Coaster projects

If you remember, a while back I won some blog candy from Kristine at Ink Something! It included 5 coasters. I had never made anything with a coaster but had seen lots of fun projects that I wanted to try. Well, today I decided to just give it a whirl on my own. I really didn't have any inspiration for these so I was pretty proud of what I came up with. I found these little hinges for hanging things on the wall and they worked out well for these.

The first one was a wall hanging for the holidays. I had this set of glittery Christmas 3-D stickers. I knew I wanted to do words and these stickers. This was the end result. I embossed the letters with gold embossing powder.

For the second project I wanted something where pictures could be added. I knew I wanted to use a wide ribbon to attach the coasters together. I only had a few different wide ribbons in purple tones. I dug through my stash to find any embellishments that were of the purple variety. I then added a place on each one where I stamped an image and saying so that the wall hanging could be used as is but I put the images in enough so that if someone wanted to add a picture you wouldn't see what was stamped.

I really love how both of these projects came out. I definitely want to try some other coaster projects because these were super simple and a lot of fun to make.

Happy Halloween

I know it's early but I wanted to share our Halloween digital scrapbook page we made last night.

Slacking on posts

I told you a while ago that I was in a bit of a stamping funk. I just haven't found much motivation and I haven't really stamped much of anything for a while. I keep thinking of it and then I get started but never finish any projects. I haven't even been reading too many blogs. I guess it was just time for a break.

It certainly doesn't help that I have been super busy. It seems like every weekend there is something else that I have to get done or places to go and that leaves very little time for stamping. Normal week nights aren't available because I work 10 hour days and when I get home it's dinner time and homework with my oldest. After getting them ready and into bed I only have an hour or so. It really makes it difficult to accomplish anything else during the week.

I haven't given up but I am waiting to naturally get inspired to get stamping again. If you haven't given up on me yet I will get more posted...hopefully soon.

Man Made Card

This video is hilarious. This is the extreme most men would go to if asked to make a card. My hubby just rolled his eyes. Go check it out at: Man Made Card

I've been tagged

I have seen this all over the place and now I have been tagged. I was tagged by Jennifer at Stampin' Crazy.

This one is quite amusing!
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet, current car) Cat Chevette
2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream, favorite cookie) Cake Resses Chip
3. YOUR FLY “GUY/GIRL” NAME: (first initial first name, first 3 letters last name) K-Bot
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Purple Kitten
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Marie Milwaukee
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters last name, first 2 letters first name) Botka
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink and add” the”) Red Mountain Dew
8. NASCAR NAME: (first names of your grandfathers) George James
9. STRIPPER NAME: (favorite perfume, favorite candy) Happy Chocolate
10. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s and father’s middle names) Christian Lee

I'm supposed to tag 5 other people....
Laura - Whirlpool of Imagination
Sarah - Stash...Stash...And More Stash...
Marni - Stamp Monkeys
Lanel - Random Ramblings and Charming Tales
"Harmony" - Harmony in Motion

This was more difficult than I expected. I picked people that I didn't see have been tagged yet. I also use a few of the personal blogs that I read regularly. I hope they all enjoy a break from their busy lives with something fun.

A few more cards for today

I really was on a roll today. I Just kept stamping and stamping. It felt so good to have that feeling again and the desire to create. I probably over did it but I still had a lot of fun. Here are a few more cards that I did today.

More Desperate Stamper sketches

If you remember, I participated in a sketch challenge posted by Sara on her Deperate Stamper blog. She is posting 27 card sketches in 27 days. I loved the idea and made sure I started these challenges. I sort of fizzled out after the first one. I had every intention of participating as she posted each sketch. Needless to say, it didn't happen.

Today I knew I was going to have lots of time to stamp and I started with Sara's sketches. I printed them all out as a sort of map for my card making today. I picked out the papers I was going to use and then started putting things together. I had sooo much fun. I felt so creative today. I used her sketches as a starting point and everything else just came together. I didn't make a card for all of her sketches today but I did manage a few. Without further ado, here they are.

Sketch 6:

Sketch 7:

Sketch 10:

Sketch 18:

More manila file folder albums

I was going to save them for later in the week if my creativity was still at a stand still but here's a couple of more of the albums I made yesterday.

I can't tell you how much fun I had designing these. They were a little time consuming but really easy to make. I already have plans to make more but decided to put them on hold while I get more supplies.

A fun little project

I know I have been slacking on the blog lately. Actually I have been missing a little of my creativity in the last few weeks. I have that happen from time to time. I get so busy with other things that when I do get time to stamp or create I just don't feel like it. If I force myself to sit down and make something it really feels forced and I don't like anything I come up with.

I did get all my blog feeds switched over to Bloglines and I really like it. While I don't have time to keep up with all 400+ feeds on a daily basis, I do try to read as many as possible. After a week I was able to catch up on them all. I think this will work out quite well. The best part is the feature where you can "clip" a blog posting to save it in a special folder for reading later. I have a few different folders set up. I created one for blog candy, sketch challenges and another for card projects and ideas I want to try later. It's kind of my inspiration area.

This afternoon I went through my project folder and found something that looked like it would be fun to try. It is a manila folder Album. This was posted by Taylor at Taylored Expressions. I just so happen to have a ton of manila folders laying around so I just had to give it a try. Here is my first creation.

I can see so many uses for this. It could be a great album to carry around to show off your latest pictures of your kids. It could be fantastic for a new Grandma to show off her beautiful new grandchild. It could be a place to keep notes and shopping lists. I also think it would make a great Christmas/Holiday organizer. You could keep a to do list, notes, shopping list and then store all of your receipts. This is definitely one of my favorite projects so far. I had so much fun making this that I made a few more styles too. I will save those for posting later in the week.

Thanks Taylor for sharing this great tutorial.

I finally made something I like

I promised myself at the beginning of this weekend that I would sit down and stamp for as much time as possible. I tried to do it last night and I really don't care for anything I came up with. I tried following a few sketch challenges for inspiration but I think that hindered my progress even further. Then tonight I spent a while browsing the gallery at SCS. I always find inspiration over there. I settled on the Baroque Motif set and said I was going to make some Christmas cards with this set. I knew I had seen some beautiful works with this set. Sure enough I found lots of cards that I wanted to try. I ended up only have a short time left to stamp this evening and here is what I came up with.



I am quite pleased with how these came out. Like I said, I found my inspiration at SCS. I made a few changes to the designs I found and did cards in opposite colors to see which I might like better. I can't choose a favorite out of any of these designs.

I also found a new favorite product. The Stardust Glitter Pen that I received with my blog candy from Kristine at Ink Something! Those things are like magic. If you have never tried these pens before you HAVE to. They really are amazing.