Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Some cards again

Here are some cards I cranked out tonight. I used the March issue of Cards magazine for inspiration. I had a conversation with Mrs. Luggage tonight about our justjohanna stamps and why we can't stop using them. I try and try, but it seems like I always go back to my justjohanna stamps for cards. Not because I HAVE to, but because I want to. Those little birds and presents and especially the sentiments are really starting to grow on me. This first one is very simple, but I kinda like it. I just used scraps from some of the other cards I made. This next one is using Lumiere, the peacock. I like this little bird. I don't know that I like the ink I used to stamp him, but I like the bird. My first run through with the image was embossed with clear embossing powder mixed with turquoise glitter. The image was too transparent, so I'm saving it for another project. No jj stamps on this card. The swirl is from another clear set I have. This was a quick and simple card to make. I like that. Don't you just love pink and brown together? I do! I also love turquoise and brown together. Yummy. Here's the last one. I used the embossed background that Erin made for me with her Cuttlebug. This card design was also from Cards magazine, but it doesn't look as cool as the one in the magazine. I don't know if it's the background, the colors or what. That's ok. It's another card for the card box at work.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

A few simple cards

I made these last night. I just didn't have time to post them because I was falling asleep. I've been so tired lately.

I love, love, LOVE these new jj stamp sentiments. (Thanks Ever So) She makes a lot of other ones. You really should check them out. I know you'll order some if you click.

I'm headed off to make some more cards. I'm feeling crafty tonight. I might do something unsual.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Shoes!

I need new shoes. I hate to shop for shoes. I buy shoes, they hurt my feet. I try to be trendy, but it doesn't work. I just have to wear sensible shoes, that's all. My favorite shoes? I love my Aussie Dogs, my pink slippers and my black half-boots. Oh and my tennis shoes. The rest of my shoe collection sucks. Here's the big thing why I hate to shop for shoes. I hate to pay the price. Seems like something like shoes should be cheaper because you wear them out. Oh, I know what you're saying, "but, wait, Debbie, shoes are cool. They are made by Jose the Shoe Guy!" I don't care WHO makes the shoes. Most of them hurt my feet, especially my baby toe. I'll stick to my comfy shoes, thank you. Speaking of shoes, I made a couple of shoe cards the other day. Actually, I just wanted to color something that was quick and easy, so I picked up the $1 shoe stamp from Michael's off my shelf and went for it. This is what I made out of it. The sentiment is not from Michael's. I got it in a $1 bin of unmounted rubber at the Riverside stamp show. Pretty cool sentiment, eh? I think the cards are kinda corny, but they will serve their purpose. I'm sending them out this week, so if I haven't talked to you recently, you may be saddled with one of these cards. That's it for now. Thank shoe very much.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Sleeping Cats

I'm crafting, and I look around this 8x10 room full of paper, stamps, inks and books and I see all three of my kitties in some arrangement of sleep. This is Cheeto. He's the largest of all the cats. He's about 8 years old now. He doesn't realize he is an 18 lb cat trying to smoosh himself into a 10 lb box. He is perfectly happy there. As a matter of fact, if I turn down the tv, I can hear him snoring. Cheeto is the self-proclaimed King of the Kitties, and he often bullies Frankie and Gizmo. To humans, he is a sweet, friendly and loving cat, who loves it sit in your lap and be petted. I have a special place in my heart for orange striped kitties. They just have a certain type of personality that I love. Kind of sassy. This next cutie is Frankie. She's the only girl and she is the tiniest cat we have ever owned. She only weighs about 8 lbs soaking wet. She relates mostly to Cheeto because when she came into our household, Cheeto was the only cat we owned. She is often straddled with the following monikers: Franklin, Frantic Frankie, Frankenstein and Girly Girl. She is a sweetie pie, but she doesn't like to be held at all. We got her from a woman who had 5 boys under the age of 10, and they chased the litter of cats all over their property. No wonder she is skittish! Frankie and I play musical chairs all night in the craft room. She sleeps on the chair at the computer desk, but when I leave the chair at the craft table to check email or a website, she is shooed off that chair and just moves to the craft chair. We go back and forth like that all night. You'd think she'd just go someplace else, huh? Last, but not least, is Gizmo. Gizmo is a purebred Bengal. He belonged to my son, Tony, but when he moved out, I got to keep the Giz. He is used to being an only cat, so he tends to keep to himself. He loves to sleep in this kitty bed. Another example of trying to put an 18 lb cat in a too-small container, but he's happy in there, so who am I to care? Gizmo follows me all over the place during his waking hours. So that's the scoop on the kitties today. No cards to blog. I've been working on my samples for Johanna tonight, but I can't post them. I really should clean this craft room because I can't find anything, but it's much more fun making a mess an listening to Cheeto snore.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Do the Funky Chicken

If you're a baby boomer like me, you may remember a dance called the Funky Chicken. I used to do the funky chicken with my Uncle Paul when we got a little lit. Now that I think about it, it seems a little weird but it was funny at the time. Us dancing around like a couple of whacked out chickens. Anyhow, back in January I got this stamp at the stamp expo in Riverside. I think it's a Prickley Pear stamp. I bought it because it looked cool enough to color. I colored it once on white cardstock and decided that it was too stark, so I used the beige ground from an artists palette. This was a fun image to color with my Prismas. Heck, anything is fun to color with Prismas. After I finish my samples for Johanna for the Del Mar stamp expo, I'll be dragging out my Terry Medaris stamps and coloring them because I haven't yet colored all my Medaris stamps. I think John and I are going to go to Peoria next month for a Padres spring training game, and plan on heading into Phoenix and Mesa to hit a couple of rubber stamp stores. I'd like to get some Medaris stamps and some stamps by Copper Leaf Creations. They have some really neat stamps. I notice my taste in stamps goes in phases and different types. Right now I'm into the southwestern rubber stamps. I can't get enough of them. Sorry ladies, Bellas will never make it into the rotation.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

A million bazillion stamps

That's how many justjohanna stamps we made up on Saturday. We - Cat, Johanna, Lora, Chris and I - worked at the Cupboard from 2pm until 2:30am cutting rubber, indexing and mounted a gazillion stamps. Well, it seemed like that many. Here's why we made up so many stamps - Johanna (the H is silent), and her company, justjohanna rubber stamps, will be at the first annual rubber stamp expo in Del Mar, CA this year! How freakin' exciting is that?? We are assembling a bunch of stamps for the booth there. Johanna and Cat are hosting three, that's 3!, Create 'n Takes each day of the Expo. Wow! There will be a free create 'n take at the justjohanna booth as well. Won't you stop by and see us? I'll be there both days. Come say hello!

Simple Sunday

I made a few cards today. I don't think they are anything special. I'm having a hard time with inspiration. I've tried working on my One-Sheet-Wonder sheets for the swap - no luck. All crap. Worked on the 2x2 and 2.5 x 3.5 Make 'N Take samples - again, all crap.
So then I decided I'd try and make some cards, and the first two cards is what I got. The second two cards I made yesterday for my design team submissions, but I'm not sure they will be turned in, either.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Queen of Commas

,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, I've dubbed myself the Queen of Commas. I've realized I put commas everywhere. No, not on the walls or on fences, but I am quite liberal with that member of the punctuation family when I write. When I'm writing, I put one where I'd take a breath and I guess I breathe a lot. I'll go back through and read what I've written and I have to take out a quarter of the commas and that doesn't take into account the ones that should come out but didn't. I think that sentence needed a comma somewhere, but I'm not sure where. I'm always aware of other people's commas (or lack thereof), but apparently I need to be more mindful of my own. So if I've corrected you (known to you or not) about your use of commas, well you just tell me to mind my own commas. ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,,

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Two and a Half Men

This is another show I just love. Did you watch it last night? Rose moved away to London! What's Charlie gonna do now? Ok, so anyways.... there is this one part of the show that is just my absolute favorite. After the show is over and they show the credits, there is a whole screen shot that is full of words. Have you ever read that? OMG, it is so hilarious. It's alike an Easter Egg from the show. If you have DVR, pause it when that screen shows up. You will not be disappointed. Last night it talked about how the writers wanted to put in a final funny line for one of the actors, but the show censors took it out of the show, but they told what it was in that little blurb at the end. I don't know who writes that stuff, but they should have a blog. haha I think even cranky Joe would like it.

I'm not LOST anymore

Ok, so I was waaay behind in watching LOST. When the show first started, I watched a few episodes and said, eh. Then later in the 1st season, I watched another episode and went, oh crap, I shoulda been watching this, it's great, but I'm way behind now. Second season starts and I'm bummed because I'm lost on LOST. Then the 1st season comes out on DVD and I get buy it. Awesome!!! But since the 2nd season started already and we didn't set the DVR to record it, I'm behind again. Arrrrgh!!!! Season 3 starts. Only this time, John sets the DVR to record it. Season 2 comes out on DVD and I buy that. I finish watching all of that (awesome) and then I start in on the DVR episodes, and as of last night, I'M ALL CAUGHT UP!!! Aren't you just thrilled for me? Thank you.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Parte Dos

Ok, here's part two of the 10 cards I've made in the last 24 hours. I own this stamp, but I don't use it much. I think it's kind of a pain to color. I'm trying to color with a lighter touch. I tend to color dark and bold, so I'm trying something new. This kitty is from Inky Antics. Isn't he cute? I had colored him ages ago and just made him into a card last night. Sunflowers. One dark, one light. The darker one was colored already. I had done all the coloring and then scrunched up the paper and inked it. The second sunflower is using lighter colors, lighter hand. Just something different. This zen card was made using the new swirly QuicKutz die for my Revolution. I am going to be incorporating these swirly's into my jj cards this month, but I just HAD to make a sun first. I used my two sizes of scallop punches for the sun. The flower is from the Z stamps from Hero Arts monograms. So is the Zen stamp. I'm off to clean up and finish my homework for art class for tomorrow. Keep making stuff. Don't stop even if you're stumped. Copy something. Color something. Paint something. Just DO something.

Card Making Frenzy!!

I needed a jump start last night for my cardmaking. I was going to pull out my latest edition of Paper Trends, but instead I pulled out the evergrowing pile of stamped images I have in the drawer. Some were colored already, so I decided to make cards out of those. Here are some of them. The one with the yellow flowers in the corner is a stamp I own but don't use much. I had colored it ages ago but just mounted it today. I think these jars of flowers are prety cute. I put crystal lacquer on the jars to simulate water. Simple card, but I think it's pretty cute. These flowers are from an image swap I received a loooong time ago. I think they are cute because they look stitched. Colored with Prismas, of course. Do I need to say that every time or does the whole world know by now that I only color with Prismacolor pencils? I bet it does, so I won't mention it again. At least today. A cute little House Mouse image I colored. I put crystal lacquer on the raindrops. Nothing special. Matter of fact, I don't think I even like the paper. OH well. And then this. What can I say? It is way too girly for me. I put the image on a green tag and then added lace. The background is Versamarked with a stamp from the Hero Arts monogram stamps. Stay tuned for part two.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Super Duper Saturday

Let me start this post by saying my computer sucks. Ever since I installed Internet Explorer 7, my typing has sucked. For some reason, not all the letters come out after I type them. At first, I thought it was my keyboard so I replaced it. Twice. I've come to the conclusion it's not the keyboard. It's like there is some lag time between the typing and what ends up on the screen. It's maddening, I tell you! Ok, so on to todays fabulousness.... From 10:30-1:30 I "worked" at Cat's doing the make 'n takes. The stamps were from Rosie's Roadshow. A cow with hearts on it, colored with pencils. Waaay cute. Around 1:30, Julie came in and did the make 'n take despite the fact that I watched her do it. When my shift was over, we walked down to the Cottage and bought some paper and buttons. While we were there, guess who showed up? Cat, Johanna and Lora. hahaha We all shop at the greatest places! After the Cottage experience, Julie and I planned to go get some sushi, but we were too late, so we had Mexican food instead. After filling our bellies, we came to here and crafted. We made exploding boxes. Pictures later. Then we played with the stamp-a-ma-jig (Julie's new favorite craft item) and we colored with pencils. We came up with some wacky ideas for justjohanna stamps so watch the galleries.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Something I forgot

I guess I forgot to turn in my non-card project to Johanna for January. I knew I made these, but I couldn't find them. If you saw my craft room, you'd know WHY I couldn't find them. What a mess! Anyways, these are earrings. They are made from little squares of Stampbord. I love that stuff. The Stampbord is amazingly light. I stamped the bird on the Stampbord and then colored with pencils. I need to learn to let the ink dry longer before I start coloring. I'm just impatient. Instant gratification. I'm a Sagittarian, what can I say? So when I found them, I added some micro beads to the edge. I saw a card at Cat's that she did that, so I added the beads later on. You wouldn't know that, but I just wanted to say that. Oh, and guess what? My Crop-a-dile cut the holes in the Stampbord like a hot knife through butter. Amazing.

Finally Friday

I know, I know, I haven't been blogging. Whatever. So today is my Friday off. I am beginning to not like my every other Friday off because it seems like I wake up with a migraine every other Friday. It's not FUN!! Luckily, today I caught it early and it was gone by 10:00am. Went to Cat's today to cut rubber. It's kind of like cutting the cheese, only it doesn't stink and you don't fart. So, I guess it's really not like cutting cheese at all. We cut rubber for stamps for the Del Mar Stamp and Scrapbook Show. Click it. Scroll down. See it there? Justjohanna is going to be there!! How cool is that? Suffice it to say there is a lot of activity going on in the justjohanna household these days. I'm sure she has some fabulous stuff planned for the show. I know there will be make 'n takes because I am going to be helping out with that. So is Emily. I'm not going to blast my big mouth about the activities until Johanna says "okey dokey". So you'll have to stay tuned to see what Johanna has in store for the big weekend. So what have I been doing lately if I've not been blogging? Coloring, for one. I'm always coloring. This image is a Magenta stamp I got up at the stamp expo in Riverside. I have an idea of hat I want to do with it, so in this image, I'm playing with the colors. I got smart this time and wrote down what colors I used. I always think I'm going to remember what colors I've used but I never do. How could I remember that if I can't even remember if I put deodorant on? This is an ATC I made for Julie's swap, "Baby I got your number" swap on Stamp Shack. I've had this cactus stamp for ages, but never used it. I stamped it on the green cardstock and then underpainted the whole image white. Underpainting is when you put down a basecoat layer first. If I hadn't put down the white underpainting, all the other colors would've looked bland. The white makes the colors brighter. The sun is a justjhanna stamp. I hand lettered the sentiment (borrowed from jj). I sealed the card with clear acrylic spray to keep the image bright and to seal in the pencil. This was fun, but a lot of work since I had to make 13 of them - 12 for the swap and 1 for me. Here's a card made from a Paula Best stamp. I really like her stamps. Cat said she had quite a few Paula Best stamps in the store, but I never noticed. Hmmm. Anyhow, I love her stamps. I bought a bunch of them up in Riverside. You can't tell from this scan, but there is glitter on the necklace of the kitty. I'm not sure I like the layout, but I wanted something odd because the stamp is odd. I think images like this are fun to color because you can go wild with color. One thing I need to learn to do is do non-traditional colors. Like maybe next time do the cat in greens, the fish purple and the wings orange. Stay tuned, I may do that. Tony liked this image, so I'm going to do his Valentine's card with this image. I did post this card in blue in an earlier post, but I had to post the yellow one because I think it looks better in yellow. Also, I colored it differently. The shading is a bit different. I love coloring with yellows. It's such a happy color. It makes me feel good to color with yellow. People have asked me if I color to a specific type of music. Well, most of the time, I have the tv on for noise, but I tune it out. If I do play music, it's almost always LOUD and alternative. I'm finding I like to zone out to some trance mood, or some DJ mix of some sort. It lets my mind disconnect and just flow. I hate silence. I have tinnitus really bad and silence is not my friend. I hear my ears ring and it drives me mad, so music, and the louder the better. What's a blog without House Mouse? I love House Mouse stamps. This is one of my newer images I got from eBay. It's a really large stamp. I bought it for it's coloring capacity. I buy all my stamps for that reason- to color them. This image was fun to color, too. The only part I didn't like was the frogs. There seemed to be too much green in the picture already, so I had to color them brown. I don't think they came out that well, but hey, it's just a card, right? No, I do not like to turn out crappy cards, so I will fix the frogs before I make this into a card. There was a thread on the Stamp Shack about what people charge for their handmade cards. I hardly ever charge less than $5 for one of my cards. This image took over 2 hours to color. Why would I charge less than $5 for it? By the time I'm fnished with it, I will probably price this one at $8-10. Trust me, someone will buy it. I mostly sell my cards to the nice ladies at work. I don't want to overcharge for my cards, but I think if you give them a good product, they will pay. Besides, have you checked the price of a Hallmark card recently? I rest my case.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Today Sucks

I woke up with a killer migraine plus my sinuses were full as can be. I took a migraine pill and went back to bed. Woke up around 2 and still had the migraine. Went to the bathroom to take another migraine pill. They put those damn pills in the cardboard things, so I have to use something sharp to open the pill thing. I used my tweezers and my hand slipped and the sharp part of the tweezer tip jammed into my other thumb and it started bleeding all over the pills. It was bad and it still hurts. So I get the pill out and take it. I go to blow my nose to get that horrible stuff out, and guess what? Yep, now my nose is bleeding. All over the sink. I just wanted to cry, but I couldn't do that because it makes my head hurt worse. Oh, and that freakin' dog next door has been barking all day.