Another Fall Card

I absolutely love copper - paper, embossing powder - you name it! I was devastated when Stampin' Up! discontinued their copper paper and I didn't get my order in on time! My friend Sabrina (who always saves the day) and I went shopping at this store she knows and I found some wonderful copper paper. It's called Stardream and I purchased it at Xpedx (I think that's how you spell it). I love it. It's a nice weight and very shiny. I used some previoiusly unused Nestabilities embossing dies for these leaves. Aren't they lovely? There is a large maple leaf and a pair of acorns as well with this set.

Recipe:
Stamps: Autumn, Hero Arts sentiment
Paper: Really Rust, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Ripe Avocado, Stardream Copper
Ink: versamark
Accessories: Nestabilities leaf set and ovals, scallop circle punches

We arrive in Tortola today and will sleep on the boat in the marina there tonight. Tomorrow we are off on our sailing adventure! We met last month and planned our meals and itinerary and I just know it's going to be wonderful.

I have planned a few posts for while we're gone so pop back in and visit. I won't be able to visit all your blogs while I'm gone (I know I will be suffering PC withdrawl). Thanks for all your incredible support and encouragement. My blogoversary is at the end of December. How do you think I should celebrate?

~chris

My Aloha RAK to Nicole

Last week I showed you the wonderful RAK that I received from Nicole. Well here's what I sent to her. One of my very favorite things to make are these love note boxes. These are just simple little notecards with her initial embossed on the front. The paper is Mellow Moss and the plaid is from Bo Bunny.


We learned this technique in my downline meeting this month and I just love it! I quickly ordered some of the great new vellum from Stampin' Up! and went to town making this little set of cards for Nicole. The card base is More Mustard, the layers are Basic Black, Whisper White and Vellum. The sentiments are all SU but are from different sets. The leaves are from the Autumn set that I'm so loving playing with right now and from With Gratitude. I need to work on this technique a bit as the leaves don't show up as well as I'd like - any tips from anyone out there about pulling the ink off the vellum? The leaves are a little clearer in real life, but I'd like to make them even more pronounced on my next batch. I want to try some Christmas cards using shades of green and some pine boughs. What do you think? The gal who taught us this - the amazing Cheryl - had a sample that looked spectacular!


Here they are all bundled up and ready to go! I sure hope she liked it!


We are leaving today for our sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands. I am turning off comment moderation and turning on comment verification. Sorry about that, but I don't want to come home to lots of spam comments - I just want to come home to read all of YOUR comments! I won't have phone or internet access until December 8, so I will not be visiting you all and leaving my comments for you, but don't worry I have set up some posts to share some of the things I've been working on these last few weeks. Please come back and check up on my blog as there will be some eye candy even though I'm not around.

Thanks for visiting! ~chris

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm taking a break from blogging today to be with my family. I want to wish everyone here in the US a happy and blessed Thanksgiving! Here's my card - from me to you. Thank you for making this a truly blessed year!


~chris

Mojo Monday Challenge #62

Julee's (Poetic Artistry) Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge was one of the first challenges I ever attempted and I still really enjoy it when I get a chance to do one. This card is for challenge #62.

I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving. We leave tomorrow for the British Virgin Islands for a week. I have some posts queued up while I'm gone, but I won't be blurfing and commenting until after December 10. I'll miss you and think of you fondly as I laze around in the sun and surf. I'm going to learn how to snorkel (hopefully) and am really hoping to hone my sailing and kayaking skills. I'll give you a full report when I get home.


Recipe:
Stamps: Best Yet, A Flower for All Seasons, Fiskars border
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Riding Hood Red, Sage Shadow, Apricot Appeal, Cosmo Cricket Hey Sugar DP
Ink: markers, Basic Brown, Sage Shadow
Accessories: MS edge punch, SU oval, designer label and 1 3/8 circle punches



Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Holiday Extravaganza Sale!

Stampin' Up! is having a sale! From November 26 through December 1 special items will be on sale for special prices! Be sure to head over to my Stampin' Up! website and take a look at what's for sale. Click on the ad below to go straight to my website. You can order right there and have it shipped directly to your door!


Happy shopping!

~chris

Winter Birds

I love this owl image from Inkadinkado. Today being Monday, Sabrina came over to stamp while DH is out playing bluegrass music and we had a very productive night! I have had this stamp set for a while and actually stamped the owl last week. I went to Archivers today and located some Wassail paper and thought it would be perfect to use with this image.


Recipe:
Stamps: Winter Birds by Inkadinkado, sentiment from Snow Swirled by SU
Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke, Handsome Hunter, Falling Snow from Wassail by Basic Grey
Ink: Bravo Bugundy and Whisper White craft inks
Accessories: Nestabilities, Always Artichoke ribbon, clear ep

I managed to get quite a bit done around the house today in preparation for Thanksgiving and for our sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands. Got my hair chopped off so that I don't have to mess with it while we're on the boat. Still need to find a comfortable bathing suit and some flip flops though. Tomorrow is breakfast with some potter friends of mine, afternoon visit with my new grandson and then a downline meeting that promises to be great fun.

Thanks so much for visiting! ~chris

Sketch for you to try!

Here's today's Sketch for You to Try that is a feature every weekend on the wonderful blog of Jen del Muro - i{heart}2stamp.


I love doing Jen's sketches. Here's my card for this weekend's sketch:



Recipe:
Stamps: Christmas Classics, Snow Swirled
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Choc. Chip, Baja Breeze, Holiday Treasures DP, Whisper White
Ink: Riding Hood Red, markers, versamark
Accessories: brads, punches, rhr tafetta ribbon, gold ep

We are busily getting ready for Thanksgiving and for our trip to the British Virgin Islands (we leave the day after Thanksgiving for one glorious week of sailing). I'm hoping to have some posts preloaded and ready to go while we're gone. My blogoversary is coming up next month and I'm starting to think about some celebration candy too!

Thanks so much for visiting!

~chris

WSC67 and WT193

This card serves three purposes - Beate's Weekend Sketch challenge, Splitcoast Ways to Use It challenge to use pearls on a card, and, hey, I needed a birthday card! Fun all the way around.


Recipe:
Stamps: sentiment from SU (don't have the set just the stamp)
Paper: SU - Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Summer Sun, Bo Bunny dp, PTI Lemon Tart
Ink: Baja Breeze, Old Olive marker
Accessories: punches, cb embossing folder, pearls

This promises to be a busy weekend - new baby to cuddle and preparations for Thanksgiving and our sailing adventure in the British Virgin Islands (we leave the day after Thanksgiving for a whole week of sun, sand and sailing). I'm hoping to get some crafting squeezed in there somewhere too - we'll see.

Thanks for visiting and for all your wonderful comments! I had a request for a tutorial on making those edge punch medallions so I'm going to work on that for next week. My photography skills are minimal though, so no promises! I've also recently acquired software to allow me to do custom design cuts with my Cricut and I'm dying to try that out too so keep an eye out.

Have a wonderful weekend! ~chris

Meet Justice Mackenzie Pereira

Here's some pictures of my newest grandson - Justice Mackenzie Pereira:




Born: November 21, 2008
Time: 10:23 a.m.
Weight: 6 pounds 7 ounces
Height: 19 3/4 inches

Kelly's pictures will probably come out much better. Grandma has a quickie camera and isn't the best at shooting pix either, but here's some preliminary pictures. I didn't get one with his hat off, but .... gasp .... he actually has hair! Seeing him and realizing that he was 3 times bigger than either his brother or sister when they were born was amazing. He's got chubby little cheeks and everything! Isabella and Julian were intrigued and then quickly bored with the whole thing. They liked their "Big Brother" and "Big Sister" stickers that the hospital staff gave them though.

Thanks for visiting! ~chris

Stamp Simply Challenge

Here's a card I made for Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge this week. I have never stamped on ribbon, let alone attempt embossing on ribbon, but this turned out much better than I thought it would. I stamped this great sentiment from Thank You Kindly and then embossed with copper embossing powder. Grabbed a brad from my stash and put it together. I'm thinking I wish I had put another layer under the plaid, but .... maybe next time!

Recipe:
Stamps: Thank You Kindly, Martha Stewart border
Paper: Mellow Moss, Really Rust, Bo Bunny plaid
Ink: Versamark, Really Rust
Accessories: brad, ribbon, copper ep

Thanks for visiting! ~chris

Aloha RAK from Nicole

For the last two months, I have particpated in a RAK exchange facilitated by Tracy of Tracy's Happy Place fame. What a gem she is for organizing this every month! This is what I got from my rak partner this month. Isn't it wonderful? I just love the kitty image on the card and how did she know this was one of my favorite kinds of projects! Thanks so much Nicole! I'm not going to post what I sent her just yet, just in case she reads my blog I don't want to spoil the surprise. Come back next week and I'll have some pix of it though. I had lots of fun making it and I sure hope she likes it as much as I like what she sent me.




Thanks Nicole and thanks Tracy for making friends of strangers every month!

~chris

Sketch Challenge #203

I really like the look of this sketch, but boy was it hard! This is about try #3 1/2 and I'm still not sure about it. My embossing on the snowflakes leaves something to be desired, but overall I like it.


Recipe:
Stamps: To You and Yours, Inkadinkado sentiment and snowflakes
Paper: Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, versamark
Accessories: punches, silver ep, nestabilities

Things are crazy right now. Getting ready for Thanksgiving and then our sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands (we leave the day after TG!) The new grand baby is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning via c-section. YIKES! Work is not too happy that I will be gone for two weeks and completely out of touch for a week of that and so I'm trying to get things as stable as possible before tomorrow. I am sending out my Aloha RAK today and have some pictures, but I don't want to put them up just yet. I don't know if she reads my blog, but just in case .... I'll put them up next week before I set sail!

Well, back to the grind. Exciting things are happening and while it's hectic, it's all happy!

Thanks for visiting! Hugs to all!

~chris

Playing with Autumn

I love, love, love this stamp set. I had been searching for it and finally found one. It is a really fun set to use. It stamps really well (see my inspiration challenge card the other day) and it embosses really well too.


Recipe:
Stamps: Autumn, Warmest Regards
Paper: Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Choc. Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Versamark, Always Artichoke
Accessories: brads, HL ribbon and scrap of Mellow Moss ribbon, gold ep

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Tuesday Color Challenge #193

This is my card for today's color challenge over on Splitcoast Stampers. It's a pretty basic card. I was playing around with my new MS edge punch (50% coupon from Mike's - YAY!). Some of the edge punches make really nice medallions!


Recipe:
Stamps: Snow Swirled, SU holly stamp
Paper: kraft, real red, basic black
Ink: versamark, markers
Accessories: MS edge punch, gold ep

Busy week this week. No grandbaby yet - 3 days overdue and mommy is really ready! He'll be here Friday no matter what though!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

My Very First Inspiration Challenge!

While going through this weekend's mail, I was browsing the latest Willliams-Sonoma catalog and I came across this photo and felt really inspired.



I also love creating cards for Jen's Sketch for You to Try, so I thought I'd combine my own inspiration challenge and my response to Jen's sketch challenge and here's what I came up with.




So what do you think? Feel like playing along? Send me a link to your card (use code MMD1 if uploading to SCS) - I'd love to see what this inspires in you!

Thanks for visiting! ~chris

Candy, Candy, Candy

Thanks to Diane, I found a wonderful new blog called Heartful Stamping which features the great work of Rina! Check out the wonderful blog candy she has up for grabs and while you're there take a look at all her wonderful work! It's very colorful and she does a wonderful job coloring her images! Here's the link to her blog candy. Hop on over and check her out!

~chris

Wonderful Workshop!

I had the extreme pleasure of conducting a workshop last night with some really talented and very friendly gals. Thanks so much to Vickie for being such a wonderful hostess and thanks also to Sabrina, Diane, Carol, Sally, Maria and Monica for coming and participating. I had a wonderful time and I think everyone else did too! I hadn't done a workshop in a while and I was really nervous. I only forgot one item (my Always Artichoke ink pad - we made do with Old Olive spots) and hopefully I didn't mess anything else up. Here's the cards we made and gals, so sorry to say my pix from the party did not turn out so you're off the hook!

Thanks for visiting! Tomorrow I am going to feature a card I made with my very first inspiration challenge so come back, check it out and play along if you feel inspired!

~chris

Belated Slide Shows

I had two downline meetings this month. One I got to go to and one I had to miss because of the Phoenix trip. I have the swaps from both though and finally took some pictures. The first slide show is from our Dinamite Stampers group and the second is from my other group headed by the marvelous Roselyn (maybe we should get ourselves a name?)

Hope you enjoy these images and I will be back tomorrow with some pix of the cards from tonights workshop!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Sketch Challenge 202

I love doing these sketch challenges! Wish I could discipline myself enough to do more. They really help you stretch your creative muscles.

Recipe:
Stamps: Kitchen Sink
Paper: Choc. Chip, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Whisper White, Basic Grey Figgy Pudding dp
Ink: Versamark, Old Olive, Riding Hood Red, More Mustard
Accessories: ticket corner punch, snowflake brads, heat & stick and dazzling diamonds

Downline meeting is this morning so I should have a slide show of our swaps later today. I'm so excited to be able to finally make a meeting!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Christmas Classic - Process

In formulating my swap for the downline meeting on Thursday, I became fascinated with the process I go through when I'm making a card sometimes and I just thought I'd share the growth of this particular project. I started out with this card by Wendy as my inspiration:(you'll be seeing more cards inspired by Wendy coming up here really soon - she's awesome!).

My first interpretation looked like this:

I used Always Artichoke and a non-SU sentiment on this one. Was kind of dark to me, so I switched out the Always Artichoke for Old Olive and switched to a sentiment from SU and here's what that one looked like:


I just wasn't happy with the background stamp or the sentiment, so I used Versamark on the background stamp instead of Old Olive and I found another sentiment that I could layer and punch. I also wanted to age things a bit, so I sponged the oval and the label punch as well as the stamped image and here's the result:


The sentiment is stamped with Versamark and then embossed with gold but it doesn't show up as well as it really is. This is going to be my swap for this month's downline meeting. This card may go through some more variations (I like the other stamps in this set too), but this is the version that I will be swapping on Thursday.

I know this has been a very long-winded post - Thanks for hanging in there with me. I just wanted to put my process out there and see what you all think. Am I still missing something?

Thanks ~chris

Color Challenge #192

I love the daily challenges on Splitcoast Stampers. Today is Tuesday and that means a color challenge - and every time I set out to do one I think - how on earth will I put those colors together. Every time, I'm pleasantly surprised at the options that open up once I start playing with paper, ink, stamps and ribbon (and all the other cool things we papercrafters get to play with). Here's my card for today's color challenge: Not Quite Navy, Certainly Celery and Basic Gray:

Recipe:
Stamps: Warm Holiday Wishes (Inkadinkado)
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Certainly Celery, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla
Ink: Not Quite Navy, versamark
Accessories: circle nesties, silver ep, Certainly Celery grossgrain ribbon

I am home today working on my make and takes and swaps for Thursday's downline meeting hosted by the phenomenal Roselyn. I have missed the last couple of meetings with my downline friends due to all the traveling I've been doing the last few months, so I am really, really looking forward to this meeting. This is a group of exceptionally talented and wonderfully supportive gals and I value the friendship and camaradarie that these meetings bring to my life. I am truly blessed!

Thanks for visiting and if I get my act together the way I need to today, I'll have some previews of what I'm putting together for Thursday's meeting.

~chris

Workshop project

I have a workshop coming up on Saturday and this is a card I've been working on. DP will be different (SU), but the design concept is good (I think). I'm thinking something with either a Christmas or Thanksgiving flavor to it (coordinating stamps and dp selected accordingly).

Allison (Stampin' When I Can) had a Suggestive Sunday challenge recently to make a flap card. I showed that card to my friend Sabrina, and that's where the suggestion and inspiration came from for this project.

Here's the card closed:

Here's the outside:

Here's the inside:

Recipe:

Stamps: Thank You Kindly, Lovely Labels, Wonderful Words II
Paper: More Mustard, Really Rust, Heidi Grace dp
Ink: Choc. Chip, More Mustard
Accessories: Big Shot w/cb edge embossing folder, scallop edge punch, circle punch, slit punch, scallop circle punch, velcro closure

What do you think? Is it a keeper? I'm very, very open to suggestion here.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Holiday Special

Stampin' Up! has a special running now through the end of the month featuring their wonderful rub-ons - just in time to decorate those handmade Christmas gifts! Click on the graphic to view the flyer full size and then head on over to my Stampin'Up! website and take advantage of this great sale!



Thanks for visiting! Be back later with some cards - I hope!

~chris

Finally - a card!

After geeking around yesterday and today trying to get my Sure Cuts A Lot software to work with my Cricut, I finally got down to business and made a card! This is a set that I didn't really think I wanted and now it's becoming one of my favorites! I picked up some new clear stamps from Inkadinkado at Mike's for 30% off and thought I'd try one of the sentiments. Just kind of threw this together while I was trying to come up with a swap for Thursday's downline meeting. Nothing like waiting till the last minute! Yikes.

Recipe:
Stamps: Twill bg, Christmas Classics, Warm Holiday Wishes from Inkadinkado
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Choc. Chip, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla
Ink: Always Artichoke (ink and marker) Choc. Chip and More Mustard markers, versamark
Accessories: holiday ribbon from SU, gold ep, brads, punches

Well, gotta hit the hay to be ready to be back in the office tomorrow. Have Tuesday off though so I can get ready for Thursday's meeting! Thanks so much for visiting!

~chris

We have a winner!

I used random.org to pick the blog candy winner:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

24 

Timestamp: 2008-11-09 13:10:38 UTC

Congratulations Mochamama!

mochamama said...

Congrats on all your hits there girl! Here's to the next 10K's

November 8, 2008 4:37 AM

Email me your snail mail address and your goodies will be on the way!

Hope to have some stuff to share later, so come back and visit! This is also post #250! WOW! Thanks so much to everyone for all your kind words of encouragement. I really appreciate you all!

~chris

Greetings from Phoenix!

Some of my stamp camp gals got together last night and made cards and card folders. Here's what we did:



The folder has six general greeting cards and we played with some Cuttlebug embossing folders to kick it up a notch! One of the gals requested that we make a folder for love notes, so I'm going to start working on a pattern to hold 3x3 and 4x4 cards too! One of these days I'll figure out how to do it and I'll put together a tutorial on all three sizes.

I'll be blurfing while I'm here, but probably won't post any new creations till I get back home. Thanks for visiting and don't forget to leave me a comment on this post for a chance to win my 10k celebration blog candy!

~chris

Dinamite Downline Swap

One of the downline groups I belong to is called Dinamite Stampers and this is my swap for this month's meeting. I can't attend as I'll be in Phoenix for some software training, but I am really looking forward to the swaps and to hearing about the meeting once I get back. These meetings are always very informative. Our fearless leader Diane is temporarily located out of state and the ever wonderful Danielle has stepped up and kept up our regular meeting schedule - way to go Danielle!


I've been seeing these on SCS and out there in blogland and just had to give one a try being the total Big Shot junkie that I am. I tucked the recipe card in the pocket on the back for the girls, but here's what I used:

Recipe:
Stamps: Say it with Scallops
Paper: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Maine Blueberry, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive craft ink
Accessories: clear ep, Big Shot and scallop circle dies, punches (tag corner, scallop square), ribbon, silver cord, eyelet

Thanks for visiting! Posting may be sparse this week as I am traveling, but don't forget the BLOG CANDY that I will be giving away on Sunday.

~chris

Have you checked out this new planet!

Melanie has all the deets on this post on her blog. Go and check it out as it looks to be the next best thing in our ever growing online community.

Don't forget to comment on this post for your chance to win my celebration BLOG CANDY!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Yeehaw! Time to Celebrate!

When I checked in on my blog today the counter had clicked over 10k hits! Please help me celebrate with some BLOG CANDY!


There's a bunch of goodies here and I'll also be including some hand made surprises to go with them. Winning is easy - just leave a comment! I'll let random.org select a winner one week from today, Sunday, Nov. 9. You have all been so wonderful and so supportive and I really and truly do appreciate all of you. When I started this blogging adventure at the very end of last year, I had no idea of what it would be bringing into my life. So many wonderful, caring, sharing friends!

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

~chris