Happy Halloween!

Today is my last sneak peak for the November 1st new release stamp sets available NOW at Clear Dollar Stamps.

This set is called Jesus Nuggets. The stamps in this set are just the right size to use on your return address labels and then wrap around Hershey Nuggets candies. What a fun gift idea! The clear boxes I used for these are from Clear Dollar Stamps too.

All of the November new releases are available now at Clear Dollar Stamps. I hope you've enjoyed my sneak peaks! I've had a lot of fun being part of this design team and look forward to the new projects I'll be working on.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Clear Dollar Stamps Sneak Peak #3

More great sets coming out November 1st from Clear Dollar Stamps! This one is Lamp Post Blessings and it has a companion set called Lamp Post Expressions. I used both sets for my cards I'm sharing today. My first card above was for a challenge using Glossy Card stock. I haven't used any glossy card stock in quite a while so it was a bit of a challenge alright! I made the sky and moon with the glossy card stock and then used regular card stock for the brick work and lamp post.

My second card was also a challenge card. The challenge was to make your own paper. I love making my own patterned paper so that was really fun and just kind of came together by itself. I used Stickles Ice on both of the lamps and covered the Stickles on this second card with Crystal Effects to try to give it a bit more shine. I got more of an odd texture than anything else.

I have new Clear Dollar Stamps for our next projects sitting on my desk. I can't wait to play with them! But... I can't tell you anything about those...

My blog has been having a lot of visitors lately, thank you so much for stopping and looking at what I've been having fun making. And of course what seems to be "the drama of my life" right now with the home repair projects going on. One of the bathroom toilets decided to overflow this evening during bath time for my kids. I made a few phone calls and one of my friends came over and saved the day. Thank the Lord, for the people He's put in my life! I don't know how much more of this "excitement" I can stand...

Clear Dollar Stamps Sneak Peak #2

It's been a busy day at my house, the floor tile is finished in my kitchen/craft room. Yea! I've been busy reclaiming my space after the tile guy left. Mostly cleaning and getting rid of the construction grit and dirt once and for all.

I have another sneak peak for you today! This stamp is a single called Rodney Deer.
I made a gift card holder using "Rodney" and a Merry Christmas stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps.

My first picture is of the gift card holder open. I also made a matching envelope to go with it.

My second picture is the front of the gift card holder and the matching envelope. You'll be able to buy the Rodney Deer stamp November 1st at Clear Dollar Stamps!

It's late and I need to get some sleep! I'm giggling again about the name of this stamp, Laurie had no way of knowing that my first husband's name was Rodney when she chose this stamp for me. It's a cute stamp and I think the coincidence is funny.

I'll have another sneak peak for you tomorrow!

Would You Like To See Some Sneak Peaks?

Clear Dollar Stamps that is!

I wrote my text right after I made these cards because it was weeks ago so this post is rather long...

You can purchase these stamps at Clear Dollar Stamps and the new release called "In The Bug" November 1st. As the name implies the set has lots of fun stuff to put "in the bug"!

And for now I gotta go, the tile guy is here doing my floor and I'm in the way!



I made this card for our Clear Dollar Stamps design team sketch challenge using November 1st new release stamps.

The stamped image is a combination of sets made by Clear Dollar Stamps. These are the sets I used: Sometime’s You’re The Bug, Heaven Bound and the new Nov. 1st release “In The Bug”.

When I saw the new “In The Bug” set I knew I had to have it! I absolutely love coloring this Bug and to be able to put people and other things in it would be fun. I set about my first design team assignment and discovered that this wasn’t just going to be the usual job of masking that I’d thought. It was going to be a challenge! As it turns out I stamped the images that go inside the Bug first and then put the masks on them and stamped the Bug over them. It took a little practice and thank you Clear Dollar Stamps for making them just that, CLEAR!

After letting the ink dry I colored my image with Copic makers. I used BV00, BV08, BV11, C0, C1, C3, C8, R29, R00, R46, R29, R21, R24, E43, E50, E55, E53, YR23, YR31, YR32 and a Copic Spica Clear glitter marker on the rear view mirror.

I stamped “Life is a journey…” from the Heaven Bound set after I colored the bug.

I then needed to follow the sketch challenge and finish my card.

This is a 6”x6” card, the base is Stampin’ Up! Lavender Lace, the black is just a Basic Black, the pattern paper is from my stash, Provo Craft Star Bright (copyrighted 2002 {told you I can’t buy anymore patterned paper!}). The white paper is Mohawk Satin finish Radiant White. I think it’s a good choice with my Copic markers when I use Versafine inks.

I ran the Lavender Lace triangle through my Zip’ E Mate in the swirl Cuttlebug embossing folder. My triangle was a little big to fit the embossing folder so I thought, hey it’s only paper… and folded the edge that stuck out back into the embossing folder and ran it through. If you look closely you can see that in the upper right corner the swirl is debossed. But only if you look closely! I then made sure that my Cuttlebugged panel was exactly the same size as my patterned paper triangle. I had to use a ruler and draw a couple of lines so I could go back and straighten it up with my paper trimmer.

I next started matting everything in black. I laid all my pieces out on the card body and needed to find something to balance the sketch. I came across these clear acrylic star snaps made by Paperbilities in my stash of goodies. Cool! My patterned paper has stars and swirls on it. The only problem with them is they had white eyelets in them. I really wanted black to stay with my color scheme. I checked my eyelet/brad stash and found some nice ones that were the right size and depth to work just fine. I love it when a plan comes together! Now I needed something on the bottom. I thought this card might be nice for someone who’s moving or leaving home to go out on their own, so I chose “Let God steer you in the right direction” as the sentiment to finish it off and make it all
balance.

Supplies:

Stamps – Sometimes You’re The Bug, Heaven Bound, In The Bug all by Clear Dollar Stamps

Paper – Stampin’ Up! Lavender Lace, Basic Black, Provo Craft Star Bright patterned paper, Mohawk Satin finish Radiant White.

Ink – Versa Fine Onyx Black

Accessories – Copic markers BV00, BV08, BV11, C0, C1, C3, C8, R24, R29, R00, R46, R24, E43, E50, E55, E53, YR23, YR31, YR32 and a Copic Spica Clear glitter marker. Cuttlebug Swirls embossing folder, Paperbilities eyelet snapsThis card was a Clear Dollar Stamps design team challenge. Laurie gave us several challenges this month and I combined two of them for this card. It’s the color challenge and sparkle challenge.

The color challenge was Teal, Mellow Moss & Gray. My paper colors are Via Vellum Cyan, Thepapermill.com Light Pine and Neenah Graystone Linen.

The stamps are all by Clear Dollar Stamps, the November 1st release “In The Bug”, Sometimes You’re The Bug and Bugs & Kisses. I masked and stamped the images, colored them with Copic markers and set it aside for a few days to “rest”.

I was really waiting on the cabinet guy to arrive and needed something to do because I was feeling anxious and then had to put it away. Coloring is good therapy!

I came back to it and pulled the three colors of card stock and looked through my sketch book. I thought the World Card Making Day sketch from Splitcoaststampers might be fun to try with this big image. This card fits an A7 envelope.

I love the polka dotted bag in the bug and wanted to play off of that in the design of my card so I used the Cuttlebug dots embossing folder. I scored my green sheet of paper, put it in the embossing folder and folded over the paper that stuck out and ran it through my Zip’e Mate. I didn’t want the embossed dots under the strips of Gray and Cyan paper and basically wondered what would happen if I… It’s only paper.

I matted the strips of Gray onto the Cyan and attached them to the green base, trimmed it up and attached that to the Cyan card body. I then stamped the “To Bug You…” on the last strip. The stamp actually says “Sorry To Bug You”, but not me… I’m working on becoming a pest! I used a post it note on the stamp to cover the “sorry” part and inked the stamp, peeled off the post it note and stamped it.

I thought it needed more dots so I used my ¼” hole punch and punched a scrap of Cyan paper 5 times. Ran the tiny dots through my Xyron X and stuck them on the card, I added clear Dew Drops on top of them with Crystal Effects. (I’m getting better at it!) The two on the right side of the card were an after thought, I was trying to draw your eye across the card. Did it work?

I then added Stickles Ice to the bumper, rear view mirror and tail lights of the bug. When I use Stickles on something like this I usually use a very small paint brush to move the glitter glue around where I want it.

SC199

I made this card for Splitcoaststampers SC199 last Tuesday evening before I went to bed. I'm in Arizona so if I check in at SCS before I go to bed I can check out the sketch challenge for the next day.

This is a stamp set I got in the mail the same day. Aren't these two cute?! The stamp set is by Local King Rubber Stamp Co. and located in Canada. I used Copic markers to color the image and a new Cuttlebug embossing folder from Clear Dollar Stamps I purchased recently. I used Cryogen White sparklie paper in the embossing folder and really liked the effect.

I haven't done any stamping the since I was here last. The floor tile is going a lot slower than I expected. It should be finished Tuesday. I certainly hope so! The being under construction thing is getting to me again this weekend.

Happy Stamping~

SC197 Halloween Smiles

It's been a busy couple of days! My kitchen/craft room is getting the floor tiled and I've been having fun selling surplus stamps and craft supplies on SCS. I even listed one stamp set on E Bay, the auction is over in about an hour.

I'm not going to be able to get to my computer tomorrow, I have a feeling I'm going to be a pest to the tile guy! Too bad I don't have the wireless keyboard anymore...

This is the final image in the 2003 Halloween Smiles set by Stampin' Up! I've been playing with. I thought these pumpkins would be fun to use for Splitcoststampers SC197. I changed my colors slightly from the last cards and colored with my Copic markers.
Supplies: Paper - Basic Black, White, Light Purple, Pumpkin Pie, Stamps - Stampin' Up! Weathered background, 2003 Halloween Smiles, Accessories - Black Brads, Copic markers, Stampin' Sponges, Ink - Versa fine Onyx Black.

Once the floor tile is finished I can start bugging the cabinet guy again to get my doors, drawer fronts, pull outs, etc. installed and the project finished. I'm also supposed to have a new kitchen table.

I'll be back with you as soon as I can walk on the kitchen a.k.a. craft room floor again! Have a good day~

Halloween Smiles

I had a productive day stamping today! Fun too...

Can I tell you my story first? I feel like an idiot. I was sitting here a few minutes ago looking at e mail when my black cat "Inky" started playing with something beside me. It was a rather large scropion, yikes!

I picked her up and got her away from it so it didn't sting her I hope and ran and found a a a a something to put over it so it couldn't escape! Then I sat there and watched it, lol. It looked mad... So I called my boyfriend and asked him if he'd come back over here and kill it for me. He did.

I killed my own scorpions before I met Rick...

As I was cleaning out boxes of stamps Saturday night I found another scorpion in a box that was in my bedroom. It was dead and it was bigger than the one this evening. I didn't sleep very well that night.

I get it, it's that time of year. But they still freak me out. I think maybe tomorrow I'll go to the Dollar Store and buy myself a can of spray starch so Rick can come over and carry away the corpse at his leisure.

On to the cards! As you know I've been going through my stamps and finding all kinds of treasures. This is a Stampin' Up! set from 2003 that had ink on one stamp, the verse.

I had a great time coloring the image with Copic markers and making it into a ... what the heck is that? Sorry I can't tell you today!

Supplies: Stampin' Up! Halloween Smiles 2003, Stampin' Up! Weathered Background, Copic markers, Nestablities regular and scalloped rectangle, Spellbinders Tags die, Black brads, Ribbon my kids gave me off a treat box they received.
The second card today uses the same stamp set with Stampin' Up! Print Pattern background. I used Black paper and ink instead of Brown this time. I made a 3rd card this evening but the picture is still in my camera after the scorpion incident. And no, I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of the scorpion.
I do have a couple of cute pictures of Inky the cat though. I was working at my desk this morning and she found a good spot to lurk.
I think she likes my new desk. I can't wait to be able to fill those file drawers with card stock! I haven't done that yet because the cabinet maker said he'd have to dump the drawers out when he put the facings on them. He told me to put stuff in them and use them, he has no idea how much paper I have!

Happy Monday!

As you can see I'm still going through boxes of stamps, I have a bunch to find homes for!

I'll be posting some pictures for you. Maybe you'll see something that you "need" for your collection.

You can e mail me at gonestampin@gmail.com

I can accept PayPal for payment, buyer pays shipping. I've posted these on Splitcoaststampers in the buy/sell forum and I'm thinking about E Bay and having a yardsale too!

I guess this is my blog yardsale~

Stampin' Up! Alphahearts alphabet set $15.00
Stampin' Up! Alphahearts Numbers $5.00
Stampin' Up! Favorite Greetings vintage 1996 $11.00
Stampin' Up! Peace w/ brass embossing template 2002 $15.00
Stampin' Up! Sassy Stems $11.00

Thanks for stopping by today!

STAMPS 4 SALE!

Hi! I don't have any picutures for you today. I've been busy going through all my stamping goodies and trying to put them away and I'm finding I have more stamps than I have room for... so I'm offering some of them for sale.

If you see anything you might possibly "need" e mail me at gonestampin@gmail.com . Buyer pays shipping and I can accept PayPal.

If there's a specific set you're looking for... ask, I might have it and be willing to part with it!

Thanks for stopping by today! Jan

$5.00 RETIRED SU STAMP SETS!

2006 Around The Block NUM
1999 Mini Medley’s
2001 Star’s & Swirls
2006 Small Sayings - sold
2006 Perennial Favorites
2003 Let’s Party
2004 Spring Fling
1995 Cherries, Checks & Posies
2005 Small Script - pending
2005 Season By Season
2004 Alphaheart Numbers
2004 Tiny Talk
2006 Sweet On You
1998 Sassy Seasonals


$11.00 Retired SU Sets!
2002 SU Holiday Greetings
1996 SU Favorite Greetings
2005 SU Haute Couture
2003 SU Greetings Galore
2004 SU Love Is In The Air
2001 SU Heart Blocks
2004 SU Happiest Of Holidays
2004 SU On Angel Wings
2007 Hero Arts Joyful Greetings Clear Christmas set
2004 Petal Prints
2006 SU Terrific Tags
2006 SU Taggers Dozen
2006 SU Alphabits
2003 SU Buds & Blossoms
2003 Wedding Elegance
2006 Be Happy
1997 Definitely Decorative Race Car - sold
2006 Artfully Asian - sold
2005 Label Classics
2006 Sassy Stems
2001 Definitely Decorative Old Glory
1998 Funky Favorites
1998 Definitely Decorative Fun Flowers
1998 Definitely Decorative Posey & Bee
2004 Mini Messages
2001 Inspirationals
2004 Yule Bits & Borders
2003 Sparkling Season
2005 Peace & Love - sold
2004 Shapes & Shadows
2003 Holiday Basics
2004 Sassy Sayings
2006 World Tour - sold
2002 New Beginnings
2004 Occasionally
PUNCHES~ You can e mail me for pictures of the punches.

Making progress...

Okay, here's where we're at... making progress on the kitchen a.k.a. craft room cabinets.

The last few days have been wonderful, horrible, exciting, disappointing, etc. all at the same time.

My cabinet maker arrived yesterday at 10:00 a.m. and left just after 6:00 p.m., the pictures below are what I have installed so far. The bodies of the new cabinets are here but I don't have any doors, drawer fronts or all of the pull outs. I've been told he will have those ready soon and be back to install them. I also need a few more holes cut into my desk to get my wires going in the right direction.

The cabinets with the desk pictured below are a new addition for my crafting area, other wise known as my kitchen. We only have one because the house came with it? He he The bottom cabinets were replaced because of the water damage from the pipe under the floor breaking waaaaayyyyyyyyy back in March of this year. I think he did a beautiful job matching the finish to the top cabinets that are 20 plus years old.

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed today. I have to find a place for everything I've moved out of the cabinets over the past 7 months. I called my tile installer this morning and asked if he'd start that job next Monday. He was supposed to start today but I don't have a kitchen sink that's hooked up yet or a dishwasher. I think those should come before floor tile.

And... I have a bible study every Wednesday evening at my house and my living room is wall to wall stuff.

My last picture is of my kids, Michael and Jenny and my boyfriend Rick planting some tomato and pepper plants in the "garden" out front. It's really a flower bed and we'll add some of those later. Tomatos, bell peppers, flowers, they all work together here in Arizona. It's just nice to be able to open the windows and enjoy the cool air and actually spend some time outside again with day time temps in the 70's & 80's.
So that's what's happening at my house right now. I have a design team deadline coming up pretty soon too, I'll be back as soon as I'm a little more organized and have something else fun to show you!

I'll have Clear Dollar Stamps sneak peaks coming up at the end of the month too - how fun!

Monkey Madness

I'm still having fun with the Clear Dollar Stamps Monkey Madness set. My friend Gabriel's little boy has a birthday coming up and asked me to make a card for him. My kids are out of school this week and we had the birthday boy over to spend a day with us while his Dad worked. I found out he really likes monkeys so I just had to use this set again for his birthday cards.

This first card is the one I made for Gabriel to give Zack, I used Beate's weekend sketch challenge #60 with a couple of modifications. The orange panel in the sketch is at the bottom of the card but I needed it's help to make the palm tree leaves "pop". I also added the circle with the sentiment, I felt I needed to put Zack's name on his card. The next card is from my family and I made a nugget gift box for him too.

That CDS Jungle Vine stamp is so cool, I had to try it again on return address labels and see how the Copic markers worked for those. It all came out pretty well, I won't tear off the paper around the address labels next time. My ink smeared on the waxy part and I know better but wasn't thinking clearly I guess.

My paper and ink colors are pretty much the same as in my previous post.

I haven't kept up with my blogging very well this week. It's a lot busier here with the kids out of school. We've had a nice time and they will be returning to school on Monday.

I was going to say it would be peaceful then but my new cabinets are supposed to be delivered and installed this Monday. Oh! I can't wait!! They could have been installed today but I wouldn't have any countertops until Monday so I opted to wait.

I may be missing again for a few days. Sunday afternoon we'll be tearing out the old cabinets and clearing out my kitchen getting ready... don't worry I'll call my cabinet guy before we remove anything!

The Day After World Card Making Day

Happy the day after World Card Making Day! I didn't get to spend the entire day working on cards but I was able to complete a couple of challenges and will keep working on them for a few more days.

My card today is a Splitcoaststampers World Card Making Day color challenge and limited supply challenge. I got the color challenge but I'm not sure if I got the limited supply challenge. It said no patterned paper, show us some stamping. I stamped my patterend paper and colored it. Does that count?

I think you know how much I like making my own patterned paper and I've got to tell you about this one. Since I'm a member of the Clear Dollar Stamps design team I went shopping the other night and my package arrived Saturday so I had to use my new goodies for some of the challenges!

Anyway... Clear Dollar Stamps has neat clear stamps that go on a wheel like Stampin' Up! Stampin' Around Wheels. These are even cooler! They actually stick to the wheel and you can peel them off when you're done. Or if you're me, you can stick them on an acrylic block and use them. That's how I made my patterned paper for this card, I stamped the Jungle Vine stamp several times on the white cardstock and then colored it with my Copic markers. The biggest reason I like making my own patterned paper is I know it will match everything else perfectly! So there you have it! I'll show you some more of the challenges I did from World Card Making Day soon.

Supply List:
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps Monkey Madness,
Clear Dollar Stamps Jungle Vine

Paper - Sorbet Mango, Lime Green, White, Nutbrown

Ink - Versa Fine Onyx Black, Palette Jardin

Accessories - Copic markers, Stitched grossgrain ribbon

I have another deadline coming this week with my new kitchen a.k.a. craft room cabinets. They are supposed to start installing them on Friday Oct. 10th. Please say a prayer for me that it really happens this time.

Practice, practice, practice!

There's was a slight change in plans for today, the tile guy canceled. He's working on another job and they uncovered a mess and it's going to take longer than they anticipated. I didn't really feel like taking my computer apart today anyway, I felt more like stamping!

My card today isn't actually "stamping", it's what I've been practicing coloring. I've been looking for larger images to practice on so I can get better at shading and adding details. I printed the image off of a free Manga coloring page site and after I colored it my kids wanted it. Hmmm, this might make a good birthday card.

I used Copic markers to do the coloring. I ran out of one of the pink shades in the middle of her top and decided to keep going with the other two colors and see what happened. I did use one stamp from SU Sincere Salutations set and used some of my retired SU designer paper wih Brilliant Blue and Pretty In Pink cardstock.

Happy stamping!

I'm Going To Be Missing For A Few Days...

Good morning! I thought I'd better get on here and let you know I will be missing for a few days. I just got off the phone with my "tile guy", he's ready to start the job! He will be laying ceramic tile in my kitchen and entryway and you guessed it, my computer is in the kitchen.

He called last night and I've been thinking about whether or not to have him do the tile right now. The kids get out of school for 2 weeks Friday and the only way to get in and out of our house is going to be over John working. Hehehe, I did warn him!

The other thing is... he has to do some grinding on the floor where the plumbers cut into the concrete to fix the broken pipe and it makes such a mess! Rick cut a path in the concrete this weekend and put an outlet in the floor for me, I was just starting to get the layer of grit off of everything from that. What better time to start this project right?

It will be so nice to one day have a kitchen a.k.a. craft room that isn't under construction.

How about my card today? I made it a few weeks ago after visiting a gals blog, I noticed she'd run acetate through one of her Cuttlebug embossing folders, wow did that look cool! So I had to try it too.
I also wanted to let you know that Clear Dollar Stamps has new releases on their website today. I went to check out the site last night and couldn't resist shopping! There are so many cute sets and I have several coming to play with, I can't wait! I updated my blog a little this morning too, check out the Clear Dollar Stamps design team ladies on my side bar. Click their links and you'll be able to see cards they've made using the new stamps. And... I put a link to Clear Dollar Stamps under the design team ladies so it will be easy to get there from here to go shopping!

Have a great day!