Sympathy News

Yesterday morning I woke up very early to create this card. I do not like making sympathy cards for obvious reasons. This one was exceptionally hard to make and I can say that I am not that pleased with the results. However, I am committed to sending it because I am not sure if the reason for my dislike is that nothing I could make would be comforting for the situation.
A young man that my husband has worked with lost his young wife and their unborn child this past week. I am unsure of all the details as I believe they are still searching for the reason this young woman died and as a result the child was lost as well. Please keep this young fireman in your thoughts and prayers today. He is left with 2 small children. I can not imagine his grief. He was always one of our favorites on my husband's shift. Such a sweet guy! So keep him in your thoughts today and hug your family! I am hoping to post later with something much more uplifting. I am stamping like crazy this weekend. Yeah!

Stamps: Inspired By Nature, Warmest Regards, Weathered, Pocket Silhouettes Ink: White Craft SU, Not Quite Navy, Kiwi Kiss, Versamark Paper: Baja Breeze, NQNavy, Vanilla Other: Target $ Spot brads, Large Oval Punch, Kiwi/Vanilla Satin Ribbon, sponges, Classy brass template Pick a Petal, Metallic Pencils.

I can't remember the name of the Technique for this card. Basically you stamp your image in White Craft Ink on dark cardstock, let dry and then trace over or color the image with colored pencils. I also sponged the edges of the scalloped circle that I traced and cut out from the Classy Brass template to add some depth.

Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful Saturday!

NIKKI

Kristina Werner's Color Combo

I look forward to Kristina's Color Challenge each week.

These are the colors we were instructed you use: Choc.Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Kiwi Kiss and Very Vanilla. You may check out Kristina's blog here. Here is my take on the Challenge.
I will post more after I make dinner...my most unfavorite chore in the world.

Ok....I'm back and love it when dinner turns out to actually consist of breakfast food. Love that! Now onto the details of this card.
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Ink: Choc. Chip Craft, Stampin Write markers in Pumpkin Pie and Close to Cocoa. My own kiwi kiss "marker" (see previous post on how to do this here)
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Choc Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Watercolor
Accessories: Hobby Lobby half pearls, Scalloped Edge Punch, Piercing tool, Choc Chip Taffeta Ribbon, Horizontal Punch, Clear EP and Dimensionals.

I'm off to finish some other projects I am working on and will post them tomorrow. Happy Friday!

Question of the Week

What is your favorite thing about fall?

I absolutely LOVE fall for so many reasons. It is my favorite time of the year. My most favorite thing is the smell in the air. It is even better if there are leaves burning. And I love that I can finally wear jeans. After shaving my legs all summer it is a nice break:) I also love making homemade applesauce and eating it on pancakes. Yum! Ok, I will stop there but I really do have a few more. Leave a comment please!

A Birthday Here, A Birthday There, A Birthday Everywhere

It seems as though we know so many people with birthdays these last few weeks and coming up. Stampin Up is also celebrating their 20th Birthday! You may check out the special they have going on here. So, I have been making quite a few birthday cards. I really wanted to start doing a WORK IT GIRL WEDNESDAY, but I was feeling a bit under the weather the last few days and so we are just pretending that today is Wednesday as I post this. WORK IT GIRL WEDNESDAY will consist of me trying to get my MOJO on. These creations will be something I came up with on my own....with out any type of CASING....or so I hope. So here is my first WIGW creation:

Stamps: Party Hearty (special this month), Starring You. Ink: Baja Breeze, Galaxy Marker Cosmet Copper. Paper: Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Whisper White, DCWV Fall Color Collection. Accessories: Ribbon from Target $ Spot, Copper cording(SU retired), Sandylion Stickers (CLEARANCED!), SU Top Note Die Cut, CuttlebugSwiss Dots Embossing Folder, Coluzzle Cutting System, Dimensionals.

The reason I love this card:

First, the colors are so unlike me.

Second, I used up some of my scraps...WooHOO!

If any of you have been to my classes you know I have a lot of scrap. Yes, there is an "S" on the front of this word. I have the other too but that is another story. So, anyways, my goal is to get through this pile of "S"crap. I also love that I got to use my new Die Cut from SU. This is a backordered item and I have been patiently waiting for it to arrive and I have ta say...it was worth waiting. I love it and can't wait to use it in my next class! It is an exclusive die cut that you can only get through SU so send me an email if you would like one. It works with the BIG SHOT that is now sold through SU and when purchased as a starter kit edition will automatically qualify you for hostess benefits. I will also include FREE SHIPPING on this order should you decide to make this purchase through me. The link will take you to the online store, however, you must order directly through me for this special deal to apply.

So, are you wondering how I got the 2 different colors onto the "B is for birthday" stamp? Some of you may already know that you just use 2 different colored markers and color directly onto the area of the stamp that you want that color...then huff on it and stamp. But,"SU doesn't make markers for the IN COLOR series of inks " you're thinking, right? ( I do not know why so don't ask) Well, I'm going to show you what to do. Very easy really and you will thank me for introducing this idea to you. It is not my own. I'm not sure whose it is...but I love passing on and sharing knowledge. So here goes:

You need these 2 items:

The Baja Breeze reinker and a product called Fantastix by Tsukineko. These come in a package of like 5 or 6 and you can get them in a brush or blunt tip. Mine here is the brush tip. They are relatively inexpensive. Around $3-5 a pack depending on if you wait for a SALE:)

Now simply add a drop or two to the tip of the brush and voila! you have created your own Baja Breeze Marker. The secret is to not put too much ink on the tip. It doesn't have to be saturated to work. Should the ink dry out simply add another drop of reinker. To finish I label the name of the ink color on the "marker" with a Sharpie.

Proceed by coloring in your image with your new "marker" then huff (like you would to clean a pair of glasses) and stamp.

I hope to post my Question of the Week when I return home from work. Hope you have a blessed day!

Back Home

So, you know how when you are doing something you say " When we look back on this later we will laugh"? Well, that was the start of our camping trip. It took us 2 tries to get the pop up set up. It was sooo much easier in the back yard. But after a little help from our fellow campers, completely taking the pop up down and setting it up again.... we did it! Of course we didn't eat until almost 8:30 that night. Thank goodness for hot dogs or it would have been much later. By day 2 we were loving the life of relaxation. We had such a great time just hanging out. But we didn't need those towels after all. The bathrooms were...well can you say "BLEK!" I know it is camping but, hello, doesn't anyone ever check them out?! So we came home stinky, relaxed and a bit tired...but in a good way.

Ok, I have one quick, funny story out of several...including the one where my husband thought he saw a skunk on the campsite next to us, then figured out it was just their dog, then realized that in fact it really WAS a skunk!

So onto the story of my daughter who is really a very sweet, quite religious child. She still thinks that "stupid" and "shut up" are bad words. So imagine my surprise when in the middle of the day on Saturday she goes into the bed portion of the pop up to change and comes out whining as says " Gosh Mom, it's hotter than hell in there". I wanted to laugh but instead explained that the "h" word was really a bad word. She had no idea...I mean they sometimes say it at church when they talk about the devil. So anyways, it was pretty funny and she was slightly embarrassed.

So, more for family than anything here are some pics of our first camping trip with just our family:

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I hope to post a card later. Stay tuned

Question of the Week

I wanted to include a question of the week onto my blog. So my first question is this:

What is your favorite color?

I think this is such a simple question but one that provokes a lot of thought. For me there are different answers depending on what I am thinking about. I mean my all time favorite color is green. But I never wear it because I don't like how I look in green. My favorite color to wear is blue. And when I am stamping or decorating I like to use earthy, fall type colors.

I find that colors speaks to different people in different ways. Below is a list of colors and what they "mean". What do your colors say about you?




Color
Meaning
RED:
warmth, love, anger, danger, boldness, excitement, speed, strength, determination, desire, courage
ORANGE:
cheerfulness, low cost, affordability, enthusiasm, stimulation, creativity
YELLOW:
attention-grabbing, comfort, liveliness, cowardliness, hunger, optimism, overwhelm, Summer, comfort, liveliness, intellect, happiness, energy
GREEN:
durability, reliability, environmental, luxurious, optimism, well-being, nature, calm, relaxation, Spring, safety, honesty, optimism, harmony, freshness
BLUE:
peace, professionalism, loyalty, reliability, honor, melancholia, boredom, coldness, Winter, depth, stability, professionalism, honor, trust
PURPLE:
power, royalty, nobility, elegance, sophistication, artificial, luxury, mystery, royalty, elegance, magic
GRAY:
conservatism, traditionalism, intelligence, serious, dull, uninteresting
BROWN:
relaxing, confident, casual, reassuring, nature, earthy, solid, reliable, genuine, Autumn, endurance
BLACK:
Elegance, sophistication, formality, power, strength, illegality, depression, morbidity, night
WHITE:
Cleanliness, purity, newness, virginity, peace, innocence, simplicity, sterility, snow

I had to look up pink seperately

Pink:calm feelings, to neutralize disorder, relaxation, acceptance, contentment, color of beauty

BAJA WEDDING

Here is a quick post of another card I created using the beautiful paper from SU's Urban Garden. I have to admit that when I first saw the new In Color called Baja Breeze I thought is was just ok. But I'm really starting to like it. I made this card because I need a card for a wedding we are going to in Oct.


You can't really tell from the picture but I used the iridescent ice embossing powder on the main image as well as the sentiment at the bottom. How'd I do it you ask? Well, it's really pretty easy. First you ink up your image with versamark and then ink with the baja breeze. Stamp and cover with the iridescent ice and heat. Voila! Sparkle added in detail. I did something a bit different with the sentiment . However, you could do the same technique as above only using Chocolate Chip ink. (HERE IS AN IMPORTANT TIP: If you are making several of the same card, make sure to wash your stamp before you ink up with the versamark again or you will have a nice image on your versamark pad.)


Ok, moving on from that side note. THis is how I did the bottom. I used Chocolate Chip CRAFT ink and stamped onto the designer paper. Then I applied the embossing powder and heat set with my heating gun.

You can see from the image at the top the sparkly detail. This is enclosed in a chipboard frame. I covered this several times with the Chocolate Chip CRAFT ink.

Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Pocket Silouhettes, Heard From the Heart

Ink: Baja Breeze, Craft Choc Chip, Versamark

Paper: Urban Garden DP, Baja Breeze, Whisper White

Accessories: iridescent ice embossing powder, On Board Essentials, Choc Chip Taffeta ribbon, Vintage Brads, embossing buddy.( This is a must to reduce stray flecks of you embossing powder)