All in the Family

I inked up my SU All in the Family set on Friday - but I have no cards to show for it - only some plushes who needed a home. I decided to give Riley's birthday party guests Webkinz stuffed animals instead of loot bags. I bought all different ones and Riley got to choose who received which one. So I made tags for the lil kinz.Riley liked the tags so much that he felt left out - so I made him some for the Webkinz he already owns.
Oh and I know people have said on SCS that they don't need to use their Stamp-a-ma-jig for this set - and they're probably right. But I did go through a heck of a lot of tries before I got it perfect (I'm a perfectionist) so I'll be purchasing a stamp-a-ma-jig to use with mine!

Inundated with Boys Birthdays

My son and I have quite a few friends who we met through new parents groups (5 yrs. ago!) and so this is the time of year when we get all the birthday invitations. I made two of these cards last weekend but forgot to take a picture. We have a party to go to tomorrow (along with hosting my son's party too) so I made an exact replica!

The stamps are from My Favorite Things and is called Dinomite. They have 5 new sets coming out on Oct. 1st and I love the samples I've seen so far. I'm saving my pennies for the ones I love!

OUCH!

Can I just say Ouch?! I recently bought the Headline Alphabet and the All in the Family set from Stampin' Up. I'm so happy to have them - I'm using them to make Christmas gifts, but I forgot that meant that I need to cut and mount them all. Thanks goodness I ordered the SU rubber scissors as well - but still!! That's 56 letters and 28 family stamps to cut = 84!! Hard on the hands, even with the right tools!! All I can say is that my Christmas presents better be appreciated!!

Halloween Sketch Challenge

I must admit that Halloween is one of my least favourite holidays (no flaming please!). Maybe it stems from always feeling like I had the worst costume when I was younger, but I'm just not that "into it". I love figuring out what my kids will wear for costumes, and we have a tradition of having chili and biscuits for dinner and inviting friends over - but I just don't go wild over it. So I've never owned any Halloween stamps until Michaels came out with new $1 ($1.50 in Canada) stamps. I bought a couple and this is the card I made.
I used the sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers and am really happy with the layout - I'll definitely use this one again. The ghost originally had a frame around him but I inked only the ghost so the two stamps would go together better. I coloured the ghost using my white signo pen. The paper is all scraps I had from scrapbooking - from Creative Imaginations and KI memories. This card will go to my nephew Robson!

Ahoy Ollie!

Love these Ollie stamps by Stampendous. I received them last week but hadn't had a chance to play yet. I was trying to use multiple patterned papers and still make them all work together. I think it turned out o.k. although I'm not thrilled with the sentiment in the circle. I coloured the image with my prismacolor pencils and blended with gamsol. I'm really liking this technique but still need to work on shading and blending.

I'm off to grocery shop - I've been really remiss in my menu planning and I want to get back on track now that school is back in.

We have Winners!!!

Who knew I had readers? You guys made me feel good (even though this honestly wasn't a PVM "please validate me" post). If you were one of the 11 who won - email me your snail mail address - kpjohnson@wwdb.org and I'll get your pencils in the mail! If I don't hear from you by Friday, I'll repost for more winners. Thanks for visiting!

Pay It Forward!

I've been seeing this go round a couple of blogs and I thought I would play along! I was at Liquidation World today looking for Power Rangers party supplies (still no luck!) for my son's birthday party, and I found the following.A box of 12 Prismacolor Pencils for $1!!! That's right - $1. Here in Canada, it costs me $1.49 for a single Prisma pencil when they're on sale at Michaels for 25% off. They only had 5 colours but I bought a box of each. Here's where you come in. I don't need the other 11 pencils!! So the first 11 people to leave a comment on this post will receive 5 prismacolor pencils. Now I highly doubt that I have 11 readers - but you never know! The colours are: Spring green, Olive green, Aquamarine, Dark Purple and Sepia. I can't guarantee the quality of these, after all, I purchased them at Liquidation world. The writing on the box is in Spanish and they say Mexico on the pencils - just so you know - but they're free to you!!
Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Quick Mixed Bouquet

This is a quick thank you card that I did for my sample pack. It is one of my favorite colour combinations - certainly celery, pale plum, and perfect plum. I used irridescent embossing powder over the entire main panel so it's really sparkly in person.

I'm sorry I haven't posted regularly - I've been in a little bit of a funk lately. Not so much a stamping funk, just a good old fashioned funk. I'll try to post a bit more regularly (for all two of you out there reading my blog - lol!).

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Last Thank You Sample

I never posted the third sample I made for my potential client. I was trying to show her some different layouts and possibilities. Good news is that she called today and placed an order!! Yippee!! I'm officially in business! Now I've got to get busy as she needs cards asap and I'm also working on contract for the school board for a couple of weeks. It will be nice to earn a little extra money for Christmas and our Disneyworld trip in February. Happy Hump Day!

Technique Challenge and Back to School

I was so desperate to stamp tonight but am still wiped from the weekend. I checked in on Splitcoast Stampers and the technique challenge was to make a 2-5-7-10 box (named for the scoring measurements). Exactly what I needed, some direction - this is what I came up with.

Stamps: Bees by Stampendous
Paper: Patterned paper by 3 bugs in a rug, Apricot appeal cs, whisper white
Ink: Black
Accessories: Paper piercer, circle punches, ribbon, stickles

I think it turned out super cute! I have had this bee stamp for a couple weeks now and haven't had a chance to use it yet - so it was about time!

I also wanted to make a little card for my son. Tomorrow is his first full day of school and I thought I'd tuck something in his lunch bag. I got my Daphne and Donald stamps from All That Scraps and was anxious to ink them up! I didn't put a ton of effort into this - because my son won't notice it. So even though I think it needs something more, I'm leaving it as is cause he will love it anyway!

Stamps: Donald goes to School (C.C. Designs)

Paper: Patterned paper - unknown, Whisper white, Cool caribbean

Ink: Black Stazon

Accessories: Prismacolour pencils, gamsol

Family Obligations

Sorry I haven't been around posting. My grandfather passed away on Thurs. night/Fri. morning and I've been busy with family. Funeral was Saturday and I just said goodbye to my brothers who flew in from Calgary. I also said goodbye to my husband as he is off to Chicago for a couple days for a tradeshow.

I got new stamps on Friday but haven't had a chance to ink them yet - hopefully soon!

Kids Cards

These are two kids cards I made for my sample pack. One is supposed to be a girls card and the other a boys card.

I'm not sure this Bella is totally appropriate for a little girls card, but that's all I have right now so it will have to do. The scallop circle is bazzill bling paper and the purple background paper is from DCWV and is sparkly as well. I used stickles on her wings and her wand.

The boys card is Changito on a cuttlebugged background. I used linen thread to hang the tag. I think I'm going to hunt for something to put in the bottom right corner though - my eye seems drawn to the empty space there.

Julee's Mojo Monday

I made this card for Julee's Mojo Monday challenge. She provides a sketch and this week she also mentioned she was using her "almost" cards. Images, backgrounds, etc... that she had lying around waiting to be finished. I can totally relate because I've had images and backgrounds lying on my desk for a couple weeks now, but somehow I just can't seem to put them together. This sketch gave me the chance to do it! Here's what I came up with and I'm really happy with it.
I know it looks similar to the card I made for Beate's sketch challenge, but that's because I'm creating samples for a company whose colours are turquoise and brown and who wants a thank you card with flower images - thus the similar cards.

Beate's Sketch Challenge and a Score at the $ Store

I have been doing some more sketch challenges recently. Mainly because I'm trying to create different versions of the same card for a potential client and I'm severely stuck/blocked. These challenges have really helped me be productive and I'm happy with the results!

This card is for Beate's sketch challenge. The sketch can be found here on Beate's blog.

Yesterday I popped into Dollarama to look for party supplies (why can't I find any Power Rangers party supplies???!!!) and I "happened" to walk down the craft aisle and found these!

5 spools of ribbon in each package - 1 metre on each spool for $1 (so 5 metres for $1). As you can see I bought 7. I'm sure it's not amazing quality, but I'm still trying to build a stash and this will come in extremely handy! What a score!

More cards....

This is a Mother's Day card that I made for samples. I embossed the images in gold and coloured them in with my ink pads and aquapainter. I think it turned out o.k. I'd like to experiment with some vellum cardstock and this technique as well.
This is a Father's Day card using Grillafella. There is linen thread behind the image and the brads are "screw" brads by Karen Foster. I coloured him using my prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol.

Wedding Gift

I needed a wedding gift for my cousin who kind of "eloped" and got married at a Sandals resort somewhere tropical (they had a "weddingmoon"). We're going to a family celebration for them and I didn't want to show up empty handed. This is the gift that I made them. Ideally I would have stamped the letters of their last name but I didn't have an alphabet that was big enough, so I just printed them onto cardstock with my printer. The background is stamped with swirls in versamark, and there's a little heart and key charm hanging off the letter "H". The frame I used had an opening of 7"x14" so the ribbon down the left side is to hide my seam. I think this turned out pretty nice and I hope they will enjoy seeing it in their house.

I made this card (in all of about 10 mins!) last night. I used the cool caribbean paper because it matches their wedding flowers and I embossed the sentiment with silver embossing powder. The ribbon is black velvet. I thought it turned out quite well for a 10 min. card!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Couple more cards

Stamps: My Favorite Things "You Take the Cake"

Paper: Pretty in Pink cardstock, Basic Grey Perhaps paper

Ink: Basic Black

Other: Sewing Machine, Paper piercer, Giga scallop circle punch, mega circle punch, ribbon

Stamps: My Favorite Things "You Take the Cake"
Paper: Bazzill Bling cardstock, Amy Butler Sola patterned paper, Pretty in Pink cardstock

Ink: Black StazOn
Other: Sewing Machine, ribbon, prima flower, stickles, liquid applique, prismacolor pencils and gamsol

Still madly trying to finish cards. And I'm working on one more pencil bouquet for Riley's new teacher - who he meets tomorrow for the first time. Tonight however - I'm taking a break. A couple girlfriends and I are going out for dinner. It's been a while so I'm excited about going out and taking a break from being "mom" and being "Kerry" for a while.

Working madly....

Stamps: MFT You Take the Cake

Paper: Pumpin pie & brocade blue cardstock, My Mind's Eye patterned paper

Ink: Black

Other: Ric rac, brads, cuttlebug spots and dots folder, sakura glaze pen, ribbon, blender pen

Stamps: Linen background, Karen Foster snap stamps

Paper: Night of navy and old olive cardstock, Costco stack patterned paper

Ink: Brilliance White

Other: Brads, ribbon

Stamps: SU Crab & Co.

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa

Paper: Chocolate chip, close to cocoa and cool caribbean cardstock

Other: Cuttlebug, corner rounder, circle punches, ribbon, sakura glaze pen, blender pen

I'm trying hard to get the samples done that I need to so I've been stamping like a crazy woman! These are the 3 I created last night. These are my masculine cards. I still need one more Father's Day card (already in process) and then I can move onto the feminine cards.