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!