Stretch Your Stamps 2 Day One

Hello my crafty friends! It's been awhile since I've been able to post. I have literally spent almost every single day of the last three weeks going to doctor appointments, tests or procedures. Last week when I found out that I was going to have to have a heart catheterization which would require a couple days recuperating I thought it was the perfect opportunity to take an Online Card Class by Jennifer McGuire. It would help me pass the time and I since I'm pretty new to stamping, anything besides a sentiment on a card, I knew there would be plenty for me to learn. The question was, did I even have enough stamps in my arsenal that I could participate in the class.

Day one of class was devoted to background and reverse background stamps. I only have a few background stamps so for this card I used a script background from My Creative Time Build a Scripty & Water Color Background Stamp Set. I used some water color paper to stamp and emboss the background. I used Versa Mark ink to stamp and embossed with white embossing powder from WOW. The next step of the process was adding the water colors and I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks for this. I watercolored a rainbow pattern over the script background. To make this card I used a two inch wide strip of this paper and placed it on the left side of the card. I still had enough of the watercolor paper for a second card. To complete this card I used the My Creative Time Speech Bubble Sentiments stamps and coordinating speech bubble dies and die cut the you are then stamped the words "an inspiration".

For my second card I die cut the word Happy from the My Creative Time Happy Thoughts stamp set with coordinating dies using the leftover paper from my first card. Next I took the word and stamped VersaMark ink all over it and sprinkled clear embossing powder onto it. I did this three times which left the word a little more dimensional and put a shine to it.  I added a small strip of the script background and then stamped the rest of the sentiment below that. Whew! Managed to make it through the first day of class. A small pat on my back. I think I'm going to struggle through this.

The Cutting Cafe-Menu planner

Hello my crafty friends! This week at The Cutting Cafe the DT is showcasing products with a truly fabulous set called The Planner. If you've ever wanted a custom designed planner using pages that are truly meant for you-now you can have it. You can print the pages you would most use and bind them up. Now for me, personally, I don't need much of a planner. My kids are grown and gone and I'm retired so I don't have a lot going on in my life that I need to remember. (Notwithstanding the zillion doctor appointments I've had in the last three weeks). No, for me it's usually golf, playing cards or socializing with friends. So I came up with another idea for my project using the Weekly Menu Planner page from The Planner set. I made a dry erase board where I can write in my meals for the week. This just wipes off with a paper towel because the writing is on glass and the planner is sandwiched between it.

I went to Michael's (with coupon in hand) and found this glass poster frame with clips on the edges. I simply found a piece of patterned cardstock in my stash, printed out the WEEKLY MENU PLANNER page with my printer, mounted it on a black cardstock mat, attached it to the patterned paper, then embellished the outside of the frame with some ribbon (that says Bon Appetit) and some cute little metal silverware from 7 Gypsies. It now sits on my counter and every week I decide what we'll be having to eat and write it in. Now I don't have to listen to hubby ask me the dreaded question every day, "What's for dinner?" I don't know about you but nothing sets me on edge like those words. I'm a good cook, but now that I'm retired I don't really enjoy the drudgery of always being the one to cook. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing what I might have to force down if hubby does the cooking. I have a couple great stories of hubby's attempts at cooking. The one that always comes to mind first is the Mother's Day scrambled eggs he once made. He got out a cookbook (because without, way over his head) and found a recipe for scrambled eggs. I know what you're all thinking, how could he need a recipe for that. The recipe called for mixing a little cream with the eggs. We didn't have any cream, but we did have some whipped cream. You know, the kind that squirts out of a can. No need to say more, but I'll tell you those were the sweetest eggs I've ever tasted. LOL

You are going to want to see the depth that the rest of the Design Team went to with their planners. Make sure you head over to The Cutting Cafe Blog on Thursday, August 21 to see their creations. I feel like such a slacker with my project, but it's what works for me and my lifestyle. Please don't hate me because I have no need to plan. Ahhhhh, RETIREMENT! Life is good!

The Cutting Cafe Test Tube Holder

This week at The Cutting Cafe Blog the Design Team is featuring fun ways to package up treats. I wanted to send my two granddaughters a back-to-school treat along with their school outfits I bought for them. I used the Test Tube/Candy Holder set, the School Days Printable Stamp Set and the Back To School Hershey Kiss Bottoms for my design. I cut my tube box holder from a primary color striped cardstock from DCWV Celebration stack. It has some shiny foil stripes in it. I printed the circular School Days title onto a note shape piece of textured cardstock. Next I print and cut the Hershey Kiss bottoms and added them to the chocolate pieces. To finish off the tubes I added a small tag to each one and tied them on with red and white twine. I know the girls are going to love these when they get them. I can hardly believe it's time to go back to school. Here in Florida school starts in a little over a week. My granddaughters are a little luckier up in Michigan and don't go back to school until after Labor Day. Make sure you head over to The Cutting Cafe's Blog to see the rest of the Teams creations. Happy crafting.

My Creative Time Color Challenge

Today I'm sharing a SMASH book page I made for the current challenge at My Creative Time. It's a photo inspiration/color challenge and I just happened to take the perfect picture for the colors the day the challenge was posted. That day (Thursday 7-24) hubby and I were playing tourist. With our recent move to Florida, there are plenty of new places to go and investigate. This was a combo shopping/touring road trip. We decided to head to the Tampa IKEA store on a mission to find a bed frame. We were specifically looking at the MALM with drawers for storage underneath it. As I've said before, we are now living in a tiny 500 sq. ft. cottage. Storage space is at a premium and we are always looking for ways to improve on what we have. We loved the bed, but sadly weren't able to purchase it that day for two reasons. One, we didn't measure the width of the room and two, we didn't think we could fit it in our vehicle. We left IKEA with a plan, but needed to visually look at the space we are dealing with. I'll fill you in on how we're going to accomplish fitting it in our space in a future post.

Anyway, after our stroll through IKEA, we decided to head to the neighboring community in search of a restaurant for lunch. Even though this IKEA is listed in Tampa it's really in the community of Ybor City. Ybor City has quite a history and is known to be the Latin Quarter for over a century. Famous for Cuban cigars, Cuban coffee, cuisine, music and fun nightlife. We had never been there before and on first look it reminded me a little of New Orleans architecture. Two story brick buildings with wrought iron railings. Sorry, I'm digressing again. We ended up going into the Green Iguana. We had a wonderful lunch with the tastiest rice I've ever feasted on. It was made with coconut milk and had a sweet taste to it. The perfect accompaniment to my grilled salmon. I took the picture I've scrapped today inside the restaurant. That iguana statue was huge and hovered just over our table.

I used several My Creative Time products to create my layout. I started by cutting the 4 x 4 Stitched Square Journal die from orange cardstock. as a mat behind my light gray cardstock that I journaled on. I placed this mat on the page to mimic the way the restaurant sign is placed in the photo. Next I cut the letters from the Lower Case Fun Dies and spelled out Ybor City around the top sides of the diamond shape. Inside the journaling square I used stamps from Type Calendar for the date, Never Be Lost, and You Are Here. My geotag is also from Never Be Lost, the arrow is from the 4 x 4 Journal Die set and I used the Stitched Camera Die. I stamped Fun on the arrow. It's from the Things I Love stamp set and so is the cute little happy face on the camera. I was so excited to find that I had a Distress Marker in Tumbled Green for journaling and it matched the Ranger Archival Leaf Green Ink that I stamped with. Rarely do you find a picture that matches a color challenge so well, but I think this one really came together with the photo inspiration colors. Hope you'll stop by again soon.

It's a Special Family Birthday

There's going to be a very special birthday in our family next week. My first great grandchild, baby Ella, is turning one year old. I can't believe it's already a year since her birth. Sadly, she is in Michigan and we are in Florida now, so we are going to miss her first birthday party. It is sad that we will miss more family celebrations now that we are living in Florida. That just means we have to work a little harder to keep a connection going. Thank goodness for modern technology and things like Skype and Facebook. With our kids and grandkids living all over it is a good way to stay in touch.

For Ella's first birthday card I just had to make sure there was an elephant on it. It's kind of a little nickname for her, my little Ellaphant. We've given all our younger grandchildren nicknames. This darling elephant is from the Cricut Birthday Bash cartridge. I wanted her to be adorable and pastel. I used papers from My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy Girl and Lilybee Design Pinwheel paper stacks. The elephant and all her layers are cut at 3 inches. After I had her all assembled I used My Creative Time Stitched Party Dies for the banner and balloons. I was so excited to use this sentiment from the Cardz TV stamp set called Make A Wish. I've never seen another stamp set with the phrase "Look Who's One" so it was perfect for this card. I made a gift card holder for the inside of the card to hold a gift card from Babies 'R Us. I really love shopping for the young grandkids in the family and I hate having to send gift cards. But last year we bought Christmas presents and I wrapped them all up and we put them in boxes to ship them. Do you know what happened? The shipping cost more than the gifts. That's a real shame, but it is what it is. So now it's gift cards all the time. I hope you enjoyed coming by today. I do so appreciate your visits and the comments you leave. They really make my day. Have a crafty good day.

The Cutting Cafe Party Hats

Hello my little Pretties! Do you know what fashionable witches will be wearing this Halloween season? Designer hats, of course.  I just love how my fancy witch hat came together using the Party Hat Template and Cutting File from The Cutting Cafe. Now that my move from Michigan is complete and we are settled in and living in Florida full time I'm able to get back to designing for Regina at The Cutting Cafe. It is so exciting to be back and I'm looking forward to showing you lots of creations using Regina's cutting files and digital stamps. I so love working with them. I used my Silhouette and the SVG file to cut my hat.

The fun part was adding all the pretty embellishments. I used some pleated paper from Bazzill to make the hat brim. Then I added some tulle, black feathers and a gorgeous large black flower. I know I'll have witches lined up outside my door to get their own designer hat. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll come back soon. I should be able to get a lot more crafting done now that all my craft supplies are unpacked. Don't forget to head over to The Cutting Cafe Blog to see the rest of the creations from the Design Team. Have a crafty day!

My Creative Time Challeng

Wow, it sure is nice to have my move to Florida behind me and feel semi-settled in. Just enough, anyway, to have my craft supplies unpacked and put away. I'd still like to get them organized a little better, but that will have to wait until we get a little construction project done so I have a bit larger craft area and more storage. I decided to get a few items out to create a card for the challenge at My Creative Time. It's a photo inspiration and color challenge using this photo---

The last couple months have been quite hectic after traveling north, selling our summer place, packing, moving and traveling back to Florida I found that my mojo has taken a vacation. I really had a struggle to meet this challenge. I always find color challenges to be just that, a challenge. It seems like it should make things easier, but not for me. Anyway, I did get to use some of my more recent purchases from My Creative Time to put this card together. I still haven't had a chance to use some of my new items yet from my last order and I see that Emma has another release coming out next week. You can see a list of the products I used at the end of this post.

I started out with a base card made from kraft cardstock and added a navy blue mat then a white mat. On top of the white mat I added two layers of waves in navy and light blue, an orange port hole, a sailboat and a few stamped waves. Last but not least I stamped my sentiment at the top. I'm disappointed that this is my best effort, but I know I'll get back in the swing of things soon. Thanks for stopping by.

My creative supply list:

• MCT Lost at Sea dies and stamp set (porthole die, boat and wave stamps)
• MCT Make a Splash die (waves)
• MCT Surf's Up die and stamp set (sentiment)