Good luck, Manfred

Yesterday I attended yet another farewell lunch for a coworker. However, this time it was two people leaving us, and they were from my team. Our section has lost over 1/3 of our staff in the last year. When we were understaffed to start with, this is a problem.

This card is for one of the guys, Manfred, who left. He was with us over 10 years. He is headed just down the road to work for Northwest River Supplies. This is a good company, and I know some of the IT people there. I feel it will be a good fit, so I am genuinely happy for Manfred.

Since Northwest River Supplies deals in paddle sports, I put a raft on Manfred's card. I even drew the NRS logo on the raft. When I see rafts in commercials or in movies or whatnot, I am always looking for the NRS logo. :-)



Inside, I wrote "Good luck with your new adventure."

Stuff used:

Stamps: rafters by Rubberstamp Ave; Sentiment by PapertreyInk
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Stampin' Up Bashful Blue and Brocade Blue
Ink: Palette Noir, Prismacolor Pencils
Other: Provocraft wavy edge scissors

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This week's TCP Tuesday challenge is hosted by Leigh. Thank goodness it was a Sketch challenge, since I seemed to find myself in a layout rut with my last 3 cards.

Here is my card:



I liked how Leigh added a sentiment to her card by placing it on a banner-shaped layer, but I decided to not be a copycat and chose to let Poochie sit there quietly. After all, the candy heart he is holding pretty much says it all. The red banner-shaped part of my card is made from Velvet ribbon, and that is where I started with my card.

Stuff used:
Stamps: Love Puppy from The Cat's Pajamas (available in the Puppy Love Clearly Swanky set)
Paper: Printed paper from DCWV Stack 5; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Stampin' Up Real Red, Going Gray, and Basic Gray
Ink: Palette Noir, Prismacolor Pencils, Stampin' Up Real Red marker
Other: Red velvet ribbon from Michaels (probably a Christmas clearance item), Brads from Making Memories, Petite Oval Nestabilities

Rick's birthday card

I made this card for Ed's brother's birthday. Ed said to use a cat stamp on the card. I made him help me pick the patterned paper, and he chose the orange paper.



The green layers are green ink brayered over cream cardstock. I wanted the paper to be less solid-looking than solid cardstock, plus I wanted to keep the card base light in color instead of using a dark green card base. Green ink is less thick than applying another layer of cardstock.

The sentiment was embossed with vanilla embossing powder to make it show up on the dark background. The edges of the orange and focus panels were sponged to make them balanced. I made faux brads and instead of adding a ribbon across the card, I added faux stitching. The card is for a man, and stitching is more masculine than ribbon, but it still adds "texture". The balloon is paper-pieced.

Stuff used:
Stamps: Cupcake Fluffles (Stampendous), sentiment from Papertreyink's Faux Ribbon set, sentiment inside is from SU's long-retired More Great Greetings
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Classic Cream, Orange patterned paper from Basicgrey "Offbeat" 6x6 pad, Brown patterned paper from Basicgrey "Mellow" 6x6 pad, Stampin Up Handsome Hunter (for faux brads)
Ink: Timber Brown Stazon, Colorbox Frost White, Stampin Up Handsome Hunter ink pad and marker, Stampin Up Chocolate chip ink (sponged), Prismacolor pencils
Other: Vanilla embossing powder, Crystal Effects paper glaze, 3/16 hole punch

Laura's birthday card

I made this card for my sister's birthday.



For Christmas, she gave me some Basicgrey stuff: some 6x6 paper pads, some fibers, and some brads. I had told her that I wanted Basicgrey stuff, and told her what I already had. My sister does not papercraft. She creates awesome quilts, so she does play with patterns and colors, but the medium is different.

I have a feeling that when she saw the Urban Prairie glazed brads at the store, she could not leave without taking a packet of them home. One of the brads was a little bee, and I bet that that one brad caught her eye. My sister likes bees. I bet she would like to have this little brad, so I based the whole card around it.

She gave me the Urban Prairie 6x6 paper pad too. Two of the papers have bees on them, and I decided to use the hexagonal patterned one to make her card.

I have one bee stamp, and it is an old one from D.O.T.S (the company now known as Close To My Heart.) and it is country-style. It does not coordinate with the Urban Prairie paper at all. (I did use the stamp on the back of the card.) I do have a beehive stamp. It is from a country-style set of stamps, but it worked okay.

This is the inside of the card. One bee was near the margin of the paper and was removed when I cut the paper to fit the card. So, I cut it out and glued it near the sentiment. The sentiments were pieced together from a clear set of words. "Bee" was made from two words, 'Best', and the "e" from the end of the word "Love".



Stuff used:
Stamps: Occasional Calligraphy by Stampendous; Country Greetings from Stampin' Up, Bee (not shown, on back of card) from D.O.T.S
Paper: Stampin' Up Baja Breeze, Basicgrey Urban Prairie 6x6 pad
Ink: Palette Noir, Prismacolor pencils
Other: Ribbon from Michaels, glazed brad from Basicgrey Urban Prairie, dimensional dots.

Frost

Water can be pretty! Especially when it crystallizes.







The pictures above, were taken last weekend near where Ed works. The skies were overcast with clouds, so it was hard to take pictures, but we tried.

The picture below is frost on the dogwood in our yard. I took the picture Tuesday.



I rarely complain about winter and the cold temperatures. How can I, when it can produce such beauty?

Ed's birthday card

Ed's birthday is Friday, and this is the card I made for him.



This is the inside:



You know you are old when...
you and your teeth don't sleep together.

When I saw this set of stamps by Gina K, I thought of Ed. He is older than I am by a number of years, and I get to tease him about it from time to time. The 'teeth' sentiment and image are particularly pertinent right now, since he is still waiting for our dentist who is waiting on the new, hopefully better, lab to get Ed's new teeth built (implants).

About the card:
I was going to use the teeth image on the background of the card, but I changed my mind so as to not give away the punchline before the card was opened. I used a variety of colors to color the main image, just to poke fun at Ed's fashion sense. (Actually, he has a good feel for colors on cards and quilts, but his clothes don't always coordinate properly, probably because he dresses for work in the morning when he is still asleep.)

Stuff used:
Stamps: All by Gina K: You Know You Are Old When set
Paper: Stampinp Up: Brocade Blue and Bashful Blue; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Papertrey Stampers Select (card base); printed paper by Paper Pizazz
Ink: Palette Noir, Prismacolor Pencils, Prismacolor Cold Stone marker

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This week's The Cat's Pajamas challenge is hosted by Karrie, who challenged us to make Valentine cards. This challenge was perfect, since I had already planned to make a Valentine card for Ed using my new TCP stamps, but I had not chosen which stamps to use, so this made me sit down and do it!



I colored the robot lavender and purple, and I paper-pieced the robot's right side (his right, not ours) with silver paper and I paper-pieced his heart too. His horizontal band is colored gold, just to make him even more metallic. I cut the heart-shaped main layer free-hand. The hearts on the robot and the one he is speaking are eccentric, so I figured the heart panel should be too. The white heart panel looked too stark, so I sponged some plum ink around the edges.

I based the layout of the card on the robot image, positioning the colors in the same locations that they are on the robot. I added 3 silver heart brads to the lavender panel, to mirror the 3 rivets on the robot's body. The purple layer is metallic and is from a stack of paper that Ed had encouraged me to buy when it was on sale at Michael's. The silver panel and the gold band are cut from metallic paper too.

Stuff used:
Stamps: All from The Cat's Pajama's "Loving Mew" set: Love Robot, Love Speak, Love Machine
Paper: DCVW The Metallic Stack; Stampin' Up: Elegant Eggplant and Pale Plum; Curious Metallics Galvanized and Gold Leaf; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
Ink: Palette French Lilac, SU Pale Plum, Prismacolor pencils, Prismacolor Cold Stone marker
Other: Brads from Making Memories

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The Cat's Pajama's Tuesday challenge is hosted by Jen this week. It is a color challenge.

These colors felt like autumn colors to me. I was not inspired, but I did think about them all week. I even looked for patterned paper at Michael's today, and the only paper that had these colors was some Jack-o-lantern paper.

Finally, I sat down and made a card. It was a fast, one-layer card, and it measures 3x3 inches. It would make good card to include with a gift. It is also nicely gender-neutral. Not too pretty, not too cute.



Stuff used:
Stamps: "Smells Like Cake" and "You Say It's Your Birthday"
Paper: Papertrey
Ink: Palette Noir; Stampin' Up: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Taken With Teal; Prismacolor pencils and Cold Stone marker

Birthday card for Mom

I made this card for Mom's birthday. I need to mail it tomorrow.


Mom likes green. I chose to make a serene card. Dad is not doing well, so I wanted Mom's card to be soft and soothing, since she has a lot on her mind and is probably stressed from worry.

I stamped leaves on the checked pattern paper, and stamped the flower on the other background paper. I put Stickles (glitter glue) on the flower's stamens.

Stuff used:
Stamps: Stampin' Up: Embrace Life, Birthday Greetings (retired long ago)
Paper: SU: Garden Green, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla; patterned papers from Provocraft Slab III
Ink: Timber Brown Stazon; SU: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose; Prismacolor pencils
Other: Sheerly Yours ribbon from Michaels, Patina Stickles

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This week's TCP Tuesday challenge is hosted by Toni. It is an inspiration challenge.

First, I was inspired to wait for my package with my selection of goodies that Alma sent me for being selected Swanky Stamper of the Month for January. One of the things I chose was the Knitting Kitty stamp. The hat, scarf, mittens, and sweater in the inspiration picture are knitted items. Knitting Kitties knit knitted things.

After my new stamps arrived, I could work on my card. I picked up on the colors and the objects in the picture. In the background I stamped and colored pink hats and green mittens. (The model in the picture is wearing gloves, but mittens are cuter and warmer than gloves!) The pink scarf is represented by the pink ribbon. The blue sweater is represented by the blue card base. I put the main image and the sentiment in ovals, to represent the shape of the mug.

I also stamped pink asterisks on the background. Since asterisks were in the hat, mittens, and sentiment, it was hard to resist adding more asterisks.



Stuff used:
Stamps: All by The Cat's Pajamas... Knitting Kitty, Mittens (available in Kitty Christmas set), Warm Wishes (available in Deck the Hall set), Asterisk Hat, and Small Asterisk (available in It's a Mod Mod World set)
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Stampin' Up: Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss (current In Colors)
Ink: Palette Noir, SU Pixie Pink, Prismacolor Pencils, Cold Stone Prismacolor marker
Other: Pink ribbon from JoAnn, Petite Ovals Nestabilities, glue dots, dimensional adhesive dots

Pauline's birthday card

I made this card for my Stampin' Up demonstrator's birthday, which was this week. I always use Stampin' Up stamps and products for cards for her birthday.



Stuff used:

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Warmest Regards (Both by Stampin' Up)
Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Lavender Lace; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White (SU's white paper is too whimpy for card bases.)
Ink: Elegant Eggplant (Classic and Craft) , Lavender Lace (Classic ink)
Other: Crystal Effects, Crop-a-dile to make 3/16" round circles for faux brads, Crystal Clear Embossing powder for motif
Techniques: Rock-n-Roll, sponging, faux brads

I won't say how long it took to make this card. It didn't turn out like what I had in mind when I started, but that is okay. I got it done in time!

Snow Pictures

It snowed last Friday, then it turned to rain, and it made everything sticky. The next morning, all the trees were covered with snow. Ed and I took these pictures on Saturday. (Click on them to see them bigger.)

Neighbor's maples.


Our 'back' yard.


Up the street. The city has been keeping up very well with plowing!


Looking at our yard and down the street. The big pile of snow in front was snow that was on the driveway across the street. Someone plows that driveway (which is long and steep) and the stuff gets pushed across the street and up against our curb.


It stayed cold all day, so the snow stayed on the trees instead of melting and slipping off.

Where our house is situated, on the east side of a hill, we never see sunsets. However, we sometimes get a sunset reflected back to us. With all the snow on the trees, the trees on the next hill (to the east, and a bit north) look like they are on fire. This show lasted only a few minutes, then the trees on the hill were in the shadows too.

TCPTUES39

Notice the bright yellow image over there? ------------------> (Well, it is gone now, since it is no longer January, but you can see it below.)

I was soooooo excited when I found out I am the Swanky Stamper of the Month for January.

Even though I won this honor, I intend to keep doing the Cat's Pajamas weekly challenges. Why? Because they are fun to do! I held off making my card this week, in the hopes that my order of new TCP stamps would arrive before Saturday. It is always fun to play with brand new stamps!

The challenge this week is hosted by Leigh, and it is a sketch challenge.

I made my card smaller than usual. It measures 3x3 inches. Since most of the stamps in the new sets I purchased are smallish, I made the card smaller to showcase the main image better.



Stuff used:
Stamps: All stamps from "Loving Mew" Clearly Swanky set by The Cat's Pajamas
Ink: Palette Noir, Stampin' Up Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Stampin' Up Regal Rose and Rose Red
Other: dimensional foam dots to pop up the main image, Nestabilities Long Rectangle dies

Edges of all layers were sponged in pink ink. The scallops were made with Nestabilites dies, but I changed the proportions of rectangles by running the rose paper through once, lining it up, and running it through the die cutter again. (I saw tutorials on how to do this, after I figured it out on my own.)

Thank you cards

These are Thank You cards I made for Christmas gifts we received.

I stamped the main image before Thanksgiving, and took the images and my colored pencils along when we traveled so that I would have something to do if I needed something to do while we were at Ed's mom's house. I finally had time to relax and color on the last day we were there, since it was a weekend and Ed's brother could help with the handyman projects Ed was doing for his mother.



I finished the cards after Christmas. We wrote personal notes inside them yesterday, and put them in the mail today.

Stuff used:

Stamps: Furry Present by Penny Black, sentiment from Studio G
Ink: Palette Noir, Prismacolor pencils
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Stampin' Up Bashful Blue, Creamy Caramel, Real Red