paper possibilities

I'm having fun....

reading all your comments as to where you gals shop at! 

I had to take a nap after work today, I don't know, but all this snowing business was making my eyes very heavy at work. So, have you ever napped and woke up to think it was the next morning and you had overslept? Yeah, that was me this evening. It was a rare occasion that both I was asleep and Jordan, on the couch, so our house was dark! As I lay there it didn't take too long for me to realize that it's friday!!! Now I need to clean my kitchen, because somehow we had our own private tornado sweep through it...I just wish it had taken this snow with it when it blew through!! LOL

The real reason why I am posting this little message is becuase tomorrow is the big release from Verve Visual and my smiling face will be posted on their blog with all my creations. The three sets that they sent me to create with are AWESOME! I had a blast using them and I am looking forward to inking them up again! 

Wish me luck on the kitchen cleaning project, hopefully I don't get lost on the pile of clothes that need to be folded!!  Happy Leap Year day!

my first blog candy!!

How fun is free stuff!  I get into the blog candy myself and even though I am not a lucky person, maybe you could be!  I was wandering the aisles at Michael's looking to see if they had anything new, when my eyes landed on this pack of paper from Making Memories... I always end up with some of their paper when I'm at a scrapbook store, so this was a bonus!! A whole line {{ 36 sheets of Chelsea's Place }} and on sale!!! I grabbed two packs and I wanna share.

I wasn't sure what else to  add with the paper, then I took a trip to Archivers this week and they have such prettttty ribbon. I love ribbon and I know so many of you guy's do too, who doesn't?  So I grabbed a nice assortment to coordinate with the papers and I also picked up a pack of funky-vintage-chipboard buttons...also by Making Memories. I have been collecting these plastic buttons/tags in all the seasons, and different colors. I realized not that long ago that I have bought a lot of Making Memories over the years and it's still one of my favorite companies.

With all that said, here is what I want from you...it's easy!  Where do you guys buy your biggest amout of supplies from...internet, lss, chain stores, or direct sales companies like Stampin' Up! ?

I do most of my shopping from my lss. There are so many around me and I know I'm fortunate for that luxury!

Leave me a comment buy 9 p.m. {eastern} saturday and I will use a random generator to pick the winner.

Thanks for stopping by, spread the word!  I have turned in my March stamper of the month projects for Verve Visual, so this weekend is gonna be busy with stamping activity at my house! I have all my stamps to play with from SU!!!!  Big smile.......paula

Sunday...bloody Sunday

just shoot me already! Jordan and I have been taking my picture, because I need one as part of my submissions to Verve. I figured I would also put it here on my blog too. Since I can't show you any of my handy work today...how about a laugh at a photo that I am NOT sending in! LOL Tonight I have realized that...

1. I do look my age

2. I dislike my chin, clefts are for boys!

3. No matter how much weight I loose, I will always have a big head & that cleft chin!

4. Thank gosh I already lost 45.5 pounds & started going to the gym!

5. I prefer not to look straight at the camera.

6. I prefer to be behind the camera!

7. I can laugh at myself and it really dosen't matter...I am still me!

8. I look better in black and white...what a difference, smoothed that skin right out! LOL

Thanks for having a laugh with me, I needed a break from all the creating I am doing today! bye...

another one bites the dust...

but, it's a good dust! This card sold at work with the "hoppy birthday" frog. I learned that...

1. this is a Penny Black  stamp.

2. I {{{ heart }}} coloring these chicks!

They are funny and you can go crazy with your color choices, look at their clothes and accessories!

Now with all this color running rampant across your image, you do need to let your eyes rest...just a little! I decided my eyes needed to rest on a bed of feathers! Just some bag-o-feathers I got at the store for my cat. I think they are the perfect touch and this card makes my heart sing, lucky for you you can't really hear me sing because I was told to keep my day job...LOL  The lovely striped paper is from Scenic Route, cardstock is Bazzill and I used my small pinking scissors from Fiskars to trim the girls out. When the feather idea "hit" me, I wasn't sure how I was gonna attach it all on top of each other and I decided to put down some double sided tape, feathers and raise the chicks up on some dimensional Zots. The Zots are super strong and I squished them down in between the feathers. Tah-dah...what do ya think?

I think it's time that I give away my first blog candy. I am putting together a nice little package....Stay tuned this week, it's gonna be busy but I am pretty excited about this. bye....

I can't believe I made it...

to saturday! Yeah!! A few hours of morning time to catch up on some housekeeping, before the real fun begins. Back to the gym, back to my room for a creative outlet & back to the grocery store for some much needed food...{{the family will enjoy that one}}

Since you last heard from me, I have gotten two more packages!! Thursday I got my Paper Trey order, ohhhh the two new colors they debuted this month are soooo pretty. Then yesterday I got the stamp sets and paper from Verve Visual, and all I can say is that I am thrilled!  When Jordan opened the package last night, I think she was almost as thrilled as I was. She loved every sheet of paper they sent me, and there was a lot of ohhhh's from both of us. Verve is releasing their new sets on March first & I can't wait to be a little part of it...finally I get to be the enabler! Can it all get much better than this?

I was laughing at a post I got a couple days ago...yes, Lila...I do get to stamp with "The Great JanTink". I get to go down into her "vault", aka basement and see all her rubber, acrylic and alllllll the other stuff she buys. I get to drool over her cards, and if you think they look awesome on the screen, you should see them in person! Anyone who reads Janine's blog knows she is one busy girl, and I also get to look at her swaps from other stamping royalty! What a nerd I am! {{but I know I'm in good company!}} Whe I was looking through her last swap collection, I said to Janine..."I am holding a Taylor Van Bruggen!" You'd thought I was holding an expensive designer purse or something! But I am such a fan to so many...

My day is always a just a little brighter when I get to get together with my bff's Mary & Janine. I know we're gonna laugh and usually we go on road trips to spend a little money. Girl's if you're reading this...it's road trip time :)

Let's "hop" to my latest card, shall we!  Can you believe I already sold it? It's gonna make its way to Europe, that's alotta hoppin'... I turned this cute frog into a large square-ish card because I just couldn't fit it onto a smaller card when I backed it with that textured cuttlebuged cardstock. Embossing folders are AWESOME! I have been into doing these brighter cards this week because it is was so cold this week in Michigan, and when that sun is shining...I am longing for spring to get here. {{ I know I am not alone on that subject either!! }} This Stampin' UP! set Unfrogettable, has been around for a while, & I always love cards made with this little guy. For my card I used my prismacolor/gamsol for coloring and  Crystal Effects for "pop" and shine. The bright paper is from We R Memory Keepers, and cardstock is Bazzill. Do you notice how I stamped my sentiment? I use Dew Drops, either in a green or brown shade and add some VERY sharp prismacolor to give it some dimension. I haven't noticed anyone else doing this and I did it to fill in tiny areas if they don't stamp out clear. Even on one of my smallest font sets...like this one from Hero Arts {{love}} makes a difference in real life.    Wow, can I babble or what?   Thanks for looking in today!  {{{ smiles }}}  paula

I got a package today....

and I can't wait to get into it!! My Stampin" UP! order is here with a few goodies for me...all me! Well, Jim & Jordan are more than welcome to play with it too, but happily they pass! LOL The pretty brown box is sittin' on my table, calling my name, but I still gotta get something made for Jordan & I for dinner...BLT- the "T". I figure we deserve it, I have the points and we sweated up a storm at the gym and exercised our thighs off! We rode the bikes for 30 minutes then used the weight machines and worked on our arms and legs. All the time I was thinking of that box, and how I couldn't wait to get home and see my SAB sets.  :)

Until I get a chance to ink up some new stamps, how about another image I stamped at Janine's. As I'm writing this, I have to tell you that I don't know who the stamp is by. I think the stamp is super cute, funny and how popular is knitting these days ? These girls are what friends are all about and it makes me smile when I look at it! haha

Janine has another stamp of the "girls" and they are ready for a night on the town...that will be coming up soon, I haven't had time to color that one yet! 

The patterned paper is SEI, which is double sided, I used the reverse side for the sentiment I wrote out. The cardstocks are SU, except for the very dark brown, that's Bazzill. I colored the "girls" with ....tah dah.. my prismacolor pencils & gamsol. I {{{ heart }}} my pencils!

Thanks for checking me out today, and see ya soon! 

verve visual guest stamper...

for the month of March...yes, that's me!!!   I found out yesterday and I am so excited & gonna be pretty busy too! I posted the card sometime back, and I was embarrased to find that the photo was so dark! How on earth did I miss that when I edited it? I am just happy they saw the card through the darkness and liked it! yeah!! So, here it is again and you can check out all the other great entries at Verve's blog. Now the fun begins, waiting to see what stamp sets I get to play with!

Here are my latest cards, how cute is this stamp? This was so fun to color because you really don't have to be realistic...I mean how often to you run across a mushroom with bugs living inside? So last night, fantasy mushrooms = glitter!! Who wouldn't love a glitter roof...

Once again, I struggled with putting a sentiment on the front. I love type and fonts, lettering was my favorite class in college. For some reason when I color an image I want that to be center stage and sentiments always feel like an afterthought for me. I tried a few with the second card here and just did without.

I feel plain, but I think plain makes me happy! Maybe simple is more the word I'm thinkin' of! LOL

recipe: stamps: inky antics, "hello" Hero Arts alphabet  paper: pp from We R Memory Keepers (double sided), cs is SU  ink: Adirondack pitch black  ribbon: orange plaid from Michaels, deep coral from lss other: flowers American Crafts, brads Making Memories, cuttlebug embossing folders 

could this possibly be...

my favorite card???  I think it is!! I even put this baby together in the wee hours of the night..10p.m.! I know some of you girls are rolling, but 10 @ night is "wee" for me! LOL

Don't you just love this image from Karen Lockhart? Last weekend when I went to bff Janine's to play for the afternoon, I was looking through her stamps stash. I was racking my brain trying to remember which ones she had used on her blog, that I wanted to stamp out, for future card use. I luckily remembered the Lockhart stamps and inked them up! I was in stamp heaven, I love Karen's designs.

Now, here is where I tell you what I learned, and what I need to pay attention to...for future reference!  I packed light when I went to Janine's, just paper {{ivory, white, shimmery white & watercolor}} my new black Adirondack ink & Palette cognac. I mostly used my new black ink, trying it out on all the papers, including the watercolor paper. I always forgot about that paper and finally stored it on my desk with all my other cs....no more forgetting! Soooo, I decide to pull out my watercolor brushes, and us them with my watercolor paper. The results are here in this bowl of apples... Can you tell that the lovely black ink kinda ran & was not waterproof..at all! Chalk that up to still learning, they don't make so many varieties of ink for no reason! haha

My bowl didn't turn out too bad. When I noticed the "running of the black", I was just carefull not to let my brush get too much water at the tip. Another personal challenge for me, watercoloring has always been a challenge, but a fun one!

The hydrangea flower arrangement on the top is not watercolored, I did go back to my trusty prismacolor pecils and gamsol.

recipe: stamps: Karen Lockhart  paper: hydrangea card- My Minds Eye Tres Jolie, double-sided & SU soft sky  apple card- all paper from SU. ink: Adirondack pitch black...not waterproof :(

a weekend challenge...

I have been skipping around sites this week and did another challenge! This time I did the popular Beate challenge...I loved it! Here is my take on the sketch... I have been trying to use this polka dotted paper in layout that I like. By "like" I just mean something that doesn't totally remind me of the 1980's! lol! I can not remember where I got this paper from, or who makes it. I don't have much more of this piece left, I am kinda happy about that :)

recipe: stamps: Hero Arts cupcake, Close to My Heart sentiment.  paper: SU, Bazzill & Close to My Heart cs, pp...? ribbon: ?  other: Bazzill white brads, prismacolor pencils & gamsol

Thanks for stopping by and hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend!   paula!

all you need is love...

I watched the movie "Across the Universe" and I loved it! Since today is Valentines day, I figured I would share that with you! haha  I am not the biggest Beatles fan, but the movie was excellent. It was kinda like Mama Mia, the Abba songs worked into a play...ohhhh I can't wait to see that movie too... I love Abba. I just don't know if this movie "Across the Universe", was ever a play, it looked like it could have been. I borrowed it from a friend and I will be buying it too. That's what I watch when I am in my room creating...movies I can watch over and over, but don't have to keep my eye on the screen.

ok, enough about my movie ramblings...how do you like this card? I like doing square cards and I like playing with this stamp set. I think there are so many possibilities with it and I need to explore them...lol I would love to have all the Paper Trey Ink sets, that's kinda my secret goal. Tonight is a new big reveal and now they are adding ribbon, paper & ink...oh my! Being the working gal I am, and who needs her sleep more than staying up late on a work night, I will have to wait until morning to check out all the cool stuff.

I am gonna tell you that I put the little glitter dots on this card, than wished I had not done it. I already knew I was gonna use the dotted ribbon, but wasn't thinking, and put the dots on the aqua paper too. Sad to say, I had no more of this color cardstock so here it is! LOL

recipe: stamps: Paper Trey Ink  paper: SU kraft, Bazzill and Making Memories polka dot paper  ink: SU white craft, river rock and soft sky  ribbon: Maiking Memories  other: Spellbinders nestibilities

***Just a quick note, Jim liked his Valentine bear card!