Unfinished Business - New Blog Candy Winner Announced

I never heard from Rebecha regarding the October blog candy so the new winner is ..............
Sandra!
Sandra please contact me with your mailing address and I will get your stamped images on their way.

Longtime No Blog and Back with a Coupon For You

I am back to blogging finally! I should be back throughout the week with several new cards. Here is the latest Michael's coupon for all my followers. I am off to use it this morning!


Happy crafting,

Hanglar and Stanglar Blog Candy Winner Announced

It is time to announce the winner of the October stamped image giveaway. This months luck winner is:

Rebecha!
Please contact me with your mailing information and I will get your new goodies on their way to you. Enjoy and thanks for entering!

I know I have been MIA for a few weeks, but volleyball is now over and I can resume my cardmaking. Check back this week for my next blog candy giveaway.

Thanks for visiting,

Cards for the Troops

No card today - but I wanted to share with you a few emails we have received regarding the Labor Day cards for the troops challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers. Over 800 cards were donated this time. Reading these emails makes all the time I spent on my 70 some cards well worth the while. I can't wait for the next round!

Here are a few of the emails:

THANK YOU!!!! Tell all the ladies thank you too!! We got your box today, and for a prolific note writer like me you are a God send! Now I'll be able to send them (my 6 nieces and nephews) all my little notes and hellos! I'm so excited. Also, I want to tell everyone what a fantastic job you do!

These cards are perfect, in what they say and how they look! I have rubber stamps of my own at home, I might just have to join the group when I get back... I do have to get back to work now, but I want to thank all of you one more time! Feel free to email me if you'd like.

Thanks again!

Sgt. Erin

More cards would be welcomed over here. The box has been open for about an hour and about half of the cards are gone already! Some will be going to the children of the Marines over here, others were sponsored by friends whom are teachers so they will be going back to the kids who write us. Either way, the cards are greatly appreciated! Thanks again!

*****

Hi, I'm Tiffany. I am one of the Marines that received some of your cards. Thank you for thinking about us and taking the time to do all of that for us. I can only imagine how much time and effort it took to put all of it together.

*****

My name is SSgt Jeff and I am currently in Iraq and I received one of
your boxes full of handmade cards, first of all you guys should market that
stuff I paid money before for cards that were not even half as nice as those
and second I would have never thought a group of rough neck marines would
appreciate something like that they have all been bragging about the cards
and cant wait to receive more. I think you have been corosponding with one of my Sgt's. Well ladies once again thank you and feel free to keep in touch we love it.

*****

My name is Jake. Our Company received a box of your group's cards this past week and I wanted to write you a short note to say thank you. When the announcement was made to distribute the cards, you would have thought they were handing out candy. They have made a tremendous impact on the morale of our Marines and for that, I cannot thank you enough. I think it is awesome that your group gives up time with their families to get together and make these awesome cards so that we have something to send home to our families. Sure, we have paper, but a card says "I love you" or "I miss you" with a little more conviction and you have selflessly provided that media. Again, thank you so much for your time and cards.

****

I have a few sets of senior pictures to do this week and then I should be able to get back to my card making.

Thanks for visiting,

Saturday Sketch Challenge

Each Saturday Amy at My Creative Clutter posts a card sketch. In honor of some cooler California weather, I inked up this Sugar Nellie Splashing Maggie stamp. It is one of the six that I won over at the Sugar Bowl last month. I found this rain cloud paper in a DCVW spring stack. It took me a few tries to color it. I added a little crosshatching with a dark grey pencil to the underside of the umbrella and some white lines to the top of the umbrella to give it a little more dimension. Amy's card sketch is shown below. Be sure to hop on over and check out her blog!

Recipe for this card:

Stamp: Sugar Nellie Splashing Maggie

Papers: Stampin Up: Bashful Blue, DCVW Spring Stack

Embellies: Prima flowers, brads

Prismacolor pencils: PC949, PC904, PC917, PC993, PC1086, PC1022, PC927, PC1040, PC1058, PC948, PC936

Thanks for visiting,

Summer Sweetness

I finally had time to put together a few cards for the Splitcoast Stampers WishRAK September card challenges. This card was made for the color challenge. The colors were barely banana, certainly celery, and real red. You had the option to throw in some regal rose and old olive. I didn't have all of those colors, but they said to just use something as close as you can. The only restriction is that you must use something received from Wish RAK. I used some certainly celery cardstock I received from Wish RAK a while back. I used some prima colors that were close to barely banana instead of cardstock.

This image is from High Hopes and is called Summer Sweetness. I colored it with prismacolor pencils and gamasol. I think I am going to stick with my prismas for a while instead of investing in copics. I have been reading about copic coloring techniques and figure I can do the same thing with my prismas. I just need to practice. So for now, no copics.

Recipe for this card:

Stamp: High Hopes Summer Sweetness

Papers: Stampin Up: Certainly Celery, Barely Banana, Regal Rose; Red paper from stash; Debbie Mumm: Pink Java (watermelon printed paper)

Tools: Tonic Studios: ticket corner punch

Embellies: Polka dot ribbon from stash, Prima flowers, brads

Prismacolor pencils: PC1030, 0C993, E1086, PC988, PC916, PC909, PC989, PC 925, PC947, PC941, PC927

Thanks for visiting,

Baby Sittin'

Here is card for the September Wish Rak challenge. I barely made the deadline this month. This was a sketch challenge. The Wish RAK item I used was the Baby Sittin' image from High Hopes. I ran the white cardstock through the cuttlebug with the swiss dots embossing folder. The polka dot ribbon is from Michael's. The skittles are clear decorative accents that I got from Michael's and dyed with alcohol inks.

Happy Stamping

Halloween Inspiration!

I found this Studio G jack-o-lantern stamp in a bin of stamps at Michael's a few weeks ago. I bought a few of these stamps for the small sentiments that came with them. I find a number of them fit inside my EK Success word window punch. You can't beat the price at $1 each.

For these cards I used the same basic sketch and just changed the placement of the sentiment and image a little. The circles were cut using my Cricut and then I stamped the jack-o-lantern image in the center. My daughter colored them with prismacolor pencils. For the middle card, I ran the orange paper through my Cuttlebug with the Boo To You embossing folder. The third card was made with scraps of DSP paper.

Happy stamping,

89 Day Until Christmas - Are You Ready?

Christmas is almost here. Can you believe it? It seems like the year has flown by. I decided to set a jump start on some Christmas cards since I got my cards for the troops project done. This stamped image is called Santa Collage. I used some bashful blue Stampin Up cardstock for the base. The silver paper is from a store called Paper Plus. We have one about 45 miles from here and they carry a wide variety of envelopes and Neenah solar white cardstock. This metallic comes in a variety of metallic colors and you get 50 sheets to a package. It is a better buy than the Stampin Up brushed Silver. I ran the piece of silver cardstock through the cuttlebug with the snowflake folder. (I love my cuttlebug. It is definitely one of my best investments.)

Anyways ladies - Christmas will be here before we know it so why not get started on those holiday cards now!

Have a great weekend,

hÄnglar & stÄnglar Stamped Images Up For Grabs - Winner will be chosen on October 31st at 9 p.m.

**Open until 9pm October 31, 2009**

Since I never got around to offering a September blog candy I have decided to offer some very hard to get stamped images for the October blog candy. These images are from a Swedish line called hÄnglar & stÄnglar. The company does not ship the stamps outside of Sweden or Norway. I was able to obtain these stamped images from an individual in the United Kingdom. They are stamped on a UK brand of cardstock using Stazon black ink. The lucky winner will receive one each of 26 stamped images.


You can enter as many times as you like, however there are two requirements. 1) You must either be a follower of this blog “or” leave a link on your blog to me – and 2) Leave me a message on this post to say you have done it – simple right?

The winner will be picked at random on the night the candy closes. I will attempt to email the winner via their blog. If I am unable to email the winner and they do not contact me within 72 hours the winner will forfeit their prize and I will choose another winner at random.

Who will the lucky winner be?

I Like Markers

Well I don't really know if I like markers yet or not, but I have been spending a lot of time researching Copic markers this week. I stumbled across this great blog with TONS of useful information and techniques about Copic markers. It is called I Like Markers. The author Marianne Walker is a product specialist for Copic markers. If you are a beginner, like me, I suggest starting at the oldest post and working forward.

Go check it out!

The Big One

I am becoming a bigger fan of digital images. I found this image at Mo's Digital Pencil. It is called "The Big One." It is a great image for Fall cards. I ran a piece of burgundy cardstock through the Cuttlebug with the Autumn Type folder. It went perfectly with this piece of paper from my box of scraps. It is hard to tell from the picture but I did color his head a pale yellow to show a hint of hair. Be sure to check out Mo's Digital Pencil. She is always adding new image!

Thanks for visiting,

Copic vs Prismacolor Pencils - What's Your Take?

I am interested in learning what everyone's favorite coloring medium is for their stamped images. When I first began card making I went with the prismacolor pencils and gamasol. Then the gamasol kind of went out the window and I started coloring with just the pencils and a blending pencil. I would like a more vibrant look to my images and have been thinking about investing a few copic markers. They seem like they make be a little difficult to use at first, but the images I have seen colored with them look so nice. My question for today is what is your favorite coloring medium to use and why?

Non-Traditional Christmas Colors

Good afternoon ladies - I thought I would share another one of the cards I will be sending off this week for the troops to have to send home to their loved ones. This card was also part of the Labor Day Wish RAK challenge over at SCS. The challenge was to make a Christmas card without using red, green or blue. My four-year-old niece Alyssa was here helping and she loves pink so of course we had to make alot of pink cards. Again, I tried to keep it simple so I could easily make 10 or 12 of the same card.

Thanks for visiting,

Fall Cards

My blog has been getting neglected the last few weeks. I have been working on cards to send in to the Labor Day cards for the troops challenge over at SCS. They have to be postmarked by September 26. My goal was to make 100 cards and as of right now I am only at 70. I have been looking for very simple cards to make and have came up with these two for the Thanksgiving theme. Hopefully I will get back to my regular cards after this week.



Thanks for visiting,

New Blog Candy Winner Announced!

I think a fair amount of time has passed for Sande to claim her prize and since I have been unable to contact her I have decided to draw a new winner. The new lucky winner for the August group of stamped images is:

Vicki

Vicki, please email me your mailing information and I will get your batch of Gorjuss Girls on their way!

Halloween Is On Its Way

Can you believe it is already September and soon to be Halloween? This is my first card for Halloween. I used the Cuttlebug spider web embossing folder with a piece polka dot Halloween paper. The scalloped circles and circle are both cut with Nestabilities dies. I finished it off with a piece of black grossgrain ribbon and this little spider charm.

Thanks for visiting,

Tent Topper Card

Here is one of the cards that I will be donating to our servicemen and women. It is my first try at a tent topper card. It was a nice change from the normal card. The cupcake image is from Stampin Up Crazy for Cupcakes. The scalloped circle is cut with a Nestabilities die in my Cuttlebug. The finished card measures 5 1/2 by 5 1/2.

Thanks for visiting. I hope to have my next blog candy up in the next few days.

Just Magnolia Week 21 - Mina's Sketch

I finally had time to make another card. I received this adorable Tilda with ladybug image from a Wish RAK member. I followed Mina's sketch for the Just Magnolia Week 21 challenge. This week's prize is a $25 gift certificate to Simon Say's Stamps.

The card base is made with Neenah Solar White cardstock. I was using Georgia Pacific cardstock for the bases but the Neenah seems to be a little stiffer - although alot more expensive (About $20 a ream compared to the $6 or $7 for Georgia Pacific). I still use the Georgia Pacific for stamping my images on. The little ladybug brads are from the Eyelet outlet and the heart shaped buttons are from the sewing section at Walmart.

If you get a chance check out all the design team cards at Just Magnolia. They are some very talented ladies.

Giraffe Baby Card

I found an adorable giraffe gift bag at the dollar store today for my baby shower gift and decided to make a card to go with it. (Yes I originally made the Cheeky Bear card for the baby shower, but how could I resist making another card.) I picked up this giraffe print ribbon from Michael's along with this set of Reflections clear stamps. I paired it with a few Stampin' Up papers and some nestabilities dies. I ran the rust colored nestie through the cuttlebug with the tiny mosaic folder. Inside is a sentiment I received from Glenda on Wish RAK that says "One little baby, many happy hearts."

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. I will be participating the Card for the Troops challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers this weekend and hope to have many new cards to show you.

Winner of August Blog Candy Announced

First let me say a big thank you to everyone who entered my first drawing for a set of stamped imaged. It is time to announce the lucky winner. This month's winner is:

Sande

Please email me your address and I will get your images off in the mail.

For the rest of you -- check back later this week as I will be posting another batch of images for September.

Busy Bee Bloggers 1st Challenge

I finally had time to put a card together for the Busy Bee Bloggers 1st challenge. The challenge was to add some pop to your card. I added some pop dots under the image and under the flowers and buttons to give it a little dimension. I realize the color combination is a little funky but that is because I actually used the card as a three in one challenge. The color combination is for the August Wish RAK card challenge at SCS and the card sketch is from the Sugar Bowl. This cute image is called Sweet N Sassy and is another Sugar Nellie stamp.

Thanks for stopping by.



P.S. Time is quickly running out to win this month's blog candy. Be sure to post a comment under that post for your chance to win.

Cheeky Bear Baby Shower Card

I found my Cuddly Buddly stamps when I was cleaning the craft room his week - just in time to make this adorable baby shower card. The scalloped circle is cut out of Stampin Up chocolate chip paper with my Cricut. The sketch is from the MOJO98 sketch challenge a few weeks ago. I added some double stitched ribbon and a few hand dyed dew drops to finish it off. (My pictures are better with the new light box, but they still need a little work. )

Thanks for looking -

Building A Cheap Light Tent

I just finished a photography class at the local community college and have been spending the last few weeks experimenting with the photography of my cards. My main problem seems to be lighting -- or lack thereof. I have been shooting pictures on the dining room table near the window with the light on or on the couch with the window and front door open and just could not seem to get it right. I have been eyeing some light tents and lighting but just haven't been able to pull the trigger. But I think I may have finally found the solution - I built my own light box.

I have seen that some people on the web have created their own light tents at home using wood and in some cases plastic tubing. I finally stumbled across some instructions that I thought I could follow at eyefetch.com. So after a quick trip to the hardware store and a few instructions from my better half on how to use the pipe cutter I was able to knock one out in less than 30 minutes.

Here is what you need:
2 - 10 ft lengths of PVC pipe
4 - 90 degree bend connectors
4 - 90 tee connectors
1 twin size white sheet
1 piece of poster board
hole punch
pvc cutter
3 sheet metal screws
2 50 watt desk lamps (I used two reflector lights from the tool section instead - $7 each)

Cut the first length of pipe into 4 individual 17" pieces, 4 individual 2" pieces, and one 20" piece. Cut the remaining pipe into one 20" piece and 2 individual 24" pieces. Assemble each 17" section to a 90 degree bend connector. Then insert a 2" piece of pipe and add a tee connector to the end. Repeat three more times until you have four legs.

Next, insert a 24" piece between the two tee connectors to form your front and back. Then insert the 20" pieces into the tee to form the two sides. (I hope that makes sense.) Finally punch three holes along the top of your poster board. Hold the poster board up to one of the 24" pieces and mark where to insert your screws. The posterboard will hang off the screws so don't screw them in all the way. That is pretty much it.

Cover the box with the sheet and place one lamp on each side and you are ready to photograph your cards. You can even use some 20w halogen lamps for fill lighting if need be. I will be back with some new pictures later.

Thanks for visiting -

Just Magnolia Week 18 Challenge

After the great luck I had last week winning blog candy at the Sugar Bowl, I decided to give a few more challenges a try. Magnolia stamps are among my favorite stamps and I am an admirer of the Just Magnolia challenge blog. That design team has some impressive cards. The theme for the Week 18 challenge is friendship. Basically anything that you would give to a friend qualifies to enter. The prize is a Basic Grey Sultry collection pack from The Hobby House. I used this Cherry Tilda that I got from Amy over at Splitcoast Stampers. I have had this cherry paper in my stash for a while trying to think of a way to use it. The sketch is modified from a sketch a found at SCS. I tried to distress the edges of the blue cardstock by rubbing my scissors on it but it didn’t work out quite as I had expected. Next I resorted to some white chalk and paper piercing. The images is colored with prismacolor pencils and gamasol. (I’m trying to decide if I want to move on to copic markers or not??) Let me know what you think.

I won some sugar at the Sugar Bowl!

Well ladies I had quite a surprise today. I hopped on over to the Sugar Bowl to see what this week's sketch challenge was and saw my name listed as the Challenge 16 winner. I could not believe my eyes. Then I thought I had better click on the link to make sure it was me because there was more than one Jane listed in the entries. Sure enough it was! I am so excited. So for being the winner I get to pick six stamps from the Sugar Nellie line. I am off to make another card for the Sugar Bowl and to pick out my new stamps. If you get a chance stop by Funky Kits and see all the great Sugar Nellie stamps.

Making Word Circles

Have you ever wondered how people get those words in a circle shape around their stamped image? Well here is a quick tutorial using Microsoft Word. I inserted a piece of clip art in the center of mine but you would print the word circle and stamp your image in the center then cut with a circle cutter or punch. Or for you digital stamps you could insert that in the center.

To make words into semi-circles, circular, etc that you can print off and put on your card or print directly onto your paper, do the following:

1. Open a Word Document
2. Select Insert, then "picture", then "WordArt".
3. Word should open a menu to choose different "styles".
4. Select a 'style' and click ok.
5. Type the text you wish to view and click ok.
6. Word will then display the style and the words into the format chosen.
7. You can then drag and drop the text anywhere on your paper.
8. Left click on the words and a diagram box should appear around the words along with a text editor. In the middle of this text editor is an "A" - WordArt Shape. Select that and you will get more options.
9. To get a circle of the words that you typed.. click the circle.
10. Word will automatically take the words and loop them in a circle.
11. You should see some little black boxes in the corners and in the middle of the line around the words. If you take your mouse and put it over those boxes, you should get a directional arrow. Left click and hold your mouse down... dragging the arrow down the page to make the text box larger.
12. Play with this and have fun.

Thanks for stopping by!

More Crocheted Flowers

Here are two more of my favorite flowers to crochet for cards. You can use crochet thread of even DMC floss to mix and match with your favorite papers. Pop a brad or a button in the center for a little extra touch. They are very inexpensive and you can make several just waiting at the kid's sports practice or while watching a TV show.

Flower at top left:

Rnd 1: Ch 2, 5 sc in 2nd ch from hook. Join with sl st to first sc.
Rnd 2: [ (ch 2, 3dc, ch 2, sl st) in the same sc, sl st to the next sc], 5 times, making 5 petals. Cut off.

Orange flower:
(This flower is from Nichole Heady's blog. she has some wonderful picture tutorials for this flower if you need a little help)

Step 1: ch 5. Join with sl st to form ring.
Step 2: Add 10 sc through ring.
Step 3: sl st to top of first sc.
Step 4: create a small petal in the first sc using the following pattern (sc, 3dc, sc).
Step 5: continue creating a small petal in every other sc with the same pattern (creating 5 petals total). sl st to join with first sc of first petal. You can stop here and fasten off for a small flower that measures approximately 1-inch in diameter. Or you can continue to create a more elaborate 2-layer flower.
Step 6: flipping to the back of the flower, sc down through base opening of small petal.
Step 7: ch 3, and sc through next petal base opening.
Step 8: repeat 4 more times in each opening. sl st through first sc, creating a series of 5 loops total.
Step 9: create a large petal in the first loop using the following pattern (sc, 5dc, sc).
Step 10: continue creating a large petal in each of the remaining 4 loops with the same pattern. sl st to join with first sc of first petal.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sugar Nellie Challenge 16

Isn't this little girl adorable! The stamp is called "Giddy Up" and is a line from Sugar Nellie. I love to look at all the design team cards over at the Sugar Bowl challenge blog and decided to give this week's sketch a shot. I inked the edges of all my papers with some Chestnut ink to give it a more aged look. The brads are a little crooked at the bottom - but that's what happens when I get in a hurry. Anyways hop on over to the Sugar Bowl and check out all the great cards. This week's prize is a Sugar Nellie 6 stamp pick'n'mix.

Crocheted flowers

I have been working on some crocheted flowers lately. I played with several different patterns and have narrowed it down to my five favorite. Some of these are from other people and some I have adapted to what I was looking for. Here are the first two:

General information

Materials:

yarn or cotton thread

crochet hook

scissors

Abbreviations:

Ch=chain

Sl st=slip stitch

Sc=single crochet

Hdc=half double crochet

Dc=double crochet

Rep=repeat
Rnd=round

Purple flower:

Ch 4, join with sl st to form ring

Rnd 1: Ch 2, 9 dc into ring, join with sl st to Ch 2

Rnd 2: Ch 3, skip first sc from hook, sc into next sc. Repeat four more times joining with sl st to first loop of first Ch3.

Rnd 3: sc, 4 dc, sc into first chain 3 loop. Repeat four more times ending with sl st to first single crochet.

Fasten off and weave ends into flower with small hook or needle.

Green flower:

*Note: I found this pattern on the internet but now I can not find it. If you know where please let me know so I can make sure they receive credit.

Ch 4, join with sl st to form ring

Rnd 1: Ch 1 sc in ring * ch 3 sc in ring *, repeat * to * 3 more times, ch 3, sl st to first sc

Rnd 2: (sc, Ch 1, 3 dc, sc) in same ch 3 space around in each ch 3 space. sl st to first sc

Fasten off and weave ends in with hook or needle.

Party Princess MOJO98 Challenge

I finally got a few minutes to make another card. I have been a little challenged due to what I like to call a "creative mess." My other half says he doesn't know how I can even make anything because things are so strung about. I just organized this room six months ago with some storage cubes and a bookcase from IKEA only to later realize I am not a sit down crafter. I would much prefer to stand at the dining room table -- or even better -- the kitchen counter. Guess it's time to rethink the craft room situation.

Anyways I was able to dig up enough stuff to put this card together tonight. I used the sketch over at the Mojo Monday challenge blog. I have been dying to ink up some of my new stamps from Sugar Nellie's Gorjuss Girl Set #3. I love this cute little Party Princess stamp and thought these papers would go perfect. I am still working on my knot and bow tying. Thank heaven's for YouTube!

Digital Stamps

Digital images are a great alternative to rubber stamps. You simply download them and store them on your computer hard drive. No extra equipment is required. Printing them is as simple as opening Microsoft Word and inserting the picture which can be resized to the size you want (even better than rubber stamps!) Run a piece of your best cardstock through the printer and you have your image - no need to worry about imperfections in your stamping. You can trim these images with your paper trimmer or Nestabilities.

One of my favorite places to get digital images is from Mo's Digital Stamps. I'm sure you will find something great there. The owner, Maurie Manning is a children's book author and illustrator and has decided to jump into the world of digital images. She had so many cute items it was hard to choose. I received my images within 5 minutes of placing my order. Head on over and check it out!