PAPERLICIOUS

In good times . . .

I don't buy many stamps any more.  I have quite a few and there is rarely anything that that sings to me.  However, when I saw this set, particularly this quote -- I heard the music!

New company alert!  Uniko Studio.  These are clear stamps.  Only 2 sets so far but I scooped up both of them.  The owner, Bev, is based in the UK, but I got the stamps in about a week.  And they come in the same cases that Stampin Up and A Muse Studio use -- and these happen to be the cases I use to store all my stamps. **Love**

So it is a match for me.  And I have a feeling this company is going places...

Supplies:

Stamps:  Time and Extra Time, Uniko Studio
Ink:  Memento, Angel Pink, New Sprout and Lulu Lavendar (known in normal life as pink, purple and green)
Cardstock:  PTI white and black
Other:  Memory Box scallop border, dimensionals, ribbon

Distressed Alcohol Markers Technique and an Update

I had an idea to combine Copic markers with Ranger Distress ink and posted it when I was the Flourishes' Limelight Designer over here. 

Beate Johns (supah star) from Splitcoast saw it and asked me to do a tutorial for SCS.  So the pressure was on.  I try to avoid pressure situations when it comes to stamping, but this offer was too good to pass up.  So after lots of trial and lots of error, I made this card to feature this technique.  LOVE this Waltzingmouse Roses in Bloom set (please join my campaign to get Claire to sell more flowers!) 

This is the perfect technique when you want bright colors with some easy shading, but don't like to color large open spaces.   If you want to read how I made it, please check out my tutorial on SCS today.

Thanks to Beate and SCS for the opportunity to share yet another way to combine paper and ink!

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If you are interested in a life update, read on. Otherwise, I hope you are happy today.

My Mom has been in the nursing home for 4 months.  Since then, she

1.  magically can eat all the food (unable to use her false teeth in our house)

2.  no longer needs oxygen

3.  complains almost non stop about being there

4.  has normal blood levels for the first time in 5 years

5.  bonded with her roommate, who cannot talk or move much at all

Since then, I

1.  can sleep late on the weekends for the first time in 5 years

2.  can travel with Mike

3.  can stay late at work (and why that is a good thing?)

4.  don't have the sound of oxygen pumping through the house

5.  no longer have a household employee to pay

And no I don't feel guilty for feeling free. I am sad that my Mom is often unhappy but thrilled that she is in a safe place that treats her well and that that safe place isn't here. 

Mike and I took good care of her.  Too good.  She turned into a diva while she was here and I got sucked into meeting her every whim.  Still taking care of her as I did when I was a child.  I could see the neurotic dance of our relationship playing out every day but felt powerless to stop it.  My father's alcoholism and abuse taught me to be uber responsible for her, for the world, for everyone except me. 

But now I am one step removed from caretaker and sometimes simply do not know how to breathe.  But I do.  I'm not afraid to tempt the fates by writing that this is one of the happiest times of my life.  It is.  No, it isn't perfect.  There is stuff in everyone's life that isn't perfect and I have a list on that side of the ledger too.  But it is good. 

She'll be 90 next month.   I'll still be daughter.

Enjoy . . .

I'm loving these bright colors.  Spring is so close!

And here's a close up --

Card Construction Details:

1.  Stamped flowers from a Penny Black set called To You on white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo ink.

2.  Colored the center layer of 3 flowers and cut.  Each flower was colored as follows:  pale pink, magenta and red Prismacolor Pencils, blended with a Colorless Copic marker. Added yellow Copic marker to edges and center of flower.

3.  Colored the bottom layer and the flowers on the edge of the panel.

4.  Colored the background with yellow and 3 shades of green Prismacolor Pencils and blended with a colorless Copic marker.

5.  Adhered the 3 top layers to the flowers, adhered the black embellishments.

6.  Created a banner with the Silhouette, colored and stamped sentiment.

7.  Layered on black and then onto an A Muse Sage card.

MOOD WHEN DONE =  flowery

Product Review: Dahle 155 Pencil Sharpener

This week I met the Dahle 155 Professional Pencil Sharpener... and my life will never be the same.  Well, using colored pencils will never be the same.

Stick in a pencil.  Turn.  A perfectly sharpened pencil. 

No batteries or cord.  $30 list price.  

This is the sharpener that Dave Brethauer, owner of Memory Box, recommends.  But now it is also the sharpener that I recommend. 

You have a favorite new product?

 EDITED TO ADD:  I puchased this at my LSS.  I do not know where else you can buy it but a quick romp through google shows that Dick Blick and Amazon have it.

 

hello, Silhouette Style

A card with no stamps and no ink.  Call the blog police!

Just paper, glue, black embellishment, and the Silhouette.

Card Construction Details:

1.  A2 card with A Muse Studio Sage cardstock.  Trimmed one inch off the side.

2.  Cut out flowers, some smaller than others (easy to resize with the Silhouette).  A Muse Studio Blush cardstock (exact same color as Papertrey Blush).  Placed on Sage card as shown and adhered  with Mono Multi glue.

3.  Cut "hello" with the Silhouette (Ariel font) making sure to size to less than 1 inch high so that the letters would fit.  Adhered by using the leftover cardstock as a mask.  Added glue to back side of letters and fit into the spaces on the mask and then lifted off the mask.  I'm either a genius or I saw this somewhere on a blog.  

4.  Decided this beauty needed more black.  Added black plastic dots.  Then added black cardstock as shown:

MOOD WHEN DONE = Satisfied + with the card. 

Stitched Heart

Well, not really.

Card Construction Details:

1.  Cut hearts with my Silhouette and Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler cardstock.

2.  Stamped solid heart with Versamark, SU's Stitched background and embossed in white.

3.  Ran white cardstock through Big Shot with a Papertrey Ink impression plate.

4.  Stamped sentiment (with SU Cherry Cobbler ink) from Waltzingmouse Sweetheart set.

5.  Adhered smaller outline heart with slivers of dimensionals onto the stitched heart.

6.  Adhered the larger heart with dimensionals on the impressed panel and that was adhered with more dimensionals onto a white card.

7.  Hmm...needed something.  Cookies?  NO.  Added pearl.

MOOD WHEN DONE = thinking of making a Valentine just for my Sihouette

The Real Housewives of Stamping

Lots of us have " crafty homes" on the net.  Mine used to be Gingerwood until I changed computers years ago and lost my password and decided I wanted a site with a gallery.  So

I moved most of my online energy to Splitcoast until someone mentioned there that "I posted all the time".   I became self conscious and feared that I had been outed as someone with no life.  So

I moved to Papertrey's forum until it got angry.  At first, I took guilty pleasure in reading all the drama.  It was like a Real Housewives of Stamping episode, flipped tables and all.  But it didn't take long to feel bad about the whole thing.  I really like a lot of the forum members and I'd like to keep it that way.  And  I started to feel sad over there.  So

I've spent less time on the web and more time watching Law and Order and Dance Moms.  I still visit and occasionlly post on the forums, but it isn't the same.  So

I'm going to my real local stamp store on Sunday with a real live stamper and we will take a class from a live human being.  

I'll try and keep my mouth shut.

EDITED TO ADD:  Oh, thanks for the comments.  Let me clarify my last sentence.  I couldn't keep my mouth shut for long!!  I can just try and not flip any tables!

Dear Eli (non stamping)

Dear Eli Manning,

Thanks for being such a great guy.   As the Giants quarterback, you do your job, often coming from behind to win.  You don't hog the limelight.  You don't trash talk other teams.  You don't get arrested, or make the press except in a good way.  You have a wife and kids and appear to be a decent guy.   You are exactly the kind of quarterback that kids can look up to.

And my Mom loves you and talks about you as if you are her son.  You made an almost 90 year old lady very happy last night.  She fell asleep in the 4th quarter (!!), but woke up to see the last play.  Confused, she had to call me to figure out who won.  It was sweet.  When you won 4 years ago, we thought that would be my Mom's last Giant Superbowl win.  But, you did it again and she is still here to obsess about you and your team.

To thanks for being a stand up guy who knows how to get the job done.  See you next year.

Sincerely,

Someone who thinks sports is way overrated in this country but could still savor last night's win

 

A Little Stamping

I spend way more time stamping than blogging lately.  Most of my stamping is tossed, as I try new things and experiment and just generally goof around.

So I decided to actually stamp a card and give it to someone. Hmm...wonder who will get this one...  The images and inside sentiment are all from Paper Smooches.  The blue panel is cut with a Spellbinders die and embossed with an A Muse Studio woodgrain impression plate.

And of course I had to dab some Ranger Glossy Accents on the heart.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Cuddly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue and White Silhouette Style (and a stamp sale is coming...)

Stamped up a storm (meaning actual stamps and ink) last night, but not this card! 

This is a very simple "cut and glue" card -- sized the white woodblock type shape from the Silhouette store to a 4" square, pressed cut on my Silhouette and adhered the shape to a blue card base.  Die cuts are such a great way to get solid white images on a card without dealing with ink and embossing powder.

It would be very easy to make a quick set of cards with this die cut.  Someone do it and let me know how it works out!  Thanks for dropping by....

MOOD WHEN DONE = Graphic

ps. the inside of this card is white, not yellow.  had a devil of a time photographing this card.

About the stamp sale -- stay tuned for the big sell off of 2012!

Project 100: 41/100 - Graphic Blocks

Card Construction Details:

1. Oh the things we do for our kids.  Cut the dark purple (eggplant by Stampin Up) cardstock with the Silhouette electronic digital cutter.

2.  Adhered the graphic overlay to an A Muse Studio vanilla card.

3.  Stamped various sentiments and hearts from a Paper Smooches set.  Love those sentiments!

4. Colored in with Stampin Up markers.

5.  Now that wasn't so hard, was it?

MOOD WHEN DONE = full of love for my kid.

Dear Paperlicious: Top Five Products to Be Revealed at CHA

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

THE BEST OF WINTER CHA 2012

It's CHA weekend!  Soon the internet will be filled with pictures of the latest new products bloggers taking pictures of each other!!

Can't wait to see what is new?  Tired of trips to Southern California in the winter??  Devasted by the prospect of leaving the kids and hubby behind for an entire adult weekend surrounded by papercrafters? 

Me too!

So Dear Paperlicious went pyschic this week and has the inside scoop on releases for the first half of 2012 (actual product availability will be fall 2012).  Here are my favorite 5 new products for 2012 --

5.  LITTLE GUY SEWING MACHINE --  the perfect sewing machine for stampers!!   No bobbins or needles to thread.   This compact machine, weighing only 85 pounds, has a little man living inside who will thread the needle for you and hold the paper as it goes through the sewing process.  Take out the little guy once a week and give him a good scrub and you are good to go for another week.  Suggested Retail Price:  $856 (will be discounted to $59.99 by April).

4.  DISAPPEARING INK -- The beauty of this ink is that is disappears after 2 days.  Gives you enough time to stamp, photograph your card for your blog, and then reuse your cardstock!!  No more wasting time and postage mailing your cards!  Comes in black, red, and 14 shades of orange tangerine.

3. PATTERNED PAPER THAT TURNS INTO STUFFING -- Buy it now and in November it is ready for the big bird.  All the joys of collecting without worrying about it all catching fire after 7 years of storage.  YUM.

2.  **ALMOST DIES** -- Dies are all the rage.  They cut shapes perfectly!!  BORING and so 2011.  The new ALMOST dies do not cut cleanly!  Use with 4 metal shims, an embossing pad and a piece of Twizzlers in any die machine except a Big Shot, Cuttlebug, Vagabond or Grand Calibur, and your Almost Die will cut everything except one part of the die.  Perfect for those of you (like me) who find perfect boring. 

And the #1 NEW PRODUCT FOR 2012

1.  STAMPS MADE OUT OF MONEY!!

Goodbye wood mounted, cling, photopolymer and silicone stamps!  Leave that debate to the chumps.

Hello stamps MADE OUT OF REAL MONEY.  Yes, ten dollar bills have been adhered together to form 2 inch stacks and then hand cut with super trendy Tim Holtz branded exacto knives by design team members to form gorgeous images.   Sigh. Wait to you see the square shapes!!  Oh those talented design teamers!! 

So that's it. My top 5 faves.  See you in the summer for my next CHA reveal!

 

All You Need, 3 Ways

Trying out a new idea -- using the same stamp three different ways. In this case, it is Penny Black's All You Need is Love (really??). With Twinkling H2Os on watercolor paper, big silk bow (so not me) and a Bermuda A Muse Studio card:

With Tombow Markers directly on rubber and a WPlus9 sentiment, on Bazzil textured cardstock (and look - - Washi Tape) and a Hero Arts woodgrain background:

And with Prismacolor Pencils and lots of Ranger Glossy Accents and copic colored pearls:

a close up of the hearts:

This was fun.

MOOD WHEN DONE:  Pondering whether all you need is love...and how I can get a new lens for my camera without spending money.

More Betsy Bluebell

Before the card, thanks so much for the interesting and thoughtful comments on my last post.  

Some resonated with me immediately.  Others are food for thought.  The two themes that resonated right off the bat were how similar we all are.  Sometimes it is easy to forget the common experiences and reactions we have.  The other theme that struck a chord in a big way was the "need to please" comments.  Wow, you ladies should charge by the hour! 

Not sure what path the restlessness will take, but I see good things ahead!

And now another card made with Bestsy Bluebel from Penny Black --

Card Construction Details:

1.  Stamped Betsy with Memories Black Dye ink twice on white cardstock and once on Eclipse Masking Tape.  Trimmed the mask, covered the image and added an additional ballon (the one with the lady bug).

2.  Colored the image and balloons on the extra image with Prismacolor Pencils.  Cut out the 3 balloons on the extra image.

3.  Covered image and extra balloons with a Versamark pen and clear embossing powder (3 times to get a smooth finish).

4.  Die cut image with a nestability die and sponged Ranger Distress inks (Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade) around the image for a background.

4.  Stamped over the image with an Impression Obsession background (Cover a Card Gradation) that I misted with water. 

5.  Took the die and traced around with a pencil on white cardstock.  Hand cut to make the layer.  Covered with Ranger Distress Peeled Paint ink for a green background.

6.  Lavendar cardstock sponged with Crushed Concord Distress ink and stamped an Impression Obsession Cover a Card birthday sentiment background with the same ink.  Misted with water.  Lightly.

7.  Added balloons and put the whole thing together, adding some twine and a clear heart rhinestone colored with a Copic.  Finished by putting it all on an A Muse Studio vanilla card.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Happy.   The image is so cute can't help but be smiley.

 

Restless and Looking for Ideas

in many aspects of my life (I think all except my marriage).  Maybe I'm in a mid life crisis.  At least I hope so!

Looking to change up some things and want to start with papercrafting/stamping (easier than quitting my job and moving).  Not sure where I am going with this but am interested if you have succeeded in shaking things up with this hobby of ours. 

I've sold off, purchased, organized, pinned, not pinned, taken off time, blogged, bought, not bought, taken classes, and still feel restless. 

Maybe restlessness is just meant to be and not resolved.  Any ideas?

EDITED TO ADD:

(after reading the first 4 comments) -- very helpful to read your thoughts, even if you just say you are going through the same thing.  We can all lean on and learn from each other.... Thanks!