Update on my cat and other things...

Here's a picture of my cat, Bandit with my youngest Ryan.  This picture is over a year old, but it one of the cutest!  So Bandit is still out and about.  I've chased down leads all Summer and Fall to no avail. But I did just hear from someone yesterday who believes she saw Bandit- with a collar on- so it seems someone has taken him in.  Of course it could be yet another black and white cat, but I'm betting that it is him.  The last credible siting of Bandit was about 3 weeks ago one street over.   As the weather gets colder here, I'm confident that he'll be home before too long.  He may have had fun chasing the chipmunks, but I imagine he's not going to want to hang out in the snow.   My oldest misses Bandit a lot, but I keep his spirits up by talking about Bandit's grand adventure!


Other news from me is that I'm no longer a Stampin' Up! demonstrator- this economy and my family life (cray little boys that keep me hopping and the aforementioned MIA kitty) was too much for me to maintain my demonstratorship.   But as strange as it seems, I'll probably be stamping and scrapbooking more.   I was feeling rather overwhelmed by my stash- actually more like suffocated. So I'm slowly starting to dig my way out and will have lots to show you, so stay with me.   Plus, you'll want to know what happens with my cat, right?

So here are two cards I made not too long ago.  I love this stamp set and was happy to finally ink it up.

Supplies used for these cards: Thoughts and Prayers stamp set, very vanilla card stock, perfect plum card stock and pastel, pale plum card stock and pastel, old olive pastel, versamark ink, and the corner rounder punch.

Retired Stamp Sale!

I really need to free up some room in my new crafting cabinet (well, in truth, I'm actually using two cabinets because 1 is just not enough). Here's the list of retired sets and wheels I'm willing to part with:

1. Fun filled- $7
2. A Greeting for All Reasons- $25
3. Soft Swirls- $20
4. Framed Greetings- $18
5. Amazing to Zany- $20
6. Greetings Galore- $20
7. Love Ya Bunches- $10
8. Polka Dot & Paisley- $15
9. Be Happy- $15
10. Simply Spring- $15
11. Small Shapes- $5
12. Time Well Spent (new and unmounted)- $30
13. Zoofari- $15
14. A Little Birdie Told Me- $15
15. So many sayings (new and unmounted)- $10
16. Riveting (new and unmounted)- $10
    

Wheels

1. Whimsical Blossom- $5
2. Flower Fun- $5

From a non-smoking home.

If you live outside of Cleveland and wish to purchase a set or two, I will ship them to you for the actual cost of USPS shipping.

I'm also open to reasonable offers- I'd like these sets to go to a stamper that might actually ink them up!

Paper bag album from your favorite slacker stamper

Same old story- my life is getting in the way of my stamping. I've spent the majority of my "free time" this summer looking for my 15 year old, deaf and de-clawed indoor cat. He escaped the last Saturday of June, right before a week of monsoonal rains and I've been chasing him ever since. He was last seen this past weekend with a limp. I'm sorry he's injured, but I'm thinking it may make it easier to catch him. He's just totally freaked out and I saw him about a month ago, at dusk, when other people had already been trying to catch him. He looked healthy- but just plain scared. I'm keeping my hopes up. One of these times, the timing is going to be right and he'll be coming home.

But you didn't come here to hear my tale of woe about my beloved kitty, so I'll move on... in the rest of my "free time" I have stamped a few choice projects- I made this cute little paper bag album for a dear friend earlier this summer. I had shown her the album I made of my oldest and she oooed and aahed over it, so I knew I would have to make one for her. I love giving gifts like this: totally personal and handmade. One of the benefits of having a craft stockpile, is that I didn't have to buy anything- everything I needed was on hand, just waiting to be made into something gorgeous!











Supplies used for this fabulous project (ALL Stampin' Up!, except for the paper lunch bags of course): Circle Circus stamp set, Rich Razzelberry card stock, marker and polka dot grosgrain ribbon, Melon Mambo card stock and marker, Dusty Durango card stock and marker, Crushed Curry card stock and marker, Bermuda Bay card stock and marker, Large Oval Punch, Photo Corners Punch, 5-Petal Flower Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, 1" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Scallop Edge Punch and silver brads.

Another good thing about projects like this is that once you make one, it is so easy to duplicate it again and again- teacher's gifts, anyone?

You Tube for stamping?

A new customer recently placed an order through my Stampin' Up! website. I emailed her to thank her for her order and for selecting me as her demonstrator and discovered that she is new to the stamping hobby. Turns out she is teaching herself to stamp and is getting tips from watching You Tube videos. How cool is that? I never would've thought of doing that. Well, it turns out I must be a dunderhead because Stampin' Up! now has its own channel on You Tube. So check it out- lots of neat videos are available now, and more are to come.

Stamping is a Beautiful Thing

How I wish that I could stamp more often. Even thought I'm a demonstrator and love being a demo, I don't make stamping a priority. There's always something else that I could or should be doing- developing a meal plan, cleaning, play dates for the kids, feeding the dogs, chasing down the deaf cat who has escaped from the house for the umpteenth time this week, etc, etc. But really what I'm saying when I don't stamp or scrapbook is that I'm pushing myself waaaay down on the priority list. And that's sad. But that's also when you have young kids. I'm looking forward when I can stamp more than once in a quarter.

I recently discovered just how long it has been since I have stamped- I went to grab a baby card out of my card stash for neighbors who just had their first little baby when I found I had absolutely nothing appropriate to give them. And then I had some family birthday cards- slim pickings for those occasions too. So I need to stamp and soon. And I think I'm going to get my 4 year old in on the action as a project. Pre-school is done for the year until August and I'm going to need somethng to to keep him occupied, right? Well, I have an order coming from Stampin' Up! tomorrow, so I will have some new creations to share soon.

I do have an oldie, but goodie to share for now... So for this fun almost-all-occasion card, I used the Beautiful Thing stamp set and a somewhat striking color combination. I used the slit punch to make the punch-outs to inset the ribbon- I just made sure to not push the punch in too far so and lined up the edge of the paper with the end of the punch.

Supplies used: Beautiful Thing stamp set, Taken with Teal card stock, Summer Sun card stock and ink, Pumpkin Pie card stock and ink, Whisper White card stock, Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon and Marvelous Marker, Slit punch.

Masking fun

No, I'm not hiding something fun, but I have a great card that shows the wonderful technique of masking.  

Sometimes I can be somewhat of a lazy stamper- I'll see a really cool technique that looks fabulous, but I talk myself out of giving it a try because , well...  well for no good reason!  

So I overcame my case of laziness here and finally tried masking.  And I'm so glad I did because I love how this card turned out.  And it was a lot simpler than I anticipated.  

A win win, don't you think?

Supplies used:  Dreams du Jour stamp set, Basic Black ink, Whisper White card stock, Kiwi Kiss card stock and ink, Riding Hood Red card stock and ink, Tangerine Tango card stock and ink, Scallop edge punch, and blender pens.

Tangerine Love

The richness of the Tangerine Tango color is so rich and deep. I'm not normally an orange fan (non-fruit, that is), but I really like Tangerine Tango. In today's card, I've paired it with the other In Colors, but in a more subtle way.  The Love stamp from the Dreams du Jour stamp set is great in this application.  It's a pretty quick and easy card to make because of the opened lined nature of the stamp.  Just takes a little more cleaning of the same stamp than usual for me.Supplies used:  Dreams du Jour stamp set, Tangerine Tango card stock and ink, Whisper White card stock, Pacific Point card stock and ink, Blue Bayou ink, Pink Pirouette ink, Riding Hood Red ink, Kiwi Kiss ink, Scallop border punch.