Another silly card

Good Morning! TGIF!! Another Friday for everyone. Yea! It's into the weekend we go. Have fun tomorrow & get some good down time and family time.





I think this is a cute card that would be great to send to a good friend.
1. Cut Whisper White cardstock 8 1/2 x 5 1/2." Score & fold at 4 1/4."
2. I used striped paper from the Tea Party Designer Series Paper (#113992). I love using patterned paper on my cards. IMO, it makes them look so much brighter & happier.
3. On Whisper White cardstock, I stamped "Lucky Duck," a duck, and 2 eggs from the Wagon Full of Fun stamp set found in the new Occasions mini catalog (#113262). I just love this set. I think it's my favorite in the new mini. You can do so many different things with it!
4. Color your images with your favorite medium. I used Watercolor Pencils (#101879) and blender pens (#102845) to achieve a watercolor look. Cut your images out, with the "lucky duck" 3/4" x 1 7/8." Mat the lucky duck on Bashful Blue cardstock.
5. Using Snail adhesive, put the saying in the top left corner. Put the egg near the bottom of the card & the duck on top to look like it's sitting on the egg. I cut the feet off of the duck because you usually don't see the feet when ducks & chickens are setting.
6. With the second egg, cut it in two by cutting along the zig zag line.
7. On the inside of the card, stamp another duck. Mine is just slightly overlapping the folded edge of the card. Color this duck like the one on front.
8. Glue the bottom half of the egg directly onto the inside of the card. Use 3 dimensions on the back of the top half of the egg so it will pop a bit. Place it above the other egg to look like it's hinged.
9. Using your Stampin' Write Journaler (#105394) or a Stampin' Write marker, write directly onto the inside of the card "You quack me up!" using your best 1st grade printing. (Mine is my best 1st semester 2nd grade printing since that's what I taught forever) With the fine tip of the journaler write "ha" several times like it's coming out of the egg and twice by the duck's beak. I wrote some of them with upper case letters & some with lower case to give it a more varied look.

Hope you enjoy today's card. I think it's a good way to use those Easter egg stamps at any time of the year. All you need to enjoy this one is a sense of humor! The idea from this card came from Jean Fitch, another Stampin' Up! demonstrator.

Another pop-up card

I've got another pop-up card for you today. It's a little silly, but sometimes we need silly things. Hooray for a sense of humor. Maybe mine's a bit corny but at least, it's there!





1. Cut Tempting Turquoise cardstock to 4 1/4 x 11." Score and fold at 5 1/2."
2. Run a sheet of Whisper White cardstock through your computer to type your question on. I typed "What does a sick duck do?" Then I cut it out at 2 1/2 x 3" and mounted it on 2 3/4" x 3 1/4" green galore cardstock.
3. I stamped my duck from the Wagon Full of Fun stamp set found in the new Occasions mini catalog. I stamped him with Staz-on jet black ink(#101406). Whenever you are going to use water/watercolor on your project, you need to use a good permanent ink. like Staz-on so that the image doesn't smear. I colored it with Watercolor Pencils (#101879) and blender pens (#102845). I love getting a nice soft look with my Watercolor Pencils!
4. With a craft knife or hobby blade (#102449), I carefully cut around 2 sides of his wing so that I could pull it up over the saying mat. I used Snail adhesive to stick him to my card. Then I put the saying mat over his legs & bottom with the wing popping out & over.
5. I put a Certainly Celery ribbon across the bottom of the card to dress it up a bit.
6. Prepare your pop-up section as we did in the directions on Mon or Tues (I don't remember which day). Using VersaMark (#102283)ink for a watermark effect, stamp ducks all over the inside of the pop up section.
7. Stamp and color another duck as you did in step #3 above. Place him upside down on the pop up tab. I cut his feet off because I thought that it would look funny with his feet sticking up in the air. I wrote the word "quack" going up several times on the top portion of this part of the card.
8. Run a piece of Tempting Turquoise cardstock through your printed and type "It quacks up." on it. Cut that to 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 and adhere to the inside of the card below the duck.
9. Finish assembling the pop up card according to the previous directions.
Give it to someone grumpy. Maybe you can get them to smile! Have a great day. I plan to!

Masking

These are the other images to go along with the masking tutorial posted today, below.

Masking technique

Good Morning! I hope you slept better last night than I did! I woke up far too many times with my hips hurting. I don't know if the weather is changing again or if I've been riding my bicycle too much. Anyway, today's tip...







Masking is a fairly simple technique once you understand the idea behind it.The purpose is to make the other stamped images look like they are sitting behind one main image. Look at yesterday's card to see the finished product.
1. I stamped my flower from Wonderful Watercolors set (#115114) in the center of my Whisper White cardstock. Then I stamped 2 more images on scrap cardstock. Cut out the 2 additional images closely on the outside lines.
2. Lay one of the extra images carefully on top of your image that you are working with. Make sure you have it lined up exactly on the same lines as your first image.
3. Hold the "mask" image in place & stamp to one side, slightly overlapping your first image. Roll your stamp slightly to the inside to get more coverage. Because of the mask, you will not be able to stamp totally up to the original image but the rolling will help it get closer.
4. Keep the first mask in place. Put the second mask on top of the second image. Then stamp again slightly overlapping both images.
5. Continue stamping around the original image, leaving the first mask in place. Move the second mask each time to cover the image closest to where you are stamping.
6. Because I am not able to stamp right up next to my orginal image, I use my Stampin' Write journaler (#105394) to carefully draw in where the lines would be to fill in those blank spots.
Then color your images using shadowing behind the original image.
Hope this helps. Have a great day!

Pop up cards

Yikes! I've been busy with other things this morning & almost forgot to post my card for you to see. Please forgive me.



Here is what the completed pop up card from yesterday looks like.
1. I covered my white pop-up that I made yesterday with a piece of designer series paper from Raspberry Tart (#113975) cut 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" scored & folded at 4 1/4."
2. I stamped the flower images from the Fifth Avenue Floral set (# 113734) on Whisper White cardstock using a masking technique and my Stampin' Pastels (#105542). Check back tomorrow & I'll do a tutorial on masking with lots of pictures to help you understand my directions.
3. I cut the stamped images to 2 3/4 x 2 1/4" cutting off edges of the outside flowers. I mounted this on Green Galore cardstock cut at 2 1/2 x 3." The Green Galore was then matted on Pink Passion cardstock cut at 2 3/4 x 3 1/4.
4. The thinking of you was from the Wonderful Watercolors set (# 113688). I mounted it on Pink Passion cardstock cut at 3 x 1 1/2" and placed it slightly over the matted & colored images.
5. For the images on the inside of the card, I used 2 step stamping daisies from the Wonderful Watercolor set and the flower in a pot from the Wagon Full of Fun set in the new Occasions mini (#113262). I just love the stamps in this set! They are soooo cool! The saying stamped on my card is from the Wonderful Watercolors set.

I hope you like my projects that I'm sharing with you. Check back tomorrow for the masking technique!

Pop up cards

Here is the first picture to go with the instructions below. Blogger will only let me add 5 pictures to one post.

Pop-up Cards

Pop-up cards are fun to get and fun to make. Some people find them to be very simple. Others (like me) find the folds difficult to understand at first, but once you've got that down, then they become easy. Hopefully, I can explain the folds simply enough for you to get it quicker than I first did.

1. You need 2 piece of paper. With this card, I used a piece of Whisper White cardstock cut 8 3/8 x 5 3/8," folded in half. The other piece is your decorative paper. On this card I used a sheet from the Raspberry Tart collection cut 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" and scored and folded at 4 1/4." You could also use a solid colored cardstock.
2. Lay aside your decorative paper. On this card I made 3 pop-up places but it can be just one or as many as you think looks good. With your Whisper White cardstock folded in half, you will need to cut 2 pararell lines for each popped piece. Cut on the folded side, not the side that will open. Cut the largest piece about 1 1/2" long. The other popped pieces I cut about 1/2" or so. Your 2 cut lines need to be the same length. I hope you can see that in the picture.
3. With the Whisper White cardstock still folded, wiggle your cut area back & forth to do a complete fold up of each piece. Use your bone folder to crease this. Then fold it back the other direction turning your white cardstock completely over & crease again.
4. Push just the cut parts inward so that they will be on the inside of the card. This will make the place for you to put your items to pop up. Refer to the pictures.
5. On one side of the Whisper White cardstock, put glue or double sided tape (Snail works great) on the edges of 3 sides only. Do NOT put adhesive on the folded side where you cut for your pop ups. See the arrows I've drawn in the picture.
6. Place this inside your folded decorative paper with the folded edges together. Press down one side. Then turn it over & do the same to the other side.
7. Open the card up & you should see your popped areas for you to add your images. If they are not popped up, then take a small file or tweezers & place under the cut out areas to pop them up.
8. Add you images to the popped areas. I used 2 flowers from Wonderful Watercolors and the flower in a pot found in the Occasions mini catalog now out.
Tomorrow, I'll talk about decorating the outside & how I colored these images. Hope the pictures help with your understanding. If you have any questions, just ask & I'll be happy to try to explain further if needed.

Happy Easter

My first thought for today was not to take the time of post anything. Just to enjoy this wonderful Resurrection Sunday. I was doing a quick email check & read this from my brother. After reading it, I knew I had to post this. I hope you enjoy it.

The Empty Egg
==============

Eight-year-old Steven was mentally retarded and had many
health problems. His health appeared to be growing worse ever
daily. His teacher was concerned his classmates might stop
identifying with him and loving him as they became more aware
of his differences.

In April, the teacher asked the class to put together one
plastic Easter egg filled with a small object representing new
life in the Spring. Thinking Steven might not understand (and
not wanting to embarrass him), the teacher had each child
place their egg on her desk so that she could open each one
individually. She needn't have worried.

The first egg contained a tiny wild flower, which truly was an
indication of new life.

Next, came a rock and the teacher assumed the rock was
Steven's. Her reasoning was that rocks don't symbolize new
life and growth. But a little boy shouted from the back of the
room that the rock had moss on it, thereby showing new life.
The teacher agreed.

A butterfly flew out of the next egg and the little girl that
brought it bragged that the butterfly was hers, and how it had
came from a cocoon, symbolizing new life. The teacher agreed
again.

The fourth egg was empty. The teacher knew this had to be
Steven's egg, and she nervously set it aside, hoping he
wouldn't notice.

As she began to pick up a different egg, Steven excitedly
announced that the empty egg was his! Hesitating, the teacher
replied, "But it's empty!"

"That's right," said Steven. "Just like Jesus' tomb was, and
that means new life for everyone!" The teacher was amazed at
Steven's insight and his love for Jesus.

Later on, at the end of the school year, Steven's condition
worsened and he died.

At his funeral, the children from his class each placed an
empty Easter egg among the flowers. Many of the adults at
Steven's funeral were puzzled by the appearance of all the
eggs, and the message Steven shared with his classmates was
shared again!

An empty tomb some two thousand years earlier gave Steven the
hope of a new life! Although the flowers were beautiful, it
was the empty eggs that shared the message of hope in Eternal
Life through Jesus Christ!

What a wonderful message to share this Easter with those you
love.

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not
here; He is risen!"? Luke 24:5 NIV

~Author Unknown~

He Is Risen

Here are 2 versions of the same card. Again, today, I did not use any Stampin' Up! products on these cards. The brownish floral paper is from Basic Gray. The green floral paper is from a glitter mat stack that I got at Hobby Lobby. The wording on these "Rejoice He is risen" was done with my Xyron Design Runner & using different fonts. On the Basic Gray card I double matted the wording & used a metal cross that I picked up some where. I inked around the edges of both mats with SU! Classic Bravo Burgundy ink. I love inking the edges of my papers. It's so easy. Just brush the edge of the paper against the ink pad until you have the amount of ink that looks pleasing to you. Inking your papers give it a distressed or old look and also pops it out a bit from the background paper. On the green card, the cross is a sticker. I inked these edges again with Bravo Burgundy ink. I added ribbon and a green floral slider to dress up the card a bit.

On the front of both envelopes, I decorated them with a bit of left over paper making a strip down the left hand side. This adds an extra touch to the presentation of the card.

Enjoy your family at this Easter time and be sure to remember the reason that we have Easter. Yes, Christ died for you & me on Good Friday but the importance of Easter is that He rose again and lives in heaven for eternity now. We serve a RISEN savior!

cute Easter card

I hope you have a wonderful day today. Remember, this is the day our Lord was put on the cross to die for our sins. The important part is that on Sunday, he arose from the grave & live in heaven now.

This cute Easter card is one that I made last yr. I didn't use Stampin' Up! products on it but, even though I do love Stampin' Up! products, I do have loads of other things too!
1. The paper pieced bunny is really easy to make. I used 3 hand drawn piece on white cardstock (SU! Whisper White is great) but you could used a Cozzule oval to make the large one. The shapes look basically like you see here. One large oval for the body, 2 elongated ovals for ears & the 2 shapes that look like ovals with a bump on them for the feet.
2. Cut the shapes out & ink the edges with Passion Pink.
3. Use the large oval for the base. Glue the 2 feet shapes on the front near the bottom of the oval. Glue the 2 shapes for ears on the back of the oval at the top.
4. Use a fine tip pen like SU! Stampin' Write Journaler to add features to the shapes. I drew long ovals inside the ears, lines on the feet for toes & whiskers and dots for eyes on the face. I used a small pink triangle for a nose.
5. I found ready made bows in pastel colors & attached with glue dots as shown. You could make cute bows out of 1/4" ribbon.
6. The paper I used for the card background came from a 6x6" stack from Nana's Kids that I got at Hobby Lobby. SU! has some really cute designer papers that could be used for backgrounds.
7. I put dimensionals on the back of the bunny so it would pop.
8. On the vertical card, I used a 1/4" strip of Lavender lace cardstock and added a few Easter stickers to dress this background up.

Have fun making these cute Easter cards. I know some kids will love getting them!

Have a happy Thursday!

Hi Erica! Welcome Erica to the blog. She's a friend from the Start a Scrapbook forum.
Today's card is an easy to do one but I think it turned out pretty.
1. I stamped a rose from the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set using Versa Mark ink on Pretty in Pink cardstock. I then sprinkled it with some gold embossing powder and heated with my trusty heat gun until the powder was shiny. After it had cooled, I cut around the outside lines.
2. The circle is stamped on designer paper from the Raspberry Tart paper collection. I stamped the staying from the Best of Friends stamp set. I used deckle scissors to cut the circle around it. I attached it to the card with my good ol' Snail adhesive. I've got a scalloped circle punch ordered! I can't wait to get it & start using it for all sorts of things!
3. I cut a piece of paper from the Raspberry Tart designer series paper collection to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2".
4. I cut a piece of Certainly Celery ribbon about 6" long. I wrapped it around the edges to the back of the designer paper & attached with my Snail tape runner.
5. I used Pretty in Pink craft ink to stamp the word "friend" on the ribbon. The friend stamp is in the Fundamental Phrases set.
6. After I had the ribbon in place, I put dimensionals on the back of my rose & then placed it over a portion of the ribbon.
7. After that was together, I taped it all to a piece of 4 1/4 x 11" Whisper White cardstock, scored & folded at 5 1/2.

I like to do most of my cards on patterned paper or cardstock before I put them on the card base. That helps me to be able to hide ribbon ends, brads, etc. so the receiver wonders how I got those on there.

As of our Wednesday TOPS meeting, I have now lost 78 lbs! Woo Hoo!! I've got 18 lbs to go to my goal.

Post-it note holder

Making this post it note holder is just TOO easy! When I first saw this, I thought it might make a good class--that is, until I got the materials together and it only took about 5 minutes to finish! So cute but so simple!
1. Buy at acrylic picture frame. Mine is 4 x 6". I bought it at Wal-Mart for $1 each.
2. Cut a piece of double sided designer paper to 4 x 6" and insert it in the back. On one of these I used paper from the Raspberry Tart collection and the other one was done with paper from the Tea Party collection by Stampin' Up! of course.
3. Use a good double sided tape like SU!s Sanil. Put 2 to 4 strips on the back of the post it ot pad and then place the pad on the front of the acrylic frame.
4. Stamp and mount an image that you like. I used a 2 step daisy stamp from the Wonderful Watercolors stamp set.
5. For the pen be sure you buy Pentel RSVP pens. Others don't work as well. Cut a matching piece of designer paper to 1 x 3 1/4". Roll it around a pencil or other object. Take the black top and ink cartridge off the pen. Place the rolled paper inside the clear chamber. Insert the ink cartridge and attach it back to the pen.
6. Use a piece of hook and loop tape about 1/4" wide. Place 1 piece on the side of the pen and the other piece on the frame. Now your pen will stay put unless your hubby puts it in his pocket. :-)

These make nice teacher gifts or can be put beside your telephone for taking notes.
If you like my blog & find it useful, please tell your friends.

Meetings

Sorry, I don't have anything creative to share today. I do have a couple of things that I'm working on but they just aren't ready yet.
I went to a meeting this morning in Belton with Aware Central Texas. This is a group I do volunteer work with. Now, I'm working on some of the curriculum for a new program that they/we will be offering. It is to help and educate adult survivors of child abuse. That will keep me busy for a while with little time for just plain old creativity!

Naked envelopes

Naked envelopes? You may be asking, "What in the world are naked envelopes?" Well, to me, naked envies are envelopes with no decoration, only addresses. It really is very simple to decorate the outside of your envelope to coordinate with your card. Just take one of the stamps that you used on your card & stamp it on the outside of the envelope in a color that was used for your card. On this envie, I've used a tulip from the Garden Whimsy stamp set (#113502) on the front left hand side of the envie & on the back flap. Stamp slightly off the envie & it will have a more natural look. Ok, I just looked at my post & saw that image on the right side! The way I scanned it, I had to flip it over so the tulip looks like it's on the right hand side. It really doesn't matter which side as long as you don't cover the address.

Another way to decorate the outside of your envie, is to take a piece of scrap patterned paper that was used on your card & using a good glue, adhere it across one side or the bottom of the envelope. My favorite side to use is the left although that's not the only place it will look good.

One further note: Be sure that you do not cover up any part of the address or return address with your decoration. I usually put my return address sticker right over my decoration.
Have a great week!

A Quck Tip

Good Morning!
David & I went to our TOPS banquet last night. David received a plaque for being the only one in our chapter to receive this KOPS status. KOPS stands for Keep Off Pounds Sensibly. He has reached his weight loss goal. He & I both received certificates for being 1st place in weight loss in the region in our division.

Now for a quick tip. If you look at yesterday's pictures, my work station behind my card really looks a mess. The reason for the is because it is! I buy cheap plastic place mats at Wal-Mart for a $ or less to keep on my work table. Then I don't have to worry about glue, inks or paints getting on my table. When the plastic mat is a mess, I can take it to the sink & give it a good scrubbing. Much easier than trying to clean my table. If I can't get all the glue or whatever off of the mat, then I can just turn it over & use the other side. If it gets too bad, I can just toss it & buy another. Hope that will give you an idea of how to keep your space a little cleaner.

Circles, circles, circles

Sorry I haven't shared much creativity this week but I've still been having to do all the follow-up work on the missions conference plus all the things I regulary do (which David says is too much).
Here is a card using circles. Sorry about the pinkish tint to the cards. That's because of the morning sun shining through my window. I did NOT use any pink on this card.

1. I used an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" piece of Tempting Turquoise cardstock for the card base, folded in half at 4 1/4". My Certainly Celery is 4 x 5 1/4" and I used glossy photo paper for the design, cut at 3 3/4 x 5."
2. Using my 1-3/8" (#104401) and my 1-1/4" (#109046) circle punches, I cut 8 circles out of scrap cardstock.
3. On my glossy photo paper, I stamped 6 flowers from the Fifth Avenue Floral set (#113734) turned different directions with Brilliant Blue ink. Across the center I stamped "Thinking of you" from the Wonderful Watercolors set (#113688).
4. Using a repositional tape, I dabbed a small amount on each circle. Place the circles over the flowers & the saying.
5. With the direct to paper technique (a brayer should work better but I don't have one yet), I applied Tempting Turquoise ink all over the top of the glossy paper. Be sure to pay special attention around the edges of the circles so you will have a circle shape left.
6. Give the ink a few minutes to dry. Then remove the circles from the glossy paper. You are left with the circle look on the card. The Brilliant Blue that you stamped will still show through but the white circles provide a nice contrast.
7. Mount this onto the Certainly Celery cardstock. Then mount that onto your Tempting Turquoise card base.
8. I used about 16-18" of the Certainly Celery twill ribbon from the Sale-a-bration mini but you can could also use the grossgrain ribbon that is found in the catalog.
Hope you like this card and hope my directions are clear. If you like me putting the directions with #s like I've done here better than just writing it out, please leave me a comment.

SU! idea books

I've ended up with more Stampin' Up! idea books & catalogs than I need. The catalog is only good until June 30 but the ideas are good forever! They normally sell for $9.95 but if you would like one, I'll send it to you for the cost of postage which is $4.95. I only have a limited number to give away this way so if you want one, email me at djohnson68@hot.rr.com soon.

New sale catalog

Wow! What a great April Fool's day this has been! Hope no one has played too big of a trick on you. Well, I've got an announcement that is no trick, just a great treat! The brand new Occasions Mini Catalog is out today and they have some really cute sets available at great prices. This sale goes on from now until June 30, 2009. I've already been using the Wagon Full of Fun set on several of my items that I've posted here. Can't wait until I have time to use some more of these great items. To check out this sale book either email me or call me to get your own copy or go to http://www.stampinup.com/us/documents/Occasions09_US.pdf to see it online.

3 different views

Today, I've got 3 different looks for the same basic card. It's really easy to change up a card just by using some different papers, adding ribbon, brads, & so on. These cards were made using the Heartfelt Thanks stamp set from Stampin' Up!I stamped on Whisper White. Then I layered cardstock using Certainly Celery, Mellow Moss & Green Galore. The card with the striped paper background is from the Sale-a-bration mini catalog using the Delicate Dots Designer Series Paper. So easy to do! I had fun with them & will be using them soon!

Busy Weekend

Hi All!
I had just a moment today so I'd thought I'd let ya'll know what's going on. Yesterday, I went to pick up 3 of the missionaries who are taking part in our conference at the Austin airport. It was terribly foggy all the way there but I didn't really have any problems. I made a wrong turn once in Austin & had to ask directions on how to get back to where I needed to me but it wasn't bad. I was able to have a nice visit with the ones I picked up. If you're in Temple, hopefully, you'll be able to stop by Immanuel Baptist some time tomorrow morning & meet our missionaries. The ones I've gotten to talk to so far are wonderful!
We're having the senior adults fellowship at our house this evening so I've got a lot to do today. We will have the missions fest at the church tomorrow morning from 9 - 11:30 am. After that, weather permitting, we will have a prayer walk, then a picnic at Miller Park. Hope you can come. Sunday morning service should be great. Pastor Ron will be interviewing the missionaries in with his sermon. After worship, we're having lunch in the FLC. Then I get to drive back to the airport to deliver the ones who flew in. David is planning on going with me then, so I won't have to drive.
I'll try to come up with something creative to put here for you on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Egg-citing

I've got a cute layout for you & it can be used with your upcoming Easter layout. The background is stamped with 2 stamps from the Wagon Full of Fun stamp set that will be in the new mini catalog that comes out April 1. You can pre-order this set right now if you wish. It is a set of 10 stamps for $34.95.
If you want to be on my mailing list & receive this mini catalog free, email me your snail mail address & I'll send one out to you. You can find my email address in the "About Me" section on my blog.
Here are the directions.

1. Using the Easter egg stamp from the Wagon Full of Fun stamp set, stamp eggs around the Mellow Moss cardstock in Certainly Celery ink. Stamp the eggs to about 1" from the top, bottom and left side and about 3" from the right side.
2. On the So Saffron 8 1/2 x 11" cardstock, stamp the duck with Summer Sun ink.
3. Using the Snail tape runner, adhere the So Saffron cardstock over the Mellow Moss cardstock. Place it so that it will slightly cover the eggs that you stamped on it.
4. Stamp your title on Whisper White cardstock and cut around the words.
5. Stamp 1 Easter egg and 1 duck on Whisper White cardstock with the Staz-on Jet Black ink. Using the Watercolor Pencils and the blender pens, color the egg and duck.
6. Apply Snail tape runner to the back of a 12 1/2 to 13" piece of So Saffron ribbon. Let the ends overlap the Mellow Moss cardstock & attach to the back. Slightly overlap the So Saffron cardstock with the ribbon.
7. Place dimensionals on the back of the egg and duck to pop them from the page. Add your pictures and journaling.

Busy, busy, busy

Today has been a very busy day for me & it looks like it's not going to let up until next week. I hope I'll be able to post some ideas or layouts tomorrow & Thursday but I know that after that I won't have time to post until Monday. Please check back then & hopefully, I'll have something creative to share with you. My church is having our missions conference this weekend and since I'm on the missions committee, my whole weekend is booked solid.
I thought I'd share this layout with you today of 2 of my grandchildren from a couple yrs ago. The papers used in this layout are from SU! Tea Party designer series papers. I just love the floral and the lavenders! I think my favorite color is changing to lavender from the blue that it's been all my life. This was so easy to put together with the papers already matching. The title I stamps with Schoolbook Serif alphabet in Certainly Celery ink. The ribbon across the top is the Certainly Celery from the ribbon bundle in the Sale-a-bration brochure. If you want to get any of the free sets in the SAB mini, be sure you order by March 31. That's the last day for this sale.

Tag album in 3 posts

Part One.

Good Morning! It's Monday and the start of another great week. Today, I've got a cool tag album that I made of my dgd, Victoria when they lived in Abilene. She was on a soccer team & I got to go up to watch her play one Saturday. That was a bit difficult to do often since it was a 3 hr drive from where we live. Maybe someday they'll live close enough for me to see all their special things!

To make this I used Brilliant Blue, Green Galore and Tempting Turquoise cardstock. I cut each piece to 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" and then folded each in half, like a card. I used my Big Shot and one of my old Sizzix dies, the large oval tag. I love the Big Shot because I can cut just about anything with it. Dies from any cutting machine will work with the Big Shot! I placed the folded side just to the inside of the right steel die cut area. Then ran it through the machine. This gave me a tag with one side folded. After I did this with 3 complete sheets of cardstock (2 folded tags per sheet), I then started running adhesive with my Snail on 1 side of the folded tag. I then glued 2 tags together so that they would stand up and 1 side would overlap the other. Hope that makes sense.

After I adhered all of the tags together, I took a few of my favorite stamps (Fifth Avenue Floral & Best Kind of Friend) and stamped over several of the tags. I stamped in the same ink color as the color of the cardstock. It gives a really nice look that way. Use scrap paper to use as a mask so that the ink goes just where you want it. That means, cover up the areas you don't want stamped with the scrap paper so you stamp only where you want it.

I used some pieces of scrap cardstock and designer paper (Raspberry Tart) to make pockets, journaling boxes and elements to decorate my album.

I finished it up with 1/4" strips of Whisper White grosgrain ribbon. What? It doesn't look like I used Whisper White ribbon? Well, since I'm still new in SU!, I can't afford to have every matching ribbon color available. Soooo... I took 8" pieces of the Whisper White and rubbed it across my Brilliant Blue, Green Galore & Tempting Turquoise ink pads. I left one end for my fingers, used the end of a paint brush to mash down & rubbed the ribbon back & forth on both sides several times in the chosen color. It gave me some beautiful matching ribbons. Be sure you give the ribbon at least 30 min. to dry. Then I tied the ribbons to the tops of each tag.

Tag album

Part three
This is what the finished tag album looks like. You can see from the pictures that this makes a 2 sided album. I used a total of 3 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11" cardstock to make the complete album. It gave me 12 pages plus a title page. I hope that all of this makes sense. If any of it is confusing, leave me a comment & I'll try to explain better or clearer to help you in making your own tag album.

Happy Sunday

Hi all! Tomorrow I'll give you a new paper craft of some type. Today, I want to be a bit more serious. Sunday is my favorite day of the week for lots of reasons. Of course, I love having a relaxing day, like most people, but the main reason it's my favorite is because I get the chance to worship my Lord & God, Jesus Christ, with other Christians. Our pastor preached an excellent sermon today on the conversion of Saul/Paul from Acts. Before Paul "saw the light," he was a very religious and self-righteous man and he had good reason to be. He had just about everything a Jew in that day could want. He was well respected and well educated and he was one of the chief persecutors of this new "cult" called the Way. Well, after his trip to Damascus, he had truly become a different person! He had actually met the risen savior and knew that He was the true Lord and God. Being a zealous man, he became one of the most active men in the Way. He wanted everyone to have what he had, faith in Jesus Christ and a knowledge of eternal life. Even the chief of sinners can be saved. Salvation requires a personal encounter with Christ. Luke 19:10 tells us that "the Son of Man (Jesus) has come to seek and to save that which was lost." We are all lost & we've all sinned, especially me but Jesus loves me anyway. Romans 3:23 tells us that"all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." God's forgiveness is available for all. God loved us so much that "He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not persish but have everlasting life." John 3:16. We can not be good enough, no matter how hard we try, to get to heaven on our own. "By grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is a gift of God--not of works, lest anyone should boast." Eph. 2:8-9. To be saved from the fires of hell, all we have to do is to repent of our sin and accept this gift that God so freely gives us. "No one come to the Father except through Me." Jesus said in John 14:6 To repent means to turn away from our sin. We turn from our sin and turn to Jesus. Ask him to come into your life and He will. He will also send His spirit to live in you for the rest of your life. All you have to do is just ask him. Salvation requires personal acceptance in Jesus Christ. It requires making a committment to Jesus as Lord of your life. If you haven't done that before, do it today. He is waiting for you.

Happy Spring!

Happy Spring everyone!
I know I'm a day late but that just shows you how much attention I pay to the calendar. Here in Central Texas we have been having beautiful weather this week. We had rain last week but that was the first time in quite a long time. The "people who know" have said that it wasn't enough to break the drought so we'll all have to pray for more rain. The farmers need it badly. We all do really!

This great spring weather makes me feel like going for a ride in a pick up truck with all the windows rolled down. That's what I was thinking as I put this card together. The bluebonnets are doing very well this spring because we haven't had enough rain for them but the ones in my front yard & flower bed look really nice! So let's load the back of the pickup with some flowers & take them over to visit friends.

This card is made with a Tempting Turquoise background. I inked my Stampin' Around Fast Flowers wheel with Tempting Turquoise classic ink and ran it across the background paper. Looks like we're trucking through a field of flowers. I made my Stampin' Pastels pop with my blender pens. Just use your blender pen to dip onto the color of pastel that you want to use. Then put it onto your card. Do this lightly & gradually blend the color out onto the image. You'll get a great watercolor look.

I love this Loads of Love stamp set and the accessories set too. That's where this cool pickup came from and the girl & flowers in the bed. This set has some cool phrases with it including "friends for the long haul," "driving by with a birthday hi" and "thought you could use a little pickup!" I'll use the "loads of love!" to send a big hug to all my friends!

This little basket is so cute and easy to make. For the eggs, I used one of the stamps in the Wagon Full of Fun set that is brand new to Stampin' Up! It is in the new occasions mini catalog that comes out April 1. Email me if you're interested & I'll send you the mini now so you can be looking at all the cool new sets they've got. Actually, the Wagon Full of Fun & 2 more sets, plus a jumbo wheel can be pre-ordered so that you'll have time to use the Easter stamps before Easter gets here. The flowers on this little basket were stamped & cut out, using a stamp from Best Kind of Friend set. I stamped the flowers on Pink Passion cardstock & made the basket from Tempting Turquoise cardstock, both from SU! of course. The eggs were colored with my favorite Stampin' Pastels. I think chalk must be my favorite medium! I just love using it. Now, where did I get the Easter "grass" for my basket? I took strips of left over cardstock & just ran them through my crimper! So easy, even my youngest grandchild, Jacob, could do it! (Of course, all of my dgc are gifted anyway!) :-)

Oh, btw, if you want to make this cute little basket, let me do a workshop for you & we can make a bunch of them! Now, if you live too far for me to drive (like KS or ID), then email me & I'll send you the template.

Z-card

I love this z-card I made. I used the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set and my Stampin' Pastels for the flower images. The side stamp is from the Wonderful Watercolors stamp set. I stamped it in Certainly Celery ink on the Certainly Celery cardstock. I used Whisper White, Certainly Celery, and Green Galore cardstock for my mat. While you can't see the inside in my pic, I've stamped "Joy is to behold God in everything." for my greeting. This is also from the Wonderful Watercolor set.

To make a z-fold card, cut your cardstock to 4 1/4" x 11." Score at 5 1/2" & at 2 3/4" or fold your paper in half & then one side in half again. My layered mat is 3," 3 1/4," and 3 1/2." Have fun making this easy breezy card.

Stampin' Up!

Hi! I'm brand new to blogging so please give me some time to learn all the ins & outs. I love Stampin' Up! products and hope to be able to share some of my creations with you. If you are interested in buying any SU! products either email me or check out my SU! website at judyjohnson.stampinup.net.

This is a lo I recently did of my ds & dil. They went to a "1905" party & everyone dressed up for it. No, my ds is not in law enforcement but he does like his guns!

I used SU! Perfect Plum cardstock for the background, Pal Plum for the center strip, and Lavender Lace for the mat & embellishments. I used So Saffron ribbon and the images are from the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set stamped in Whisper White craft ink.