Arizona!

Recently I was poking through my box of cards kept over the years so I could update the bulletin board with more seasonal cards.  I came across this card I made years ago at a Copper Leaf workshop.

Everything about this card is things I hate--stamping all over for a background, check; heat embossing, check; weird color combos, check; and layering until the darn thing requires extra postage and careful handling, check.  Yet, still I love this card.  Sometimes when you combine enough things you can't stand the outcome is brilliant.

The Fine Print: All stamps by Copper Leaf Creations.  For all you metalheads out there I'm sorry that you now have the Scorpions "Arizona" song stuck in your heads.  No, wait. I'm not sorry.  That song is even more brilliant than this card.

Merry Monday: Fa La Lah!

It is time for a Merry Monday challenge! I had a choice of music or carolers and I went for both after thinking I wasn't going to have either.  I had to dig deep into my Christmas stamp stash to find this stamps and then was tickled to find the strip of designer paper with music on it. Thus this card was born.  It's okay that the music paper was in with the Valentine stuff and therefore is probably love sonnets, right?

Since the two strips of designer paper are snippets I'm going to join in at the Snippet Playground too.  I promise next time I come play it will be something other than a Christmas card! 

Or maybe I had my fingers crossed when I said that.  You never know with me.
Update: This card got me an honorable mention over at the Merry Monday Challenge Blog. That's not too bad at all for throwing some snippets 'n stuff together.

The Fine Print: I've got nothing to add here because I forgot to look who made the stamp before I put it away (and I'm not in the same building as it anymore, nor even on that side of town).  It's an old stamp and one of my favorites, but oddly enough I didn't see it on my blog previously.

Inhale Deeply

There is a smoke shop (they sell drug paraphernalia, don't let the name fool you) in town named Enhale.  Whenever I see that sign it just reinforces the stereotype of a uneducated hippie stoner too baked to be able to spell correctly.  When you are trying to pretend to be an upstanding, law abiding business I don't think this is what you want to project.

Then again, I suppose it might appeal to your target audience, who is probably so wasted that they'd spell it the correct way on accident. Dude.

The Fine Print: If you don't talk to your cat about catnip, who will? Really old stamps by Stampin' Up (oldies but goodies, gotta love the classics.  Dude.

Workdesk Wednesday--With an Answer

The Desk.  With Charles.

It's that time for the greatest blog hop on earth--What's on Your Workdesk Wednesay--where we all dash about to look at each others desks and crafting projects and babble inanely (maybe that last part is just me).  In last week's WOYWW post I asked a question about what you would do with your crafting stash if you were given a set time to live. Most of you had plans to give your crafting stuff to those who would love and appreciate it.  The thought was two-fold--make sure it had a good home and keep those left behind from having to deal with it. It's a nice sentiment and all, but not for me. See my hubby wouldn't part with a single thing to make life easier for me.

The Man Cave. With Man.

So why should I part with a single thing to make it easier for him?  Plus, he plans to use my crafting stash to lure in a new wife.  If I had a set time frame to live it would be in my husband's best interest if I went out and bought more! I could invest in something really special like say the entire line of Tattered Lace dies so he could lure in a quality wife once I was gone.

Anyway, I cleaned off the desk in disgust because I have many UFOs (unfinished objects) stacked up on my desk.  They've been piled on my desk for a long time now and I need to finish them and move on.  One thing is embarrassingly from last August and they date through then to some current things from last week.  My goal is to complete these items before moving on to anything else.  We'll see about that!

The Fine Print: The goal to finish these off is happening! These pictures are from last night and this morning I finished off all the cards with the feathers on them.  Maybe I should work on that thing from August next...

Blown Away by Love: SOS #187

Shopping our Stash's challenge this week is all about Love.  Love, love, love, LUUUURVE!  Sweetie schnook'ems pookie bear...  I wub woo!  Doesn't that make you want to gag? 

Let me show you the love!

I recently overheard some girls gushing about a date one of them was going to go on.  Abigail told Betthany (you know, Girl A and Girl B) how Studly was going to pick her up at 7 o'clock and they were going to go out for drinks, then to dinner, then see a movie, and go to another bar for dancing.  There may have been bowling, road tripping, mountain climbing and a dwarf toss or two in there too. I don't as I got lost in the details because that seemed like a god awful lot to do in one evening.  Then again I'm the type who turns into a pumpkin at 9 pm.  But when it comes to young love, who can say what one is willing to do all in one evening.

I never really dated much, or possibly even at all.  Hubby and I have been married for at least a couple of decades and we've never done date night.  In fact, we both have commented that we don't even know how to date.  I understand that a nice sit down dinner and a movie is frequent date combination, but I don't get it.

 How can you time it so your dinner is over in time to go to the movie?  What if the service is slow?  What if your dinner is served quickly? Then what?  Do you just sit there, restless, making moonie eyes at each other while the wait staff frets at their table turnover rate? Or do you just go and hang out in the theater and watch the "coming attractions" over and over until you want to hang yourself?  That would mean you actually have to spend time conversing with each other?! None if this sounds like a pleasant date.

And what is with these pre-dinner drinks at another location?  Isn't it cheaper just to pop a shot at home? Shouldn't you not be drinking and driving anyway?   What if traffic sucks and you miss your dinner reservation?  What if between dinner and drinks you consume so much you don't have room for popcorn at the movie?! And then more drinks and dancing afterward?!  What do you think I am? An Olympian?

Nope, dating just never was for me. But those kids today.... blown away by young love...

The Fine Print: My stash was thoroughly shopped for this card.  That wavy corrugated cardstock has been around for forever! Plus I have a huge VD (that's Valentine's Day) designer paper stash that simply needs to be used.  Stamp by Penny Black, heart die by Simon Says, heart punch by Marvy, other stuff from my stash.  Maybe it is a guy thing, that dinner and movie combination timing.  I know we've pulled it off before.  Well, lunch and a movie.  And a trip to Pet Smart, which you can use to fill that awkward time. Probably not conducive to young love though.

Rudolph Day--New Location

It is Rudolph Day again! This year it is hosted by Scrappymo and you can check it out HERE.  Rudolph Day was dreamed up to give us a head start on Christmas cards for the year and gosh knows I need all the help I can get.

Lately a lot of folks have been recycling Christmas cards, cutting up store bought ones they received to re-purpose them into new (and sometimes improved) holiday cards.  I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and try that out.

I selected a long card that had three snowman buddies on it and cut them out separately.  I had intended to make all three into cards but only got the one done. The whole crafty thing just wasn't happening this weekend.  Stay tuned, one of these days this fellow's two buddies will make an appearance here.

The Fine Print: Stitched circle die by MFT, snowflake die by A Muse Studio (retired), designer paper by DCWV, ribbon and tiny button from my stash.

Slider Card: Blast from the Past

Over the holidays I tidied up my notebook of techniques, which had morphed into two notebooks, several file folders, and random piles.  While I was sorting them I came across an oldie but goodie: the slider card.

You pull the tab and the front middle section slides upward.  The focal image pops out at you and two spaces for secret messages are revealed.  One is on the tab itself and the other is below.

I made this card just like I learned back in the dark ages, where you slather the back of the patterned piece with adhesive so all parts stick and continue to do so once you slice it all up.  That makes the slicing and the scoring a bit more difficult because you are dealing with two layers.  Since that is how I learned to do it; that's how I made it.  Back in those days patterned paper was always text weight, never cardstock weight.  Well, nowadays that's not always so.  That means when I make another one I'll be sure to use patterned cardstock for the front!

The Fine Print: Hedgehog by Penny Black, Hearts and Heart Greeting by DeNami Designs, Pull by Hero Arts alapabet set, dies by Spellbinders and MFT.  Thank you Laura Zak for teaching me this!

Bowties, Bojangles, and Bears on Bikes

I lied.  There aren't actually any bojangles in this post.  But there are some adorable little bow ties.

And even a bear on a bike.  Okay, so that's really a trike, but you know, close enough.

The bowties are from a SU Workshop that I did not attend this past Monday.  They were sweet enough to make me a card from the workshop though.  They were trying out the new bowtie punch from Stampin' Up.  The bear is from my deceased friend's stash.

The Fine Print: It's Friday, who cares about anything else!  Top card: everything by Stampin' Up; bottom card: nothing by Stampin' Up.  Yeah, that's all I got for you.

Friend to Friend

A recent friends card posted over in Pixie's Crafty Workshop encouraged me to break out some friendly stamps and make a friends card too.  I can't join in the friends challenge because it is hosted by Less is More which is all about clean lines, simplicity, and less.  I'm all about more is more with lots of this and that.  That's why I own all those embellishments, you know.

The flowers on this designer paper are sparkly and glittery. I thought about glittering the paper flowers too but decided that was overkill.  See, I know that more is more does have a limit!

The Fine Print: Friends stamp by Stampin' Up, scallop die by Spellbinders sponged with Marvy light green ink, paper flowers by Prima, paper flowers, designer paper and ribbon from my stash.

Workdesk Wednesday with a Question

Howdy, Workdesk Wednesday Folks and Passersby!  Just to prove to y'all that I do indeed know how to make a mess, here it my desk from Monday afternoon.  Monday was a holiday for me so I got to play all afternoon.

I was going to leave it messy for you until Wednesday but I have these evil cats that will throw things on the floor, hide things under the sofa, and break things (like that big glass jar of flowers, they'd love to see that shatter). So here is the real Wednesday desk:

Look! The glass jar of flowers shrank-lol.  I have some things here that I might play with after work this week.  The stamps in a baggie were given to me by a coworker.  I love unexpected presents!  The Brilliance inkpads are from a friend's storage so I was going to see if they had any life left.  The Hello Fall stamp set is all leaves that if you do in light green makes them springlike.

For my question, if you were diagnosed with a terminal illness and given roughly six months to live what would you do in reference to your crafty stash?  Would you keep it as is, leave it to your survivors to sort through?  Would you add to it hoping to beat the odds?  Would you make sure certain items had loving homes?  Would you discreetly start downsizing so your relatives wouldn't know the extent of it? Or something else completely?  Tell me in the comments!

I'll leave you with this sweet House Mouse card I received from a swapping friend.  I love that it is wintery, glittery, and cold looking but the promise of spring is there with the pink and the red berries.

The Fine Print: No, I've not been diagnosed with a terminal illness.  The ink pads and small jar of flowers came from a friend's crafting estate (which has been in storage for awhile).  It was bittersweet looking through her stuff, so many of her stamps I recall her using, sharing with us and enjoying yet it was sad too. She had so many wonderful things! I wondered what she would have done with her stash if she had known she was going to pass away soon.  That got me wondering what anyone would do.

Bugging Me

This is a scheduled post because it is the first day of school so I have to be on the front lines listening to all those stupid questions that people who don't work in customer service insist don't exist.  I have the mantra at the ready: this may be the one thousandth time you've been asked this question but it is the first time asking it for the person speaking.  What the heck, it's a living.  And it is fun... in slow down to look at the car wreck kind of way.

Meanwhile, in preparation I got all crazy with dots and made this love bug notecard.  Pink and black together always make me smile.

The Fine Print:  All products by A Muse Studio, My Punny Valentine stamps and matching dies, stitched tag die, Valentine and tuxedo washi tape, blush, grapefruit and onyx polka dot cardstock, and onyx and white baker's twine.  You know what Mister Garrison in South Park says. Feel free to put what he says in the comments.  There is a prize involved if you know it.

Butterfly Snippets

I haven't done too well with getting more Valentine's cards made so I decided the least I could do was use up some of these VD themed snippets I have:

I puttered around with them and came up with this simple card.  I had a hard time getting a good shot of this card.  Either the glitter heart or the butterfly's shadow was insisting on being a problem so I finally took it outside and held it into the sun.

I really wanted you to see that the butterfly had a brad for a head.  That way I could enter him into Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge where you were to use a butterfly (of course) and a brad. I know that isn't a very exciting use of a brad, but it is there.

After making the first card I thought that design would make a nice sympathy card so I made this second card.  The papers I used were all snippets so I'm going to trot over to the Snippet Playground for the second week in a row.  Probably the world is going to end or something.

The Fine Print: Designer papers from my stash, butterfly die by PoppyStamps "Theo," love greeting by DeNami and sympathy greeting by Endless Creations. Amount of dent put into my Valentine stash: not a bit.

Nature Abhors a Vacuum

You know how it goes, just when you think things are one way, Mama Nature comes along to set you straight.  I was just thinking to myself the other day that we seemed to have a bit of extra money this month.

Since Nature abhors a vacuum she promptly kicked an unexpected household expense my way.  And apparently Mama N really hates vacuums, because she made mine roll over and die.

And I didn't just have any vacuum either. I had one of those high end Dyson machines that start with a large one digit number and then has a couple zeros after it.  I don't know what Nature was thinking because I didn't have that much of a surplus this month.

I'm linking up with the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge this week because Anything Goes and my vacuum cleaner sure up and went.

The Fine Print: They say it isn't nice to fool Mother Nature, but She sure has no problems messing with us!  Stamps by Paper Smooches "Squeaky Clean," designer paper by My Mind's Eye, dies by Spellbinders, ribbon and glitter brad from my stash.

Frilly Scrollwork Heart

I pulled out my drawer of hearts and Valentine's stamps today.  I decided it was time to get serious about making Valentine's cards.  Right after that I realized that it was a beautiful day so I ran outside to play.

Afterwards I came in and made this card.  I've always thought bright green and pink looked fun together so this card made me very happy.  The stamp is an oldie and I admire it every year, but do I actually use it?  Honestly I'm not sure if I've used it before now, but here it is.

I've commented to several people lately that I discovered a huge stash of vellum in the closet and that vellum needs to make a comeback so I can use it up. I guess it is up to me to start the trend, so look!  Vellum!  Now run to your stash and gets yours out so you can be on the cutting edge of this return trend.

The Fine Print: Rosebud Heart stamp by Hero Arts, Liquid Pearl dots by Ranger, designer paper, vellum, and ribbon from my stash.  I was worried about the scrollwork ribbon over the patterned paper but embraced my inner Janeen and went with it. She combines patterns and elements so well!

Snippet Christmas Critters

After I made yesterday's Christmas cards I dutifully picked up the 422 different items I had to drag out to make those cards. I was feeling all smug about myself for keeping tidy when I realized that I left the leftover designer paper bits out on my desk.

So I pulled out the same stamp set and some other leftover bits and bobs to whip out these Christmas cards using up the paper snippets.  Seriously, it is going to take me the rest of my life to use up all my designer Christmas paper if I make sure to use every single scrap.

I also used some of the scrap loose ribbon I have and random pieces of cardstock for the images and layers.  There are lots of snippets on these cards, including the card bases which have been in my possession for a long time.  It feels good to use up all those little stashes of surplus.

I'm linking this up with Pixie's Crafty Snippet Playground. I haven't visited in so long I hope they remember me!

"The Fine Print: Stamp set by Taylored Expressions "Deck the Halls," stitched circle die by MFT, scallop square and square dies by Spellbinders, designer paper by DCWV, ribbon and eyelets from my stash.

New Critter Christmas! Merry Monday 141

I was so happy when the holidays and the holiday hoopla was over so I could get back to the business of making Christmas cards (which makes perfect sense if you live inside my brain).  I was quite tickled with how my playing along with Merry Monday netted me quite the stash of Christmas cards before the holidays so I could be all bah-humbuggy during them.

With that in mind I decided I needed to play along with Merry Monday again this year.  I'm even going to try to play along in the summer when it is so hot the asphalt is melting (oddly enough, it is really hard to think Christmas then).

The latest challenge is to create a Christmas card with critters.  Well, I can do that! In fact, I can use my Never Before Used Stash (NBUS) which is a brand spanking new Christmas Critter set.  Here we go:

Yeah I know I got all over-achievey and made two of them, but this is a fun set and I have a ridiculous amount of Christmas designer paper to use up.  I hope you enjoyed my holiday selection.  If you are feeling Merry and Bright join in at Merry Monday and make a Christmas Critter Card or if you have some NBUS you need to try out join Darnell at her NBUS Challenge #3.

The Fine Print: Speaking of over-achievey--look at me joining two challenges at once.  That's rather unheard of for me, but maybe I'm turning over a new leaf. HA!  Christmas Critter set by Taylored Expressions "Deck the Halls," holly dies by A Muse Studio (retired), stitched circle die by MFT, scallop circle and square dies by Spellbinders, designer paper by DCWV, ribbon and bling from my stash.

Today's Workspace #293

I have to admit that my desk is boringly tidy again today.  I had to pick it up last night because I had loose dies and stamps rolling around, threatening to be lost forever.  Besides I was trying to figure out what to work on next and thought a clean slate would help me decide (it helped me decide I should go to bed).

I have a new desk organizer up top! I ditched the old one with the tape dispenser since apparently tape is very tasty to certain cats. I got these new tape dispensers which so far are proving to be cat-proof.  I like the washi tape one so I can keep my current go-to tapes on my desk.  You can set them up so when you open the dispenser all the tapes have a piece pulled out. I opted not to do that because I plan to swap out tapes fairly often.

Since my desk is dull here is my craft shelf across the room.   Since this is my living room my goal is to replace the plastic bins with... um.... NOT plastic bins.  It is slow going since I have to find things I like and that look good together, plus not plastic is not cheap!  The newer bins hold less but that encourages me to downsize.

Least you think that is all the stamps I own, let me share with you a peek into the hall closet.  That's where the mother lode is.

If you like to check out other people's work desks, work spaces, and on-going projects go visit What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday and have a poke about.  Before I leave you, here are a few of things I think I'll be working on over the next week. I still have all the die cuts from last week but I had to tuck them away because those are tasty to cats too.

The Fine Print: Anyone notice the cards on the bulletin broad behind my desk? They range from fall, to H'ween, to Christmas, to New Year's to Valentine's.  I am slowly transitioning new ones up.  The washi tape dispenser is by Scotch tape. It came from Staples.  You need one.  I don't care if you own more than 10 rolls of tape, you need one for your desk, cats or no cats.

Happy New Year!

I finally got around to making the couple of new year cards I had thought out.  I figure the year is still new enough for these cards to be timely.  I decided the embrace the late night partying aspect of ringing in the new year instead of the sleeping through it aspect I actually do.

I used to have neighbors just like this tom cat.  Luckily they moved away since they celebrated not only new years but new months and sometimes even rang in new weeks.  And they helped themselves to the contents of the storage sheds and cars whenever they felt like it.

I hope 2015 is treating you right!

The Fine Print: Stamp by Rubber Hedgehog, designer paper by DCWV, silver cardstock and ribbon from my stash.

Fool Me Twice

I've had this stamp set sitting on or around my desk for awhile now.  It was one I was thinking about selling because I couldn't get it to stamp very well.  The stamps are clear acrylic, not deep cut at all and couldn't stamp a clean image to save their life.  It seemed like no matter how carefully you placed the stamp on the block they got an air bubble in them that lead to an uneven stamped image.

I wasn't quite ready to part with them because I felt I hadn't given them a fair shake.  I'd only tried them once or twice, got frustrated and gave up.  I always felt I should try different inks and different paper.  Then again I wasn't sure why I felt that as I wasn't that keen on special needs stamps, but there you have it.

I ran across several quarter sheets of glossy cardstock so I decided to finally give them their fair shake.  If you can't get solid stamps to stamp well on glossy, then pack them in.  These stamped okay on glossy but there was still a lot of unevenness and that was with me stamping very carefully and making sure all parts of the stamp got even pressure.

I used up 3 of the 5 quarter sheets of glossy I had out when I decided that I just didn't care anymore. This set was outta here.  I don't use glossy cardstock much and there wasn't anything overly special about this stamp set to make me want to make it work.

At least I can say I tried it out thoroughly now and can pass it on with a clean conscience.  I made my experiments up into three decent cards, so life is good.

The Fine Print:  Yucky stamp set by Simon Says Stamp "Flower Friend," cardstock by Club Scrap from the kit I puttered with in yesterday's post, yellow ribbons, paper flowers, shimmer brads, and bling from my stash.  BTW, this is the stamp set that made me decide to stop getting SSS's monthly kits since it appeared they were going to always be SSS brand stamps in them.  The first few weren't bad but I didn't want to risk it.

Week Old Leftovers

This weekend I decided to poke around in some of the random boxes I have lying around and came upon some kit leftovers.  They are definitely much older than a week, or even a month, and possibly even a year.  At first I found them very inspiring and made this card.

I was impressed with the bold graphic feel to this card and couldn't wait to make another one.  I tried this and that and that and this and the other and then that thing and then some patterned paper and then back to that first thing and... eventually this card was born.

I didn't particularly like it at first but it grew on me, like mold, over the weekend.  It did, however, sour me on playing with the leftovers.  They really are mostly the kind dregs I should just add into my stash instead of keeping separate.  There are still several of these pre-printed silver and black card toppers left and I think that's why I haven't totally broken up the set yet.

The Fine Print: Top Card everything by Club Scrap "Big City, Bright Lights" kit; bottom card toppers by Club Scrap, absolutely die by Simon Says Stamp, other stuff from my stash.

Not Dead Yet

Pretend I wrote something brilliant here.

The Fine Print: All the stuff is by A Muse Studio, except that blue spiral thing, which was a challenge item (get it before you know what it is and agree to use it).  I'm a sick puppy.  I do not have intestinal fortitude. If this keeps up I suspect I won't even have intestines.  ick.

Hoppin' Bananas

I got to play a little last night.  I used a cute stamp set that was waiting for me on my desk when I got home. I made this first card because I love bananas. Currently bananas are one of the few foods I can eat that don't make my tummy bananas.

Then I moved on to this cute little bunny because he is so sweet and went so well with the heart paper I had out.  I love those stitched circles. I need more stitched dies in my life.  Maybe the VD Fairy will bring me some.

The Fine Print: VD is Valentine's Day in case you couldn't figure that out. And of course the VD Fairy is real, don't listen to your mother.  I'll bet she told you Santa wasn't real either.  Stamps by Lawn Fawn, heart paper by A Muse Studio, and stitched die by MFT.

Workdesk 292

It's a new Wednesday in a new year but it's the same old desk here in Judy Landia.  I tidied up some last night, not in anticipation of your visit but in anticipation of being able to play this evening.  I'm still having some ups and downs with this intestinal thing but it'll all work out in the end. Um... sometimes even literally.

One of the things I have front and center to play with is this fun stamp set.  I was inspired by this post on Carol's blog where she went on a mini-Valentine's card spree.  I made some similar VD cards recently and was glad she reminded me that I had this set.

Another thing I have are these items I pulled out to make a New Year's card. I pulled them out on the first but haven't gotten to them yet.  The year is still new though so it's all good.

I also have these scrumptious die cuts that were sent to me (to entice me to buy them you know). I believe they are all by Tattered Lace.  The corset is sparkly to boot!  I'm looking forward to using them but afraid I won't do them justice.

If you'd like to see what some other crafter's are up to or view their desks, check out What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday, but don't blame me if you get addicted to it.

The Fine Print: It's all fine and good here, how about with you?