And the Sleet has turned to Snow

I know that many of you live in snow and it is a "so-what". I grew up in snow (lived the first 16 years of my life in Wyoming, then Colorado and the first two years of collage were in Nebraska....so I do know what it is like to live in snow!) But, we RARELY get snow in our little corner of Southern California (and let me just say that is FINE with me!! hehe)

Here is some pictures of my back yard taken just a couple of hours after the sleet pictures. Like the lake that is my kid's playyard? The ground is saturated, but we need it. The snow is that real wet, slushy snow. Not too worried about the roads (yet) as the ground is too warm for it to freeze into ice (at this point anyways!)

It Never Rains in So California

IT POURS SLEET instead!! Just snapped a couple of pictures of what the weather is like in Southern California today. The fountain is in my courtyard. Now, this will tell you how much rain we've gotten over the last 4 days~~the fountain was empty (it needed to be cleaned and that was one of those jobs that I never got around too!) Now it is almost full and has a nice layer of sleet on top.

And a look down the street and to the side. I think that I'll wait to take the poor cooped up pooch for a walk! I'm likely to land on my can!!

There is still water running down the gutter (which will make for some fun driving tomorrow morning, I'm sure). My camera didn't capture the sheet of sleet (try saying that fast 5 times!!) that was falling down. Think I'll go start my fireplace!!

Another Cupcake

Just sneeking in to post another cupcake card that I did yesterday while all the supplies where still on my desk (I'm suppose to be cleaning the kitchen from the pancake mess that was made!!). I think I like this one better!
Supplies: Paper: SU Whisper white, real read, chocolate chip. Stamps: SU It's your Birthday, Accessories: Quikutz cupcake die, Cuttlebug swirl embossing folder, liquid applique.
Quick, CAS (clean and simple) and one that I think I will use again (notice how I did the "frosting" the same way? Yeah~~~liked that "AH-Ha"!!)
Have a great weekend....Hoping to work on some family valentines tomorrow (yeah, I know. Nothing like procrastination to get you creating!!)

Making Cupcakes

WHEW!! Today I decided to use the Limited supplies challenge on Splitcoaststampers to get me going on a birthday card that I need for a 7 y/o girls party tomorrow. While I was at it, I thought that I would try and use the sketch challenge for this week too. SHEESH!! I need to do the challenges more often. This card took me FOREVAH!!! (and even tho it has some "AH-HA" moments on it....I consider it only ok....just doesn't have that "wow" punch that I was wanting. But! I have to remember that it is for a 7 y/o girl and will most likely end up in a drawer (or~gasp! The trash can!)

I had borrowed the Quikutz cupcake die from my wonderful friend (and have one on order now) as the girl's party is a "cupcake" party theme (going to decorate cupcakes....and such). I used my cuttlebug swirl embossing folder for the frosting then traced around the swirls with Liquid Applique (one of my "AH-Ha" moments). The other "AH-HA" moment is the candle. Yup!! That is a real candle there!! I tried to color it to match the pink but that didnt' work. I shaved off the back to flatten it and used Art Glitter designer adhesive to put it on. Now, the cupcake is one some major thick dimensionals that I have had in my stash for years!! Here is a side view, but it still does not show the dimension as seen in person

I kinda messed up when trying to stamp the "happy birthday. Uhhh, next time, I'll stamp the sentiment BEFORE having the cupcake adhered!! (DUH!!) Like I said...this one is so-so for me. Like the "AH-HA" moments, not real keen on the whole layout/color scheme. But, overall, ok (so much for that "Dirty Girl" inspiration roll that I was on....back to being a "normal" stamper! haha)Supplies used: Paper: SU Regal Rose, Close to Cocoa, retired SU DP, whisper white and chocolate chip. Stamps: Voila- Happy Birthday(SU) Accessories: Liquid Applique, Cuttlebug swirl embossing folder, candle, thick dimensionals, ticket corner punch, sponge daubers, heat gun, Quikutz cupcake die, Sizzix Big Shot

Thanks for looking!! It is pouring rain here so I guess the house is going to get cleaned!!

Wannabe Dirty, Part 2

Since I'm still icing my shoulder from all the self congratulating, I thought that I'd share part 2 of the "this is soooo DIRTY" projects that I did for the baby shower. First, the inspiration piece.And the "Dirty" project~~~This was for the other teacher's "Best wishes" book (who knew there was such a thing! Kinda a cute idea tho. Too bad I didn't come up with it!! hehe)Again, I'm having to ice my shoulder LOTS for this one!! Now, to prove what a "Dirty" genius (cough, snort, cackle) I am, let me share some little details about this particular project.

Ever hear the saying, "It's not what you know, but WHO you know?" Well, lucky for me, I have a friend who also makes cards. But she is not a stamper. She uses die cuts and has a WONDERFUL collection of just about everything possible. Those cute little airplanes are from the die I borrowed from her. I modified the wings some, trying to get them to look more like the fat little wings on the blanket. Now, here is where my inner "Dirty girl" came in. I could not find any type of camo print in my LSS, Target, Michael's. What is a girl to do? Well, lucky for me, I just happen to own (thanks to Melody!) SU's retired Leopard print background!! PERFECT for that faux camo look on this size of project!! GENIUS!! I also used the Flannel Plaid background stamp (may I just say that this confirms my thought that I should keep all my background stamps for those "just in case" moments?!!) Ok....now a peek of the insideAnd of course, I made a card to match this one too.

So, whadda think? Is there a "Dirty Girl" in my future? (BWHAHAAAA!!! Sometimes I crack myself up! WHEW!! That's a good one for this hour of the morning!!hehe) Seriously, I REALLY liked how these two projects came out and when it is all said and done, that is probably the most important thing. Fame might be nice, but being proud of your own accomplishments is probably a much better feeling. Supplies: Paper: SU's River Rock, Cranberry Crisp, Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy. Inks: Bashful blue, Cranberry Crisp. Stamps: SU's Leopard Print, Flannel Plaid, All Year Cheer I, Papertrey's Trajan Monogram. Accessories: Quikcuts airplane, SU's small star punch, Bind It All (pink) Tombow Multipurpose Adhesive, Zig two way glue pen, stampamajig

Meeting My Inner Dirty Gal

If you have never taken the time to visit Splitcoaststampers, you are TRUELY missing out on a treasure chest filled with awe inspiring creations, challenges to get YOU creating and of course, resources for everything. One of the "perks" of joining the Fan Club is that you get to see what the "Dirty Dozen" have created for that month's theme.

Now~let's be honest here. There is a TEENY TINY place in each of us (remember, we are being honest here!!) that would love to be asked to join this team. Here's my reality: Not likely to happen. I have come up with numerous "excuses" as to why I will never be "Dirty" (i.e~don't have the "right" tools, papers, bling, yaddayaddayadda, my cards aren't noticed because I don't do all the challenges, I'm not on any design teams, and more blahblah) But of course, the REAL reason (snort) that I probably will never become "Dirty" is my lack of faithful dedication at this time in my life to creating. And possibly a lack of conviction that I'm capable of creating something that is "Dirty" worthy (I apologize for that one...that was about as hokey as they come!)

BUT!! Every once in a while, I truely LOVE what I've created and think that I hit the "Dirty Gal" level of artistic output (eat your heart out "WannabeMartha!). The following is one such project. Again, this was for the baby shower (this shower and all it's projects are going to give those mom's-to -be a run for their money as far as time invested, hehe). This is a picture of one of the mom's nursery sets. And a picture of the rug that was also inspirational for my creation.

I was asked to make a something that everyone could sign their best wishes and then the mom's-to-be could put them into their scrapbooks. Wellll.....personally, I like my scrapbooks (ok, when I was scrapbooking....) to have a "certain" look, theme, etc. So I came up with this little

beauty instead

Isn't it just PERFECT?!! (yeah, I've been having to ice my shoulder since straining it patting myself on the back!!) For once, I had the PERFECT paper, the PERFECT embellishments and had the PERFECT upline (hi Kerney!) who just happened to have the PERFECT tool (I'm soooo going to have to get myself a Bind it ALL!! I LOOVED it!) to get this done!! Here is a look at the inside pages

And of course, I made a card to go along with it

I REALLY like how this project turned out!! (yup! More ice coming up!!) The card was made by tracing the same chipboard letters (as I only had one "b" in the bunch and that had been used on the book). I loved the dimension of the chipboard on the album and plan on using them more often.

Supplies used: SU's book basics-small, Alphabet chipboard: unknown (been in my stash from Michael's for a while) Papers: SU cranberry crisp, barely banana, certainly celery, brocade blue, My Mind's Eye, Wild Asparagus line "little one" stripe/yellow, Inks: SU's cranberry crisp, barely banana, certainly celery, brocade blue, Accessories: SU's small star punch, ticket punch, photo corner punch, Certainly celery ribbon, Tombow multipurpose adhesive, Zutter's Bind it All (pink one) 3/4 red Owires

Stay tuned for tomorrow's project. The "Wannabe" Dirty Gal isn't done yet!!

Seven Foot Stork Invasion

Remember the baby shower that won't go away? Well here is another little project that I did for it.

All of this was done using the large rolls of paper that every school has to cover bulletin boards. I was asked to decorate the "Pit" area of the school for the shower. To give you an idea of the size of this~the Pit is approximately 9 ft x 30 something ft. Now, it would seem that since this was a fairly simple decorating idea that it wouldn't have taken so long to do. But, of course, things never go as planned!! Originally, I thought that I would take an hour or so and put up the blue background while my oldest son was in his Lego Mindstorm class (something to do with building a robot that will perform certain "missions" during a competition). Ended up pulling staples out of the wall for probably an hour first. Grabbed a couple of 5th graders to help me by holding up the paper while I add more staples to the wall. Bless their hearts, they did try...but 5th graders cannot hold still. At ALL. Sooooo, after removing staples again and re-applying the bottom layer, I found a mom to help me (amazingly, we got the next two sheets up in about the same amount of time that it took for the first sheet! Kids~~ya gotta luv 'em!!). The clouds took another hour and half to "draw" (hahaha) and put up. They are kinda outlined. Kinda.

Drawing the storks was another matter. My wonderful husband has been gracious enough to dedicate one wall in the garage for such artistic endeavors. Seriously, that is a HUGE sacrifice for him, as the "office" (which all my stamping/craft stuff has seemed to somehow made its home) was to be "his" space. Now, all he has is his garage for all his "manly man" stuff. So, for him to give me a wall to practice faux painting techniques or to draw 7 ft storks is a biggie!! Anyway, back to the subject of drawing the storks. I am not one of those type of "artists" that can just draw "out of her head" (and I'm sure it has NOTHING to do with the fact that I don't practice!!). I find several pictures and take bits and pieces and adapt them to make up my own drawings. Fine. Except that the stork that is "taking off" didn't fit in my space (he was horizontal to begin with) so I had to adjust and draw him vertically. Which is kinda scary since I can't really tell if my lines are going to look right once he is positioned how he is really suppose to be (which, as it turned out, was no big deal since he got stapled in a more vertical position).

Painting the storks was done with my vast collection of acrylic tubes of paint (did I mention that SOMEONE forgot to check her supply from the last LARGE painting project? Yeah....let's just say it is a good thing that I don't have a problem mixing multiple shades to get my colors!!) Here's a couple of "close ups" that let you see the details a little better

There is subtle shading done with my copic marker on the storks defining the feather areas and where there would be shading normally, but my cheapie digi camera didn't pick up that important detail!!

Overall, I was very pleased with how this turned out. One of the other teacher's has asked if she can try and take the storks down to be used at her daughter and daughter-in-laws baby showers. Which is just fine with me. I'd like these things to get more use before they are thrown in the trash.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll share more projects for this shower tomorrow! (I still get giddy about how those turned out!! Geesh~~ I REALLY hope that I didn't use all my allotted creativity for the month on these!!)

Starla

P.S.....the baby bottles were a hit too. This same teacher mentioned above took the one's that no one took to be used at her showers. Which is nice. I really don't need them and kinda had a sick feeling in my stomach about them just getting tossed!!