Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Bah Humbug For The Girls


Hello Friends --

I am back with another Christmas card for the Bah Humbug challenge.  This one was fun.  I knew what I wanted to do right away, I just needed to find the time to get it done.  So, in classic fashion, I'm sneaking in the night before this is "due".

The challenge was to make a card "For The Girls".  You could interpret that in many different ways.  I thought this image from Bugaboo Stamps was perfect.  You can find a ton of fun/funny characters in the Bugaboo collection.  This one is called Scarlette Cafe and can be found here.

The sentiment actually goes with another digi but I thought she looked like she wants Santa's naughty boy list.  What do you think?  Would Scarlette have a good time with Santa's list of naughty boys?

I used my Curved Rectangles Nestie for the image and the backing.  I pop dotted both of them to give it all a bit of dimension.  The sad thing, it looked a bit plain that way so I pulled out some letter stamps from the Teresa Collins Blingage Alphabets and made a pattern of HO HO HO.  I probably should find some smaller letters next time (I think I'll be doing quite a few of this design).

Now, for a funny story.  This week the Wonderkid had to go to the dentist to get two cavities filled.  How can a 4 year old have cavities?  Well, according to the dentist it actually didn't have anything to do with his eating or brushing and had everything to do with the enamel on his teeth never quite coming in.

So, while we are waiting for the teeth to "go to sleep".  One of the hygienists comes by and says, "Did he see him?"  Meaning the Wonderkid see someone.  Well, I had no idea what she was talking about so she encourages us to look out and who is standing at the check out desk but SANTA.  I mean honest to goodness Santa.  He wasn't wearing the suit and boots but he had the belly and the long white hair and the beard.  Well, the Wonderkid thought that was pretty cool so we talked to him for a minute.  Santa told him that he comes to our dentist because he is very good and doesn't ever hurt you and he is one of the best.  When asked why he doesn't go to the elf dentist he said that elf is very busy taking care of the other elves' teeth and he taught our dentist how to be a dentist. Santa then explained that since he is 400 years old he needs to take very good care of his teeth.

Finally, the Wonderkid looks at me and says, "Can I tell him what I want for Christmas?"  I said, "yes" and he proceeded to explain he wants a skateboard.  Santa didn't miss a beat.  He said he would bring him one but he needs to promise to wear his helmet and knee/elbow pads.

The Wonderkid has been telling everyone who he saw at the dentist's office.  He doesn't mention the cavities being filled or any of the other parts, just that he was able to see Santa.

Thanks for stopping over.  I hope to see you again soon.  I've a number of projects to share but I just can't seem to get past the laundry, recycling, dishes, cabinets that need cleaning and now painting, etc.  Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Bah Humbug Something New

This week's challenge from Humbug Hall was to use or do Something New.  You know how I like to do things up BIG so I used new stamps, new techniques, a new die and new pens.  So, this will fulfill the challenge on many different levels.

Over the summer I bought a few ProMarkers.  I'm loving them so far and use them with my markers from Dick Blick.  To make the trees on the card base, I used the pens and colored a couple of Darkroom Door Rubber stamps. That is my new technique.  I've never colored stamps with a pen before.

I'm in love with these Darkroom Door stamps (these came from the Yuletide Collection).  I received a very exciting email this morning from my pals over at Darkroom Door.  They have some new stamps on pre-order.  I'm salivating over the London set and the string sentiments.  I suggest you check them out if you like detailed rubber stamps.

The wreath is from the Flourishes set, Christmas Classics.

My favorite new thing on this card, I finally purchased one of the lattice dies from Cheery Lynn Designs.  I've been eyeing this die for at least 6 months so when my LSS started carrying them, I decided it was time to bite the bullet.  I'm not sorry I purchased it.

However, the best part of the something new for today -- The Wonderkid is in a NEW school year.  It is amazing how much time one little 4 year old can suck up.  I thought, this summer wasn't going to be too busy.  He had things a couple of weeks but then I should have been able to get my stuff done.  I barely went near my crafting space the entire summer.  Now, I'll admit, a few weeks I couldn't craft because I was canning (I put up 250 jars of jams, jellies, fruit butters and pickles in one week).  However, that was a fraction of the summer.  The rest was spent attempting to entertain a little one, taking him places because I wanted to entertain a little one and generally focusing on a little one.  I don't begrudge him any of the time.  I was happy to do it but I need to remember in the future that I'm not likely to do anything over the summer and so I shouldn't plan on it.

Here are a couple of pictures of the Wonderkid from this morning.
and here is him before I pulled him away from his Nintendo.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

A couple of Kraft Cards

 I wanted to show you a couple of cards I made today.  I'll have a number of things to show you in the next couple of weeks because I'm finally feeling like I have a minute or two to myself.  The Wonderkid starts school this week (all of the other kids in the area have been back in school for 2 or 3 weeks) and that means I have a couple of minutes to breathe.  I thought we were going to have a summer with tons of extra time.  Well, we had plenty of time for Wonderkid things but NONE for me.

It was wonderful to get a little crafty today.  I think this is the start of something wonderful.

The first card was made for the Kraft Journal challenge.  The challenge was Anything Goes.  I happened to be at my LSS and found a few neat stamps.  These were some of the Penny Black stamps I picked up.  I always think of Penny Black stamps being cute and cuddly - kittens and hedgehogs and such.  This is certainly not in that line.



The button, bakers twine and beaded pin come from Jilliebean Soup. I think the colors match very nicely.  You can see many other submissions for this challenge here.

On a side note, did you know Jillibean Soup recently opened their own online store?  I'm loving this.  They don't sell the latest items but it is a fantastic place to get a few more sheets of some of the older items.

Now for my Tiddly Inks card.


The challenge was to use an inchie (a one inch square with any type design you like).  I colored the schoolhouse from Tiddly Inks on kraft cardstock.  I then cut it into 4 equal sections to make 4 inchies.  The bottom is the cream cardstock I used above with a sentiment rubber stamp.  I used some twine from Jilliebean Soup.   I'm thinking about using this card for the Wonderkid's new teachers.  He'll meet them tomorrow and I thought it would be nice to start the year off with a card.

Here is a close-up of the school house.

What do you think about my new cards?