Heidi's Blog

Free Make & Take Card

2008-07-23T03:52:00.000-07:00

Every Thursday, Angela's Happy Stamper has a free make & take card. How awesome is that!? They already have the paper cut for you and all the supplies are there to make a free card in just a few minutes. This is the card from last week. I am in love with these A Muse stamps lately.

Copics

2008-07-21T03:44:00.000-07:00

So I finally got into Laura's Crazy for Copics class last weekend. She's offered it a bunch of times and every time I go to sign up, it's already full. She taught us different ways to use the Copic Markers and how to blend them. I already know I love the copics, the colors are really vivid and they're quick compared to the prismacolors & gamsol method I was using before. But, I never knew how to blend the colors together. I made this 3x3 card for a Christmas gift tag swap on the PaperCrafts site. I got to test out one of the new blending methods I learned on the trees. I used two different colors of Copics (hopefully you can see the blending toward the top of the trees). I think that tree stamp is so cute, it's one of the new stamps by A Muse. Hope you had a nice weekend!

Christmas in July

2008-07-19T03:30:00.000-07:00

I've been seeing a lot of blogs with Christmas in July posts. I'm a little late in jumping on that bandwagon. I always seem to be running behind lately. I took a class at my LSS last weekend that helped me get a jump start on my Christmas cards. It was Christmas cards using A Muse stamps, and was taught by Melinda. I love taking her A Muse classes, they are fun and relaxing. These area few of the cards I made in her class.

Outlines Jewel It Class

2008-07-17T03:09:00.000-07:00

Outlines stamp company has a new line of rubber stamps where you can make jewelery using swarovski crystals. I signed up for this jewelery class as soon as I saw the necklace in person at Angela's Happy Stamper. I could not believe it was made out of paper! And I love the way the crystals sparkle. Well apparently I signed up for it too far in advance, because class day came & went and I forgot about it. I was so mad at myself! I picked up my kit and directions last weekend and tried to make it on my own. It was so easy to make, and I love how it turned out. I took it to work to show off and everyone was amazed it was made out of paper too. One of my coworkers does a lot of ballroom dancing and wanted me to make her a pair of earrings that she can wear dancing, because it feels so light. My picture really doesn't do it justice, it's much prettier in person!

Penguin Birthday

2008-07-14T03:22:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post as I have to get ready to go to work. I made this card for a birthday card swap. I love these penguins by Memory Box. If you're not familiar with them, they have all kinds of penguins (one dressed up as a doctor, a bee, a mailman, etc). They are all really cute. I stamped the penguins and then stamped the balloon to look like they're holding it. I took two classes at my LSS over the weekend. I have cards from that to share, as soon as I have time to take pics I'll get them posted on here. Maybe later in the week. Hope you have a great week!

Recipe Cards

2008-07-12T03:38:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a couple recipe cards I've been working on lately. The first one is for a recipe swap with an "On the Grill" theme, so I chose my favorite pork chop marinade. I dry embossed the apron and used floss for the ties. That was time consuming! The Garfield Lasagna recipe was for a cartoon recipe swap. You had to choose a character and make a recipe card related to the character (another example would be Popeye and a spinach recipe.) I'm taking a couple classes at Angela's Happy Stamper this weekend, so I'll be posting more later this weekend.

Extra Postage Holders

2008-07-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

I participate in a lot of swaps. If you've ever swapped, you know you have to send some extra stamps to the swap hostess, in case your envelope weighs more on the return trip than it did when you sent it (some of the swappers may get a little embellishment heavy!) I can never seem to find a little envelope or tiny jewelery bag to put my stamps in when it's time to send my swap items to the hostess. So I decided to host a swap on the PaperCrafts site for extra postage holders. I thought it would be fun to see what everyone comes up with. I used this double sided sock monkey paper and made a little holder for my stamps. I cut a window out of the paper so you can see the inside, and put acetate in the window. I know the stamps are going to cover up the sock monkeys, but it looks cute now! I used my cuttlebug to cut some quickutz letters for the word "stamps". Finally, a project that I'm happy with how it turned out! Hope you like them too.

Pop-Up Gift Card Holders

2008-07-07T03:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! Hope you had a nice weekend. I had a nice relaxing one and got to do a lot of crafting. I'm seeing a lot of Christmas cards and projects posted on blogs this month and I'm starting to think about Christmas gifts. I found this template for a pop up gift card holder at the Stamp Shack. You have to be a member to get the template, but I don't think it's very expensive to join. I made the one above for a friend, I'm going to put an Archivers card in it. I don't have the card yet, so I put my credit card in the slot for the picture. (That's a picture of my old dog Sammy on the credit card - isn't that cool!?) The two pictures below are gift card holders I made for my niece & nephew. They would make nice Christmas gift card holders if you used Christmas patterned paper. I will probably make some more this weekend, they are addicting once you've made one!

Anniversary Card

2008-07-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

I needed to make an anniversary card and decided to copy a card I saw in a Lasting Impressions book. I thought the shoe template with the words "A Perfect Pair" would be good for an anniversary card. I dry embossed the shoes and used embroidery thread as laces.

We went and saw Hancock this afternoon, it was a cute movie. We decided to stay in and avoid the fireworks crowds this year. Rusty gets so stressed out with the fireworks booms and I hate the thought of leaving her home alone. Hope you all had a safe & happy 4th!

Easy Card

2008-07-03T03:24:00.000-07:00

This was a quick easy card. I'm not really happy with it, but that's how I've been feeling about all my cards lately. I wanted to make a card that opens differently than a normal card. I love shaped cards or cards that have unusual folds or openings. I dry embossed the flowers & the butterfly using a Lasting Impressions template, cut them out and attached them to the top flap of this card.

Cat Cards

2008-07-02T02:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting in awhile. I've been creating, but just not liking anything I make. Does that ever happen to you? I wanted to make a cat card for a friend, but I don't even think this looks like a cat! I hope with the fish, the recipients will be able to tell that it's a cat.

On a personal note, yesterday I was so happy because the Caps re-signed my fav player Mike Green. But then this morning I wake up to some depressing news, my fav goaltender didn't resign with the Caps, instead he went to Chicago. I'm so bummed out. I don't know anything about the new goaltender we're getting.

Oh! Yesterday I booked a vacation... I cannot wait! The last week-long vacation I had was in September 2003! We went on a Carribbean cruise. Since that time, I've had to take leave from work for a lot of family emergencies, putting the addition on the house, etc. So I haven't had enough leave accrued to take a nice long vacation. We're going here - to Gatlinburg TN. Don't these cabins look so relaxing!? Hope you're having a nice week!

Happy Birthday Treat Bag

2008-06-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Chrisi & I went to the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Chantilly, VA. It is a great show with tons of vendors. One of the vendors, Darcie's Stamps, had a bunch of templates and really cute stamps. I love any kind of templates or unusual shaped cards! And I'm a sucker for cute stamps. They also had some pre-printed ready-to-make boxes, bags, etc. They looked easy because I didn't have to trace the template on the paper and the images were already stamped & colored. This literally took me about 10 minutes to cut, score & put together. I spent about 15 minutes trying to tie the bow (what a pain), and I'm still not happy with how it looks. I admit I'm bow challenged! The only problem now is I don't know who I'm going to give it to and I don't have any candy to put in it!

More recipe cards...

2008-06-19T03:14:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more recipe cards I've been working on for swaps. I'm hoping by November, I'll have enough extra recipe cards that I can make a few recipe books for Christmas gifts. The first one is for a Crock Pot recipe swap. I used a Campbell's soup can stamp by Art Gone Wild. The second one is for the Iron Chef recipe swap series I'm participating in. This month's requirement was red/white/blue (either the food or your card!) and my category was desserts. I found the twinkie guy image online. This was a super easy card, no stamping, no coloring, just put it on a page.

Recipe Cards!

2008-06-16T02:53:00.000-07:00

I had a nice relaxing weekend. For once, I didn't have a hundred things to do this weekend! I slept in and was able to spend a lot of time in my craft room. I worked on a lot of swaps that I've signed up for recently, and I'm happy to say I am caught up on all of them. It feels good to be done with those commitments. Here are a few recipe cards I've been working on, the first one is for a pizza recipe swap. The second one is for a side dish recipe swap that I am hostessing. This is one of my favorite dishes, my family makes it for every holiday meal. It is wonderful, just making these cards was making my mouth water for it! Hope you had a nice weekend too!

Cupcake Shaker Card

2008-06-14T07:34:00.001-07:00

I have a lot of friends with June birthdays. I think I've sent out at least 6 birthday cards this month already! This is one of the cards I made. The stamps I used for this card are by Art Gone Wild. Each part of the cupcake is a different stamp, I think they came as a set but I can't remember. I bought them years ago. I ran the polka dot paper through a corrugator to make it look more like a cupcake wrapper. I don't think you can tell that from my picture though. I cut a box in the cupcake "frosting" and used foam tape to create the shaker box and put actual sprinkles inside!

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Finally finished the birthday book!

2008-06-10T17:23:00.000-07:00

One of the classes I took when Dee Gruenig was at my LSS was an acrylic birthday book. I didn't finish it in class, and I've been working on it almost every night. Well I finally finished it, and wow! Now I don't want to give it to anyone! I think I might send it to my mom, she turns 60 in December this year. I know it's safe to post, she has no interest in papercrafting and doesn't read my blog. All the paper was given to us so I don't know who makes the paper, but I was at AC Moore the other day and I saw the paper there for sale. All the stamps are Dee's new duet stamps. You stamp the image and then an outline of the image in black. It really makes the images pop. The page with the pocket is really a pocket, it can hold a gift card. Hope you're all having a great week!

Dee's visit last year

2008-06-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

Okay... you probably think I'm Dee obsessed or something by now.. but I'm not, I promise! I just happened to find this card when I was searching in my stash 'o cards for a wedding card for a co-worker. When Dee came to my LSS last year, I took her Vertical Inspirations card class. This is the card I made. I think this stamp set is so darn cute! Inside, there is a pop-up using one of the Judikins pop-ups. Isn't the green background and blue beneath the "Chill" awesome? It's made by just rubbing one of her blending block inkpads (it has 4 different shades of ink in one inkpad) directly onto the paper. I love the effect. Hope you're having a great week!

More Dee Gruenig....

2008-06-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

I haven't finished my project from Dee's class I took on Sunday (it's probably going to be a few days before I finish it) so thought I would share some more pics from the Saturday class. In my last post, I shared a pic of the white library pocket tag card that we made. We also made one with a black background. This is what I came up with. The cake and balloons are stamped on sticker paper and then placed on the black piece. The squiggles and Happy Birthday words on the tag are stamped with white staz-on ink and then embossed with Judikins opaque white embossing powder. Then we used Dee's brush art markers and colored over the embossing powder. The embossing powder has little nooks 'n crannies and holds the ink from the marker. It looks really cool against the black, I love the effect. The other pics are of Dee doing some demos for the class.

Dee Gruenig Weekend!

2008-06-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

Dee Gruenig is at my LSS this weekend teaching classes. I signed up for two classes, library pocket cards and an acrylic birthday book. I took the library pocket card class yesterday. Dee came to my LSS last summer, and I had such a good time I couldn't wait to take classes from her again. She is so nice and gets super excited about stamping. I better keep this short, I need to get myself ready to head out for the book class shortly. I'll post more tomorrow sometime.

Manly Card!

2008-05-31T08:22:00.001-07:00

I was cleaning out a few of the drawers in my craft room last weekend, and came across instructions from a masculine card class I took back in May 2004! It was one of the first classes I ever took at Angela's Happy Stamper, and it was taught by Laura. When I saw the instructions, I remembered that one of the cards we made had a piece of paper on it folded to look like a man's shirt. I remembered it being really easy to make and with Father's Day approaching, I thought I would try to make one. It is easy! The paper I used to make the shirt was 3"x3" and the tie was 1"x1", those were kind of small so I put the shirt on a small 4 1/4" square card. I would probably use larger pieces if I were making a normal sized card. If you want to make your own, you can find the instructions here. Hope you have a nice weekend!

Ooh-la-la Bombshell Stamps

2008-05-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

I've been joining so many swaps lately and one of them was for a card swap with a "Good Girl/Bad Girl theme". I immediately thought of the Bombshell stamp s that my neighbor Chrisi has, and asked her if I could borrow them. I talked her into joining the swap too. This is the card I came up with, the "Lil Devil" is on the inside, that picture turned out kind of dark. I colored both the images with my copics. I don't feel like I "get" the copic colorless blender. I think I'm doing something wrong with it because it's not really blending my colors. I'm dying to take Laura's Crazy for Copics class at my local stamp store so I can figure out how to use my copics, but every time she offers it, it fills up before I have a chance to sign up. I guess she's just in high demand. I think she's offering it again later in the summer, I'll have to watch for it and sign up when I see it listed.

I'm keeping this short, I was outside too much over the weekend and I'm really suffering from allergies now. My eyes have been watering all day! I'll be a happy girl once Fall comes around!

Another swap card!

2008-05-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

I've been joining so many swaps lately. I just can't help it, the swaps are so addicting!! I love seeing the cards I get back and getting new ideas from other swappers. I made this card for a swap with a theme "I scream, you scream....", and your cards had to have some sort of ice cream or popsicle or summery treat on them. I dry embossed the popsicle and had this stamp that I thought was perfect for it.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend. It's a gorgeous day here today. We're off to run some errands and then we're going to a cookout with some family this afternoon.

Snappy Birthday!

2008-05-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

I've been in a funk for the last two weeks and this is the first card I've made during that time! I've never gone that long without making a card. I made this card for a card swap I joined with an Under the Sea theme. I've had this stamp set forever, and this is the first time I've used it. I didn't know what I was missing, it's so darn cute! I plan to use it a lot more!

It's a gorgeous day here and supposed to be nice all weekend. I hope to have some crafting time but not sure it will happen, we have family in town for the weekend from Alabama. Have a great holiday weekend!

Happy 29th (or 39th) BIrthday!

2008-05-13T03:50:00.000-07:00

One of my friends celebrated her 39th birthday over the weekend. I made her this card. The plan was to put 39 scoops of ice cream on the front of the card. But, unfortunately they didn't fit!! So I decided to put 29 scoops on the front along with the saying "Happy 29th Birthday" and on the inside, I added another ice cream cone with 10 scoops and the saying says "Plus 10!" She really liked the card and had a pretty good birthday. It finally stopped raining here, after 4 days straight of nothing but rain. I think I see the sun coming out now! WooHoo! Hope you are having a great week!

Yup, Cleaning does suck!

2008-05-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

I love this new stamp set from C.C. Designs. I was going to send this to my mom for Mother's Day saying I hope she doesn't do any cleaning on Mother's Day but I think she'll take offense to the sentiment. She's pretty conservative so I'll have to come up with something else for her card. I stamped 27 of these images and made a bunch of RAK cards to send out. I used a few for a basic grey patterned paper card swap I'm in. I colored the images with my copics. Hope you don't have to do any cleaning today because cleaning sucks!