An Award? Me?

I received a Kreativ Blogger Award from my girlfriend Cindy Lawrence over at www.onehappystamper.typepad.com. I know I have sent you over there before, but if you are a new reader, or never went before...check her out! She is amazing! Tell her I said Hi!

I am supposed to pass the award on, and Cindy did not say how many, so here are a few:

Beth Silaika over at Freckled and Fun http://freckledandfun.blogspot.com/ she is the brain behind my banner, and she is working on some watermarks for me too.  Her new blog does not have as much as her old one as someone stole her old name and she had to re-do everything, so give her time, I know she will be back up and running with lots of stuff on her blog very soon.

Susanna Boyd over at www.cardoftheweek.com- she has an awesome blog and I have to brag a little that she has even shouted out about me a few times. I love how she finds the best things out there in blogland and tells you about them...in fact I did not even know there was...

...Molly Stamps at www.mollystamps.com  - anyone that has seen the DVD Inside Scrapbooking will know who Molly is and her Scrubby Steven, this is a hilarious DVD and with every DVD sold $1.00 goes to Autism.  One of my demonstrators, Debbie McKelvey (hey Debbie) gave me the DVD and it is hilarious!

Another awesome stamper, is Kristina Werner, over at www.kwernerdesign.com.blog/ - she has the best job in the world, I mean next to my job, being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, she actually works for Stampin' Up! - you must check her out, and her videos are so professional.

I love the work of Sharon Harnist over at www.paperfections.typepad.com - the stuff she does is so beautiful.

And last but not least, cause I could go on and on is Beate Johns, over at http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/about - she is not only a sweetheart she is an awesome stamper as well.

OK, that should do it for me...my latest Janet Evonovich book is calling me...if you have not read any of her Stephanie Plum books you don't know what you are missing....thanks to Linda Heimer (hey Linda) for getting me hooked on them a few years ago.

Have a super hump day everyone, and thanks for stopping in!

Hugs, Di

Masking Tutorial

Before we get to the tutorial, I gotta tell ya my Decor Elements came today. I just ordered the create one for my studio wall. I also have to admit it is a little time consuming getting them to stick to our textured walls.  I don't know if I will be getting any more for the walls, but I am totally going to be putting them on glass and things like that.

Putting the saying on the wall after we took off the backing sheet.

 

 

Rubbing the whole saying with the Decor Elements applicator tool.  I am thinking I will be using this as a bone folder as well.

 

 

 

This is Jeff, he helped me do the whole thing, and believe me it took two of us...I wish we had flat walls and it would have gone lickety split.

 

 

TaDa! An hour later...only kidding. But I bet from start to finish it took half an hour, just cause we had to go very careful when we peeled off the backing.

I love it!

 

 

OK, to the tutorial.  Masking is not a new technique but it is one I like to do.  You are going to need some vellum, and I prefer the regular vellum, not the cardstock vellum.

Stamp the picture (I choose the truck from Loads of Love) that you want to be in the front on a piece of vellum and cut it out, I cut it on the line, so that I don't get a ghost image behind it.  Since I was stamping stuff on the top of the truck, I did not cut out the bottom, this gives me a place to hang on to the vellum.

 

 

Stamp your truck on a piece of watercolor paper.

 

 

Lay your truck you cut out of vellum over top of the truck you stamped on the watercolor paper.

 

 

 

See how it lines right up? That is why you want to use vellum instead of a post it, this way you can see you are exactly on the truck.

 

 

Now stamp your trees from Lovely as a Tree over top of the truck.  The vellum is protecting it from getting any ink on it.

 

 

 

When you take the piece of vellum away your truck is in front of the trees. I stamped the lady in the truck, it's a chick card!

 

 

To make the little clouds, I punched out a piece of cardstock with the scallop punch and using a stamping sponge I sponged on bashful blue classic ink.

 

 

 

See the clouds? This is with the bashful blue ink. How fun eh?

 

 

I went over some of the clouds with a bit of Ballet Blue and it adds a bit of a darker tint to the clouds.

Now finish coloring your card.........I made the truck look kinda rusty and old. I did cut out the hearts and the truck bed rim and glued them on.

 

I used:

Stamp sets: Loads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Twill

Ink: Jetblack stazon, Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue, Really Rust, Basic Black Classic inks, Brocade Blue craft

Misc: Watercolor crayons, white gel pen, photo corner punch, scallop punch

Well I hope you like it and thanks for stopping in!

Hugs, Di

Over 40,000 Hits!

Yowza! Now if I only knew how to do the blog candy, I totally would, I am not sure how people are picking names, do I just keep track and write a name on a ticket and put them in a bucket? Eric loves picking the door prize tickets at class, I guess I could do that, and then I would not have to use some sort of fancy shuffling software right?  I will try to figure it out for my 50K hit mark ok?  I'll look for some fun blog candy. 40K is not bad, since I just started my blog in February!

So I got an email from the film company doing the vampire movie, they wanna know if I can come out on Saturday dressed like a hippie...hmmm...it's in Phoenix, so I got to sweet talk my hubby into it, as I don't drive that far!  And what does a hippie dress like?  I mean, I am a little "hippy" but I don't think that is what they mean! Hee! Hee! I'll let you know what I decide.  I will have to search for my old John Lennon frame glasses! I need to email them back, cause I am not sure if I just come out and they dress me like a hippie or I do that....will wait to see if Jeff can get me there...I'm definitely takin' my teeth!!!

Today was Spring Fling that I repeated at my house, I think everyone had fun, and I think it ran pretty smooth too. When Rhonda and I do the events at the church, she demos some and I run around and help, and then I demo some and she runs around, so here it was a little different, but all went well.  Now to get my Fresh Cut stamp set class designed, I will show you all those when I get them done...I have a few fun ideas in my head.

 

This was a cute Journal that we made at my good friend Amy Smith's Demonstrator event (Hey Amy, miss ya ) she's in California with her kiddos for the summer. Hob Nobbin' with the starz!

The flower is actually made up of the word window punch pieces and we just glued them under a metal edge circle tag.  With  a little organdy ribbon like leaves,  I added a bit of gingham on there, just to add some color and ain't it the bestest little journal?  It's just one that we sell in the SU! catalog, and we colored it with the Really Rust craft pad.  Too fun.

Well tomorrow is a brand new week, and I gotta lot to get done...thanks for stopping in!

Hugs, Di

I Love Shoe(Box Swaps)s

Sometimes the title makes sense in my head but not once I type it, but hey, I have been listening to Mr. Fantastical, and my brain is a little warped.  This is a CD by Jason Corman who works at the Pork Shop out here in Queen Creek, the music is pretty good, some of it reminds me of the Beatles when they went through their Sgt. Pepper Faze. Some of it I am thinking a good stiff drink or somethin' would help me understand it better, but it is fun to listen to.

If you are out in the Queen Creek area, stop at the Pork Shop, pick up some bacon, say hi to Jason (he is the cutie with the handle bar mustache - ya can't miss him) and check out his CD.

Oh and listen to this, ok most of you who know me, know I'm kinda freaky weird...in a non-threatening way, but I love vampires, whether it be books, movies, whatever, I mean I have my own vampire teeth and everything.  I always say if I was an actress I would totally want to play a vampire.

So anyway, they have been filming a movie once in a while at the Pork Shop and the other Meat Market out here, and when I was in the Pork Shop I asked them what movie, ok sit down, are you ready for it....wait...wait...here it comes.  It is a VAMPIRE and zombie movie, and so Jason gave me the website, cause he said they were looking for extras when they were here one time....and I almost peed my pants, I mean would that not be the awesomestcoolestmagnificentiest thing? 

OK back to the title Shoebox swaps, I love doing these, someone else designs a card and you get to make it ....love it! We actually got to do everybodys so it was perfect. 

So today was our Di's Country INKer's shoebox and potluck meeting and these are the fun cards I got to do. They are not in any kinda order, just the way I picked them off the table and took pics.

First one was designed by Julie Craig, now I need this peonie set...just waiting for the July 1 preview stuff, I have my SAB free sets to choose and want to get the best ones...ha!

It's hard to tell in the picture, but we actually stamped on the twill and that is on the bottom of the card...so very pretty.

This card was designed by Marlene Salvato, she had us stamp with chocolate chip and then color in the heads of the bride and groom to make them a silhouette. We also did Cindy Lawrence's trick of taking the rhinestone out of the brad...ha!

Beautiful eh? Who wouldn't want to get this card? Of course it won't be mine cause I am a card "collector" not a card "sender".

Oh now I am listening to Julianne Hough's new CD, the cute little blonde from Dancing with the Stars, it is pretty good. No booze or drugs needed to understand this one...ha! A cute cowboy with some tight blue jeans to slow dance to might be fun...hey honey...get yer wranglers on!!!

OK back to the cards...I swear I have adult ADHD...my mind wanders.....

This stinkin' cute card was designed by Emilie Tetreault (don't ya love her name?) I added a bit of stitching on the Celery circle, cause hey I like to stitch, especially if it is faux stitching...not real stitching, Jeff has a button that needs sewn on some jeans, and well eventually they will go out of style or they won't fit him anymore and then I can toss them...ha!

This cute card was designed by Carri Anderson, and now I need this set too....geesh, and I thought I had them all....

Carri is a brand new demonstrator and going to her first Convention in July, she's gonna have a blast!

This card was designed by Jennifer McGhee, she calls it Simplistic, and I call it perfection. Just to show you don't have to go crazy and take forever....like...umm..my card with the stitching that took them forever to do...sorry girls! Gotta love me!

This brilliant card was designed by my good friend Teri Pazos, I think I have known her longer then anyone in my life, well I mean other then my husband and my family.  We have gone through a lot in our years together, and I am so excited that she has earned the Stampin' Up! trip to Hawaii next year. 

She has the sweetest hubby Julio, and Jeff is pretty excited they are going. I used to look after her two sons Victor and James many years ago and that is how our friendship started.  Now our boys are...gulp... men, and well we're still young chicks...hey Teri?

I love how the side looks like background paper but it is just stamping with other pieces of the set.  Love it! I added some thin strips of white cardstock to the buttons to make faux thread.

Oh and too funny, after posting my Hanna stamping....Sheri too funny called me a Rubbah-dulterer! 

But I heard from my sister Jacqui, and Vicki who I copied from and THE Kristi herself that owns Hanna Stamps, so thanks for the kind words...might have to break her out again sometime....I do have her shopping and riding a motorbike too....gasp!!!!

And OMG! I am almost at 40K hits...how the heck did that happen? 

Have a great Sunday and thanks for stopping in!

Hugs, Di

My First Hanna

...my first non Stampin' Up! anything.  I never buy anything that it is not Stampin' Up! you can ask anyone....well now I have to take that back, I did buy a pink handled Crop-a-Dile last year, to only sell it to my girlfriend in order to buy the SU! black handled one a month or so later.

But for stamps, nope, nada, zilch, didn't get any...until Hanna...I could not resist getting this stamp set, and I got it quite a few months ago and did not use it till today, never even inked her up. In fact Kristi who owns Hanna Stamps hung out with my sister Jacqui and her best friend Vicki during Victopia, and they told Kristi that very story that I never have bought any other stamps other than SU! until Hanna came along, and she thought that was pretty cool.  I still feel bad that I did, but hey she's cute.

I am not at all liking the acrylic, it is a pain in the tutkus to have to mount them each time I want to use them, but this stamp set is so cute cause of all the little images she has with her.  I hope Stampin' Up! gives us a new Stella with fun accessories.

So,  this is Toby saying in a french accent "oh Mummy what have you done? I can't believe that you have strayed and have used something non-Stampin' Up! Who are you? What have you done with my Mummy....is there a pod somewhere in a closet that you escaped from?" 

Well he does kinda have a squinty eyed look doesn't he?

Anyway, here it is...and I pretty much copied Vicki, she is summerthyme64 over at Splitcoast Stampers, and she is such a talented chick.  Love ya Vicki!  I gotta get me a frame so right now it is just sitting on the plate holder thingie.

She was fun to color, cause basically anytime I color it is like therapy for me.

Before I frame it, I will re-touch it a bit and make her dress a little more vivid, but overall, I do like it, and will enjoy it hanging in my room.  I used Certainly Celery on it, so it will go with my stamp room.

Hope you have a great Saturday, we are cookin' in the heat in Arizona!

Thanks for stopping in!

Hugs, Di