our hometown Colorado Rockies baseball team. I'm a big baseball fan and dh and I had Rockies season tickets for many years.

Be sure to pop over and check out the creations from the design team and while you're there why don't you play along. You could win some great images from Bugaboo!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

It's Freebie Friday on Catch the Bug

I always look forward to Fridays - for lots of reasons! One of them is that Jodie always has some fun new images to give away. Hop on over to the Catch the Bug challenge blog and check out the dt's cards using this week's freebies. Here's mine:



Card base is just white with my Just Soccer ball stamped in red to create a background. I cut a circle in Garden Green and embellished it with some punched soccer balls that I printed out from a ball image I grabbed online. The Soccer Nut is colored using SU markers and I layered it on Real Red. Sentiment is punched with the large oval punch and layered on a scallop oval punch. Easy peasy and now that I have two grandchildren playing soccer I imagine I'll put this image to good use.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

No, I am not dead!

Just extremely busy ....

My Big Shot Brunch was a great success and here are just two of the four projects that we made:



I used the candle holder for my make and take for this month's downline meeting too. I also got some new goodies from SU and used those to make my swap.


Cardstock is Marina Mist with a Pear Pizzazz panel put through the Big Shot using one of the new embossing folders. This photo doesn't do justice to these new colors - they are absolutely wonderful and I am going to have so much fun working with them! The stamp set is called Because I Care and it is a level one hostess set in the new catalog! I colored the image using Summer Sun and Tempting Turquoise re-inkers and my trusty aqua-painter. I then used a Marina Mist marker to add some highlights to the flowers and a Pear Pizzazz marker to color the leaves.

Thanks for hanging in there with me and not giving me up for lost! I'll have a new Bugaboo for you tomorrow and hopefully am going to get back in the groove! I head for Anchorage, Alaska next week and will be there for the Summer Solstice which should be lots of fun! I will be able to go home through Portland, OR and get to spend the weekend with my baby and his wife! I am really excited about that!

I think I need to do considerable work on both my signature and my watermark as I am not at all happy with how they are working. Ann Vento of Raindropecho Designs is designing custom signatures and watermarks - check them out HERE, but being the stubborn type that I am, I want to do it myself!

DH reports that the masts were set on the boat yesterday and launch could happen as soon as the middle of next week! If you want to check his progress, visit his blog: http://apbelmira.blogspot.com/ (Roberta please note that I gave you the wrong address this afternoon!)

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

More Flower Cards

I can't seem to stop painting flowers - maybe it's the time of year - whatever, here's a couple more:



The top card is Garden Green with Summer Sun and you can't really see it but the flower center is glitter. Bottom card is just white with Summer Sun, Tempting Turquoise and Pumpkin Pie. Sentiment is from the sentiment queen Ann Vento and of course I colored my images using re-inkers and an aqua-painter. The background on the top image is computer generated, but everything else is painted. Embossing folders and MS punches, SU Crushed Curry ribbon, flower brads and a little half pearl finish them off.

Preparations are underway for my Big Shot Brunch this Sunday. I finished my first project sample and showed it to the Monday Night Stamping gals (on Tuesday this week) and it got a thumbs up. I'll take pix of all the projects and of the event itself and show them off either Sunday night or Monday.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

New Release Day at Catch the Bug

Jodie has some more fun images for us today at Catch the Bug. Here's one of the cards I made with this fun set of images and I'll have more to show you later of the rest of these fun giraffes!



Card base is Certainly Celery and the image is mounted on Pumpkin Pie that I put through the Big Shot in an embossing folder and Close to Cocoa. I colored the image using re-inkers and an aqua-painter - I know you're really shocked at that!

There are several fun images in this set and I colored them all. I just haven't finished making cards with them yet. Coming soon though, promise!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.