Sneak Peek

...of the May 2009 Stamp of The Month, Be Yourself. As soon as I saw this set, it immediately made me think of one of my friends, so I made this card for her.

I followed SCS card sketch 222, papers used are CTMH Tickled Pink (only available April 15th through May 31st with a qualifying purchase), plus Sweet Leaf cardstock (Blush textured cardstock is included in the Tickled Pink kit). Rhinestone flowers were a CTMH Connections Club reward from last year or maybe even 2007. The running girl image was third, second and then first generation stamped in Crystal Blue ink, then stamped in Twilight ink. Sentiment was stamped with Hollyhock ink, and white panel was ink distressed with Sweet Leaf ink before mounting on Sweet Leaf cardstock. Be Yourself has a bunch of silhouetted ladies, but I think the running girl is the one I will use the most.

The last March birthday

The final March birthday belongs to our silent BB Debbie. Her birthday is on Tuesday, so I don't think her card will arrive in time for her birthday (since it doesn't appear that Jen's arrived on time either). I don't think she reads my blog, so I think it is safe to post early. I made this card following the SCS sketch challenge SC221. Papers used are CTMH Creative Basics Emporium, Sweet Leaf, Cocoa and Colonial White cardstock. The sentiment is from CTMH Happy Birthday stamp set, and the image is from the CTMH March Word Puzzle stamp set, stamped in Sweet Leaf and Vineyard Berry. The sentiment is emboss resist technique, sponged with Twilight ink. The dragonfly brads (aren't they awesome?) are from my stash. The Vineyard Berry ribbon is included in the Creative Basics Emporium package.

Birthday card

It seems that all of the cool kids have their birthdays this month, so I am trying to keep up and actually get everyone's cards made and mailed before their birthday. I made this card for my neighbor, whose birthday is next week.



I actually began planning to use SCS Challenge 218, but I ending up dropping the top panel and then making a few adjustments. Papers are CTMH Perfect Day, CTMH Juniper and Tulip cardstock, Juniper and Tulip ink, CTMH Colonial White ricrac ribbon, CTMH "Happy Birthday" stamp set. Brads are from Making Memories, and flowers are from my stash. The Tulip panels were mounted with 3D foam squares, and the flowers/brads were attached to the panels before mounting. Needless to say, the envelope is very thick.

This card doesn't look so washed-out in person. I have been taking my pictures under my Ott Lite with a white background cloth. I have tried various settings on my camera, including High Sensitivity and Party. If you have some suggestions of how I can take pictures that aren't so grainy and washed-out, PLEASE share them with me! Thanks.

It has been a while

To say that things at work have been hectic would be an understatement. We are still only half-staffed (since the rest of our guys are still in Iraq), we had our triennial quality audit at the end of January, and the units that we support have been getting tasked with providing a bunch of equipment for Afghanistan. Which means we are tasked with calibrating and repairing the test equipment before it deploys. We have been SWAMPED. So I have been putting in a lot of hours, plus doing a lot of work from home. Crafts have definitely been forced right past the back seat and into the trunk. Luckily, everyone has been busting their tails, so we are in good shape at work. And we did OUTSTANDING on our audit. I've caught up on my rest, and only have a few minor work-related things to do, so I can finally scrap again.

Today's card I actually started on January 17th. It was a combination of four different challenges: The OCC color challenge (use two shades of blue), The OCC Technique Challenge (emboss resist), Splitcoast Stampers sketch challenge 211, and Sparkle's Christmas card challenge. And, I totally ripped-off fellow BB Brandi's snowman from the card she made for our stamp of the month swap. It took me until today to get this card finished. Admittedly, it isn't a true emboss resist. I was having a hard time embossing the snowman head and body, so I finally broke down and used liquid glass on him. Unfortunately, the liquid glass caused the paper to curl a little bit. I should have used my sponge daubers to apply Versamark, and then pour on the embossing powder. My two shades of blue are CTMH Twilight and Outdoor Denim. The paper is CTMH Aspen, and cardstock in Twilight and Outdoor Denim. Stamps are CTMH All Decked Out and Shining Star. The stars are mounted with 3-D Foam Squares. There would have been two cards, but I tried using my embossing pen to emboss the snowman for the second card and I ended up with a blue snowman.