Upline Birthday Celebration!

Yesterday was my wonderful upline Pat's birthday. She got to spend it at Invesco Field listening to Barack Obama accept the Democratic nomination for president. I know that it was a great experience for her. But today, we are meeting to take her to lunch (it's a surprise) and I made a few things for her and for the other gals that will be joining in the celebration.

I got the idea for these notepads from Angie on her blog Chic' n Scratch. She used rectangular coasters and I used SU's 5 x 7 1/2 chipboard. They feature new designer papers from SU and grosgrain ribbon from SU along with some recycled paper Post-It note pads that matched the colors of the paper really well I thought. Plain old generic black binder clips covered with coordinating dp finishes off these cute gifts. I think they are fun!

The love note boxes contain 6 notes and envelopes. The paper is PTI and SU and the alphabet is SU's Lovely Letters and the daisy is from Inkadinkado in their Personal Impressions collection.

Her birthday card features dp from the new Basic Grey Ambrosia collection - ooohh do I love that stuff!

I've been a bit of a bad blogger this week - playing catch up on a lot of things that got put on the back burner with our vacation and my trip to AK last month. Thanks for hanging in there with me! I appreciate you!

~chris

Trip down memory lane ...

My blogging buddy Barb (GrammaStamper) posted this great game on her blog this morning and I'm playing along!

a fun little memory game ~~ please play along

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

I've been reading Barb's blog since I first started blurfing. She had a wonderful bingo game going and through it I learned all about how very interactive this whole blogging experience can be. How wonderful it is to learn about people all over the world who share their lives and their art with each other. It has, and continues to be, one of the best things about my life right now. Thanks to all of you who share this experience with me!

Here is a pix of the projects from yesterday's downline meeting. As always, a good time was had by all and Pat was the wonderful hostess she always is.


Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Passionately Playing with my ScorPal

I have been seeing such beautiful things being done with diamond patterns made with a Scorpal so I have been playing around with mine and this is the result. I had pulled the piece of Bayou Blue out of the scrapbox and when I put the red stickles on I decided it was a keeper. I just love the new Eastern Blooms set and with the color combination, the words from the new Inspired by Nature set just seemed to fit. What do you think?

Recipe:
Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Inspired by Nature
Paper: Bayou Blue, Real Red, Basic Black, Very Vanilla
Ink: Bayou Blue
Accessories: ScorPal, stickles, punches, red gg ribbon from Mike's

I also took some pictures of what is blooming on my front porch as I thought they fit with the whole "passion" theme. Aren't they wonderful?



Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Meet the Verve Diva Challenge #07

I haven't had much of a chance to play with this series of challenges, but I sure have been enjoying everyone's cards! This is the card I made for the latest in this series. WOW there has been some really nice work in response to these challenges. You can see the threads on all the challenges in the Verve forum here.



I have a downline meeting this morning that I am really looking forward to. The gal who recruited me, Pat, is hosting her group in her home today and she always, always has really great projects for us and lots and lots of things to learn and share. I am so blessed to be part of the Stampin Up family in general and to be part of this great local group of demonstrators. We get together in our various configurations often and it is always wonderful.

Well, gotta dash or I'll be late! Click the card image to go to the SCS entry and get the details on this card.

Thanks ~chris

Friday Funnies

Something for you to try:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 41 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I got pif'd!

Check out the wonderful pif (pay-it-forward) package that I received from Monica:

Look at the wonderful stamped images she sent me to play with:


Now it's my turn! Leave me a comment if you'd like to play along. I'll take the first three volunteers and I will send you each a pif package. The rules are that once you've received yours, you need to pass along some goodies to three other people. Having a blog is pretty essential to playing this game, but not absolutely required. It's an easy way to get the word out though.

So gang! Who wants to play? I won't post a picture of what I'm sending, that would ruin the surprise - but it'll be something fun! All I ask is that when you get it, you post a picture of it on your blog and invite others to play along.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Edited to add:
Here are the three players for this challenge:
Monica from Monica's Crafts
Hima from Designs by Hilmarose
Cheryl from God and I on the Railroad Tracks

Thanks for playing along. Visit these wonderful ladies blogs and take a look at the wonderful work they do!

Sketch Challenge 190

Kiwi Kiss looks so much better in natural light. Trying to take pictures of this card last night netted me some really awful orange-yellow baby poopish colored images. Today though - much better! I have lots to learn about taking pictures. Probably need to look into getting some nice natural lights to use for those times when there's not any natural light. Added to that endless "to do" list I have!

Recipe:
Stamps: Punches Three, Boho Backgrounds
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, Whisper White, Urban Garden
Ink: Pacific Point, Versamark
Accessories: punches, clear ep, dew drops, Kiwi Kiss ribbon

I'm really looking forward to getting home and making some more stuff. I have two new catalog open house events scheduled next week and I really want to plan some fun stuff for my stamp camp gals to do using all the cool new products. Tonight - maybe I'll play with the Big Shot - check yesterday's post to get the enlarged type version of the manual for this baby. I don't know about the rest of you, but reading that teeny, tiny print is hard on these old eyes.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Open House Cards

Our downline leader, Roselyn, had an open house at her home on Sunday. These are a couple of the cards I made. I'm still messing about in my studio - getting organized. I made a card for today's sketch challenge on Splitcoast, but Kiwi Kiss really doesn't like artificial light, so I'm going to wait and take a picture tomorrow after the sun comes up.

Thanks for visiting.

~chris

Bigger Big Shot Manual

I don't know about the rest of you, but I had a really difficult time reading the manual that came with my fantastic new Big Shot. For those of you who could read it just fine, ignore this post. For those of you who needed a magnifying glass to read it - do I have a treat for you! I scanned in each page (English pages only so far) and created a pdf document that blows the pages up to 8.5 x 11. To get this file, click here or click on the link on the right side of my blog under "Cool Online Tools" - you can either open it and save it or just right click on the link and choose the save option.

I'll have some goodies to post later with all my new stuff! Thanks for visiting!

~chris

LSC181 - Snowmen!

I made this for limited supplies challenge #181 on Splitcoast Stampers. Snowmen are one of my favorite winter images and this guy is one of the best. Even though he is retired now, he still really likes to come out and play and get all inked up!

Recipe:
Stamps: A Merry Season
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: versamark, basic black, Baja Breeze
Accessories: brads, ticket corner punch, various glitter pens, metallic pens and su markers, stickles

Thanks for visiting. A load of SU goodies arrives tomorrow - including my BIG SHOT! I can't wait. Come back and visit soon and see what I do with all of it!

~chris

Attention all you knitters out there!

I've just learned about a great new project called The Red Scarf Project. Click the link to get more details, but basically it's a project to provide scarves to college bound orphan youths. Scarves are knitted and submitted between September 1 and October 31 and then are packaged and sent to these hard working kids for Valentine's Day. Dig into your stash and find some red yarn and knit up a scarf for a worthy cause. Nice hand made tags or greeting cards to go along would also be a welcome touch!

I'm already in knitting mode for Christmas and so I'm just going to add a couple more on that "to do" list for this project. C'mon - you can do it too!

Thanks for visiting. I'll be back later with a card.

~chris

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by Diane! If you haven't ever visited her blog ddnjoys2stamp, you should hop right over and check it out. She has some wonderful cards and equally wonderful stories to share.

The rules of this tag are:

1. Link to the person who “tagged” you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is posted on your blog.

I've already linked you up to Diane's blog (you really should check it out), and I've posted the rules. Here's my six random things:

1. I like to eat popcorn for breakfast sometimes.
2. I really, really hate spiders and snakes.
3. I could spend all day blurfing (blog surfing), but work keeps getting in the way!
4. My family is everything to me - I am a textbook overbearing grandma - wanna see my pictures?
5. Purple is my favorite color.
6. I really, truly believe in the Golden Rule - or Karma - or whatever you want to call it. This world would be a better place if everyone followed it!

I'm not going to tag specific folks. I peruse several hundred blogs every day and it would just be too hard to pick just six! If you feel like playing, please do. We all need to get to know each other better.

I'm going to let Diane know that I've posted this and I encourage you to play along.

~chris

Downline Make and Takes

Well here's the pix of the make and takes from yesterday's downline meeting. You've seen mine already, but I added some white gel pen dots to the scallops and I think it made an improvement.



This is such a talented bunch of ladies. We resume swapping next month, so look forward to a slide show of highlights from next months meeting.

Thanks for visiting. Hoping to get lots of stamping in this weekend - it's raining! We really need the moisture and I think I'm really ready for a stay-at-home day spent in my studio!

~chris

Blog Candy Winner

True Random Number Service

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

4 

Timestamp: 2008-08-15 13:50:35 UTC

And the winner is:

TinaJewel said...

Neat blog candy! Love the coasters too!

August 11, 2008 7:19 AM

CONGRATULATIONS! Please send me your snail mail addy and I'll get it right out to you!

~chris

August Downline Highlights

There was lots of fun to be had at this month's meeting of Roselyn's downline. As usual, our perfect hostess had a wonderful make and take for us and my upline Pat also had a wonderful one. Unfortunately, I did not do as good a job on mine as I would have liked, so pix of those are going to come later (after I redo them so that they do justice to their designers). We had lots of fun hearing stories about convention and being jealous (those of us who didn't go) of all the wonderful things they got to see and do. Next year I really hope I can be among the attendees!

One of our group, Beverly, brought a whole stack of cards that she had made for show and tell. Let me tell you, this gal has TALENT! We were all very blown away by her ideas and the cards that were the fruit of that creative mind. Here is a slideshow of some of the cards she brought to show us. For those who attended the meeting, if you see one that you like and can't get it by right clicking, I will be putting them up in a gallery on my webpage and I'll send out an email and let you know when they are up. In the meantime, sit back and enjoy the show!

Tomorrow is blog candy day, so if you have not entered a comment on my blog candy post, now is the time to do it!

Thanks for visiting and thanks so much for all the supportive comments that you leave me. You can't imagine how much that means to me and how encouraging it is. THANK YOU!

~chris

August Downline Meeting M & T

Here is my make and take for this month's downline meeting. It is totally CASEd from two really talented ladies on SCS. See their cards here and here. I always look forward to this monthly downline meeting. Everyone is so talented and so willing to share ideas and advice. The world of SU is definitely one I am happy to be a part of.


I didn't have enough of the Riding Hood Red, so I went with Real Red and Old Olive, but I really think this would look great with Riding Hood Red and Kiwi Kiss.

Be sure to enter a comment on my blog candy post for a chance to win some candy.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

SC189 and CC179

Got a chance to stamp a bit today and made this card for SCS sketch challenge 189 and color challenge 179. Used some new sets and my new scallop edge punch.


Recipe
Stamps: Heard from the Heart, Fall Flair, All Scallops
Paper: Old Olive, Taken with Teal, Whisper White
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Taken with Teal
Accessories: Elegant Eggplant ribbon, scallop edge punch, ticket corner punch

Such fun and it was so nice to have some time to do them. Be sure to enter a comment on my blog candy post for a chance to win some candy.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Shimmerz are fun!

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I like things that shimmer and glitter - Pearlex, twinkling H2Os, stickles, Pearlescent Watercolors - so it's no surprise that when I saw some items featuring Shimmerz I, of course, had to try some. Got mine from Jacksonbelle Embellishments. WOW - so much fun to use. Liquid glitter paint! Here's my first card using these wonderful new paints. I got some white paper flowers and painted first with Apricot and then highlighted the petals with Pumpkin. The card base is Apricot Appeal and I used the Apricot Appeal dp and black and white. The stamp is from True Friend and I used the scallop circle punch and ticket corner punch along with some Apricot Appeal ribbon. Used one of my new cb edge folders for the dotted swiss edge.


Thanks for looking and be sure to leave me a comment on my blog candy post for a chance to win some candy!

~chris

Playing around with my new CB folders

I got a few of the CB folders that I ordered from Oh My Crafts. Anyone else experiencing problems with getting the new folders? I pre-ordered them back in May thinking that it would help get them quicker - no such luck! Oh well, I did get a couple and this is one of them. I also am using a piece that I made during the July xmas card workshop. Diane very kindly demonstrated for me how to do the polished stone technique - WAY COOL - and so I used that piece on this card too.


Thanks for visiting! Please be sure to comment on my blog candy post to enter the drawing.

~chris

BLOG CANDY!!

To celebrate passing the 7000 hit mark, I thought I'd offer up a little blog candy. I really appreciate each and every one of you that visit my blog. I'm not always the greatest at putting stuff up every day like some folks are, I find that some days the energy runs out before the "to do" list is even close to complete. I appreciate that you guys hang in there and come to visit regularly any way. Thanks!



Just leave a comment on this post and I will let random.org pick a winner on Friday, August 15. Up for grabs are a couple of coaster frames made by yours truly, a really cute stamp and some dollar bin items from Target for Baby Boy, Baby Girl and Wedding that contain some ribbon, charms, buttons, etc. in cute little boxes. As usual, if you post a link to this candy on your blog, just come back and leave me another post giving me the link and you'll have an extra chance to win.

Again, thanks so much for coming to visit, I really do appreciate you. Hopefully, the mojo and some time will free up this week and I'll get some fun stuff posted. Downline meeting on Thursday, but we aren't swapping. I'm doing a make and take though along with two other super stampers, so I'll put those up to show you Thursday or Friday. Am trying to clean up my craft room so that I can have somewhere to put all the new stuff I plan to order from the new SU catalog! My wish list just keeps getting longer and longer. There is just so much incredible stuff in the new catalog. Click on the catalog link on the right after Monday, August 11 and take a look for yourself. There are also many other great things going on at SU - like online ordering, SU partnering up with Sizzix, and lots of really great specials. I'm going to be working on my SU website over the coming weeks and I'll let you know when you can go and take a look at everything that's happening. It's so exciting!

Till later ~ chris

SC188

I really liked today's sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers Roxie never fails to come up with wonderful sketches to challenge us.

Recipe:
Stamps: Hero Arts sentiment
Paper: Creamy Caramel, Kiwi Kiss, 7 Gypsies DP
Ink: versamark
Accessories: brads, gold ep, Robin's Nest bling, punches

I will hopefully get back into the swing of things soon. I have a downline meeting next week and I need swaps and a make and take - yikes - better get moving!

Blog candy coming this weekend to celebrate my hit counter going over 7k!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

We're Back!

We're back from our vacation in Massachusetts! I don't have a card to post - yet - hopefully later tonight. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed the company of friends and family and I got to eat lots of CLAMS! Love those little devils!

I wanted to share some pix from my sil's beautiful yard. I wish things would grow as well in Colorado. I love my little porch garden, but to have a couple of acres of green would be nice. I don't think I'd trade my nice dry air for it though. It was really humid! It's beautiful here in Colorado today - a very nice welcome home.



Thanks for visiting and come back later for a card.

~chris