Our Little Birds

Jen, Syd & Mark got good news this week~~their new baby Eclectus has arrived!  We all met little Toby on Saturday and it was such a happy occasion. We have been waiting for him for a while and this little seven week old baby should be in his new home by Halloween.  By the time we were ready to leave little Toby, he was sound asleep against his favorite little girl. 

And I have to update you on our little Nipper!  He is so cute and such good company.  He loves to be on or next to  someone.  As you can see, when Sydney was over, he wanted to be on and near her. Nipper has come a long way in just the short time he has been here.  I look forward to letting him out of his cage in the morning while we have our coffee and read the paper and he sits on our shoulders.  He nibbles on millet or other little snacks and drinks water out of a little saucer I keep on the table for him.  And then he makes a big mess when he flaps his little wings and the little seeds fly all over the table and floor!  Last night he was in my office with me and for no reason he sat in my hand letting me pet him and he stayed there for a long while as content as can be.   I love this little guy and he has become pretty attached to me, too!!  Have a great week!

Cute Happy Birthday

Pink and orange is one color combination I really like.  Of course, over the years, I am sure you have seen many of my cards with those colors.  Today's card is Melon Mambo and Tangerine Tango. And I am once again using Pictogram Punches~~twice in a week for a stamp set I hardly use!! But today I used flowers rather than stars.  The little flower punch from  the Itty Bitty Punchy pack coordinates perfectly.  I have a large collection of framelits and thinlets and use them often.  But sometimes, having a punch is just a simpler way of doing things~~being sure the punch is lined up properly with the stamped image!! Have a great day and a great weekend, too!

Birthday Watercolor Anemones

The WPlus9 stamp set, Watercolor Anemones, is the set I used for today's card.  I have made a couple of other cards using this set but I need to set aside time to rewatch the videos and practice using the  stamps to create pretty flowers.  I started today's card by stamping the large image in Pistachio Pudding, a now retired color.  Then it was onto the flowers which I would die cut using the coordinating dies.  Each flower has a base and then two or more layers to add to the flower.  For the flowers on today's card I stamped the base in Soft Sky and the two additional stamps for each flower were inked with Pool Party.   Soft Suede finished off each of the flowers.   The Pool Party border is from My Favorite Things and the sentiment from SU's Watercolor Wishes, also stamped in Soft Suede.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Fall Sheltering Tree

I was at a loss as to what kind of card to create for today's post.  So I thought about the Fall feel in the air and went from there.  Some of the leaves are falling off our trees, but they are still green.  My card has brightly colored leaves that have not yet fallen!  I used the Sheltering Tree stamp set  creating most of the leaves using the large stamp.  But since I adhered the tree on the Espresso layer using dimensionals, I used the small stamp that has just a few little leaves on the outer edges of the tree on the card front.  I just hate to admit that Fall is around the corner.  Summer is going to quickly for me.  Have a great day!

Hexagon Birthday

My hexagon punch was on my island yesterday and I decided to use it to create the card for today's post.  Since I had a piece of black cardstock already embossed, that determined the color of the card~~black and white.  I used scraps of the neutrals DSP stack and punched 5 hexagons.  After arranging the hexagons, I realized that the punch with the script on it needed to be positioned the correct way.  No problem~~I just punched another hexagon being sure it was lined up the way I needed before I punched. The sentiment is from the And Many More stamp set, stamped and then punched using the Washi Tape punch.  The card was a little too plain, so out came a few sequins and a piece of black and white twine.  This card would be cute in a variety of colors.  Have a great day!

Trick or Treat

Today's card is a quick Halloween card.  After sponging the Tangelo Twist cardstock, I added Black shimmer tape from Close To My Heart before adhering a piece of DSP to the card front.  After stamping "Trick or Treat" on white cardstock, I also sponged the die cut square then adhered it using dimensionals.   Little black glitter stars add a little sparkle and the little spider adds a little cuteness!  The little treat bag was made using another of the DSP patterns in the Happy Haunting DSP collection.  Once again, I used black glimmer paper for the stars and also for the witch's hat.  It seems so soon to be posting Halloween projects, but when I went out for the paper this morning, I couldn't help but feel the little nip of Fall in the air.  Have a great day!

Back To School

Well school has officially started in my neighborhood.  As I watched the kids get on the bus across the street I remembered how disappointed I was when school started after summer break when my kids were young.  Back to bedtime schedules and homework and school projects. But that disappointment did not last long.  It was always easier to get back into the school routine than I thought.  So today's card is an idea for any of the moms or dads or grandparents who want to put a little something in their child's lunch or school bag as a little surprise.  I didn't have any school stamp sets, so I used Pictogram Punches for the sentiment and  star framelits and punches for all the stars.  After I made this card, I remembered that there were little apples in the Sprinkles of Life stamp set and that, too, would have made a great back-to-school card. Have a great day and enjoy the weekend!

Taupe & Black Butterfly

Today's card came about due to a card that is on the Stampin' Up! home page.  I thought that card was very pretty the minute I saw it and knew I had to create something similar.  So last night I went down to my scraproom and took out Gorgeous Grunge and For All Things.  The leaves are stamped in black and the splatter in Tip Top Taupe.  The bottom butterfly is in Taupe as is the sentiment.  The sentiment is from the stamp set Watercolor Wishes which is included in the Watercolor Wishes Card Kit.  I think I say it every time I use the stamp set, but I so like the Watercolor Wishes stamp set.  I use it over and over!  The gold thread adds a touch of elegance to the card.  I wish I would have added a little more.  Have a great day!

August Paper Pumpkin

In my mailbox yesterday was the August Paper Pumpkin box.  So I decided to make one of each

item in the kit.  You can make some cute cards with it and the box is really cute.  The three items I made took very little time and with the exception of the adhesive, everything was included.  The included stamp set has a few nice sentiment stamps and little flourishes.  And as I sit here I am smiling as I still have not made even one of the cards in the July Paper Pumpkin!  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Cyanotype Watercolor Cards

At this month's card classes we made or will be making the Night of Navy card using this technique. After stamping and embossing the image, you paint the background using reinker and an aqua painter, dry
and repeat if you want the background darker.  To add a little texture when the card is dry you add a stamped image using the same color ink pad and stamp.  After the ladies left on Sunday, I decided to create the Elegant Eggplant card for a friend of mine who lost her mom.   I made the background much darker than the Night of Navy card, so you cannot see the stamped image as well. Either way, both cards look nice and the technique is fun to use.  You never know just what your card will look like!  Have a great day!

Nipper!

After all the trips to AJ's Feathered Friends in Elgin, Il with Jen and Sydney, I finally brought a little bird home for John and me.  As beautiful as the big Macaws are, I am not into a big bird, so I chose a little parrotlet.  Supposedly, parrotlets are as smart as their big parrot relatives, but in a tiny body.  I named him Nipper as when we held him for the first time, he was nipping my hand quite a bit.  And since these little guys do bite at times, Nipper is the perfect name. I had read that they like being by people.  We brought him home on Saturday afternoon and he already likes being by a person~~me.  Actually, since I am the only one here, I am his only choice~~lol!!!!  He has beautiful coloring, a variety of blues and grays.   I hope that as he gets accustomed to no cage mates and new surroundings that he starts to do little cute tricks like Harmony used to do.  Parrolet voices are quiet, but they do talk.  I am looking forward to hearing what words he picks up.  Time to go watch him for a while and see what he does in his cage.   Have a great day!

A Day at Matthew's

Yesterday we spent the entire day at Matt's house. As many of you know, he owns a house on the Fox River.  It was a perfect weather day and a perfect day spent with our German friends.  The day was about family and friends and enjoying time together.  There were ATV's to ride, kayaks to paddle and a rowboat. Sydney found a sport she thoroughly enjoyed~~rowing.  She went out with her Mom and Annika to try it and when they came back down the river, Sydney was doing the rowing!!!  She then offered to take me and Oma Barbel for a rowboat ride and we accepted.  She is a little thing for rowing a boat with us in it~~lol!!! And to top it off, she then succeeded in kayaking!  The day ended with all of us being tired from the fresh air, laughter, food and activities, but we all have some very special memories that will need to be journaled and/or scrapbooked!  Have a great day!

Sea Birdhouse

We have our friends from Germany with us since last Friday, so I am not spending much time in my scrap room.  This friendship with our Germans started when we took one of the boys as an exchange student 25 years ago.  We all met up in Florida a couple of weeks ago and after they traveled to Niagara Falls and Toronto, they came to us. We have five of the family members with us and Jen has two of them.  We having a great time together.  Today's card is one I created a little while ago.  I saw a stamp set, Best Nests, on the Taylored Expressions website and I needed it.  It contains a variety of cute birdhouses, this being only one of six.  After heat embossing the image, I used Copic markers to color it.  A couple of birds in the sky and gray baker's twine completed the card.  This is  one of those cards that was just fun to color.  The little seagull is adorable.  Since there are five more birdhouses,  you will be seeing other birdhouses as the season or holiday calls for!  Have a great day!

Shaker Cards Project Kit

One of the items in the new mini is a shaker card kit with which you can make 18 shaker cards, including printed card bases, envelopes, glitter, etc.  The only thing not included is a stamp set that costs $16.  Well I thought I could get away with getting the card kit but not the stamp set.  So I went downstairs to create a couple of the cards.  I made the tree card but there should be a stamped image of a tree inside the shaker and a cute little stand for the tree to be in.  It looks ok without the stamped images and I used a retired sentiment for the front of the card, but I know what should be on this card so it doesn't look right.  The star card is okay as I used a stamp from the Perpetual Calendar stamp set for the cluster of stars that needed to be stamped.  But the ornament card~~if I do not stamp the top of the die cut circle with the top and string image, it will look like I have a circle on a Christmas card.  Very cute kit, but I do think you also need to purchase the stamp set.  So instead of $24, plan on spending $40 to make the cards as you will see them in the new mini when it arrives at your house! Also, learn from my errors:  I failed to completely seal the foam tape around the tree nor did I powder the inside edges of the foam tape.  So when my tree card was done, all the white glitter stuck to the inner edge of the foam tape and the remainder leaked out a little space between the foam.  For the star card I used my embossing buddy to coat all the inside edges of the foam tape.  Unfortunately, I left too much of the residue on the acetate and it looks foggy.  All that being said, the cards are adorable.  Have a great day!

New Holiday Mini!

Yesterday in the late afternoon I received not only my copy of the new Holiday Mini, but my first pre-order!  There were many items that caught my eye, but I only ordered a few.  Today's card was created using the Howl-o-ween Treat stamp set and matching framelits and one of the DSP patterns in the new Happy Haunting DSP collection.  I do not send many Halloween cards, but this particular set can be used for treats/favors and scrapbook pages.   Plus,  the little owl included in the set can be used at any time of the year.  If you are a current customer of mine, your Holiday Mini has been ordered to be mailed directly to you.  They should be going out around August 11th, so look for your copy after that date.  If you do not get your copy of the catalog, I will have extra copies here.  I think it is one of the best Holiday Minis to date. 

Hello Sweet Friend

Today's card is right out of the annual catalog on page 105.  The colors caught my attention together with the fact that I have not used the Six-sided Sampler set in quite a long time.  One of the hexagons was created using Tip Top Taupe ink while the others used Pool Party and Crumb Cake ink.  The splatters are from Gorgeous Grunge and the butterfly was die cut using the new Bold Butterfly framelits.  A little strip of glimmer paper and rhinestones add just the right amount of bling.  Have a great day and enjoy this beautiful weather we are having!

Red & Black Birthday

Today's card came about because I wanted to see if I could make a speckled background using the Brusho Watercolor powders.  I was able to do it, but it is not exactly how I envisioned it.  Rather than throw away the card layer, I added to it using SU DSP, the SU "happy"  thinlet and the "birthday" from Cottage Greetings. The candles are from a Lawn Fawn set.  Have you seen the Post It Notes tape?  I bought some at Walmart, but I am sure it is in many places.  The tape is 2" wide and is perfect when you want to stamp only a portion of a sentiment.  So for today's card, I covered up the happy part of the sentiment stamp, inked up the stamp and then removed the Post It Note tape before stamping onto the card.  I find myself using the Post It Note tape more often these days.  The first roll I bought on a dispenser.  The next time I purchased the tape, I just bought two rolls.  It rips easily so a dispenser isn't really necessary.  Have a great day!

Just Relax

The vacation is over and now I need to relax!!!  I made this card especially for my son so that he knew we were thinking of him while we were in hot, sunny Florida!!  The images are from the Lawn Fawn stamp set, Life Is Good, and the coordinating dies.  I used the ZIG Clean Color Real Brush watercolor pens to color the images and for the background.  These pens are nice to work with and I am pleased with my purchase of them.  As with anything, it does take a little practice so you get to know how much water to add after painting an image or a background~~or if you even want to add any water.  You can just paint with the pens and have a nice result.  The crab is just a cute little critter in this stamp set and I like using him when I can!  I will probably be crabby myself by the end of the day after unpacking, grocery shopping and doing laundry!!   Have a great day.