Easter Tin

I get my tins from Specialty Bottle. Stamps on the Avery Labels and on the front are Papertrey. Ribbon is Aqua Mist from Papertrey.

Asaian Stamp Collection for Sale

I am selling my 13 stamp Asian stamp collection. They are all on EZ Mount Cling. Additionally, I will throw in some pretty Asian papers and a few bits and pieces of things I have collected. $15 for all, $2.50 shipping, insurance an extra $1.60 if you want it. email me at rubyslippers@neofast.net All stamps in excellent condition. A few are mildly stained.

Happy Birthday With Roses

Tomorrow is my friend's birthday and I made this card for her with Kitchen Sink rose stamps and various shades of yellow and orange. The ribbon is from American Crafts.

Tiny Purse with Nugget Tutorial

Click the title of this post for the cutest little tutorial. I will be making some of these this week and posting photos later.

Combining Old Favorites

The Heartfelt set is a set I will never part with. I love this set so much. I did this in shades of rose and red together. The background is the SU Floral background doine in Rose Red ink on Pretty in Pink cardstock.

Full Feed View on this Blog Now

Since several of the readers who asked me to use partial feed view due to their dial-up have now gone to faster internet connections, I am going to switch over for now. So those of you who want to use a feed like Google Reader will now get the pictures without the extra click.

Almost Matches for Papertrey Palette Inks

Palette makes the Papertrey ink pads. Palette has some colors you may already have that are extremely close to the new PTI spots that have been recently released. Ballet Blue is an almost match for Aqua Mist (although Palette Water Lily Green matches the PTI Aqua Mist ribbons better, in my opinion). Belle Rose is and almost match for Berry Sorbet and Toile Pink is an almost match for Sweet Blush. If you don't require exact matches, these are very close and may already be part of your ink collection.

EZ Rub On Card

I found these EZ Rub On's at Craft Warehouse a long time ago. I am using them in various ways. Tried one on this card, but I think I prefer the other uses I have found for them. Watch for other rub on projects on this blog soon. Backgrounder by CHF.

Looking for Birds Galore Stamp Set?

Click on the title of this post. They are $9.99 per set. Good service too!

Answering Questions

Long overdue to answer questions!

Q-What do you think of the new Papertrey cardstock?

A-I love it. The quality is the same as the white. The berry color was a bit orange but I do like it.

Q-Please explain how you deal with the Kitchen Sink stamps.

A-I used a sharpie on the back of each one to number the order and sized. Big rose stamps are 1-A, 1-B, etc. Next size down is 2-A, 2-B, etc.

Q-Where are you getting all the pretty dotted swiss ribbon?

A-American Crafts sells little rolls in Paper Zone. This is where I got my aqua, apricot, raspberry, pink, and other colors. My berry and blush are PTI.

Q-You mentioned dew drops. What kind and where do you buy them?

A-I get mine from Impress Rubberstamps (they have them online) and I used the Robin's Nest ones. I learned at GW to use a glue dot!

Q-How do you do the pretty eyelet lace trim with your Fiskars? I cannot get it to emboss my cardstock.

A-I had the same problem and I just use computer paper. Press down to punch and then press a bit harder to dry emboss. Also looks pretty if you run the paper through the Swiss Dots CB folder first.

Q-How are your eyes?

A-Still not back up to par, but getting closer all the time. It has been a long haul for sure, but I am making steady, if not very slow, progress.

Q-Which paper cutter do you prefer?

A-I have an old Fiskar's Rotary cutter that I love. It is over 10 years old and nothing else compares that I have tried.

Q-I heard a rumor you bought a Copic pen?

A-How in the world did you hear that? Yes, I did buy a skin colored one, but have not used it much. I just liked the color so much. I still don't plan to buy more of them.

Q-You said you were reorganizing your stamps. What did you do?

A-I removed them all from my bookshelves and put them in an antique banker's chest right next to me. I have shoulder problems and the constant reaching up to the high shelves was aggravating the condition.

Q-Did you ever find the Memory slot punch and if so, where?

A-Impress Rubber stamps has them. I absolutely love it.

Just a note: Paper Zone now carries the ATG guns and the tape!

Kitchen Sink Daisy in Yellow

Background is Cuttlebugged on So Saffron cardstock. I did the daisy in 3 shades of yellow/apricots. The center has clear Stickles on it. I did the stitching with a black glaze pen. Corners are done with the SU ticket punch.

Cuttlebug Baby Card

Lace on the edge is computer paper punched with the Fiskars embossing punch. Circular stamp is SU.

3 PTI Cards in a Row

Just finished this fun one. As you can see, the new colors really inspired me.

First of 2 Papertrey Ribbon Cards

This card's background is a double background using SU Handstitched and CHF's weave. The image stamps are PTI Out on a Limb. I stamped the flower from Bags, Boxes, and Tags (PTI) with Berry Sorbet onto the PTI ribbon.

See another card below.

I may not post for a day or 2 due to some medical issues I need to take care of.

2nd Papertrey (meets smARTworks)

Letter Girl from smARTworks is black embossed on a paper from the new PTI 6 x 6 pad. I used a flower from Boxes, Bags, and Tags (PTI) on the PTI sitched ribbon with Berry Sorbet ink. The background is an SU wheel.

Easter Posies and Velvet Ribbon

Stamps are from Stampin' Up and the sentiments in each center are from the new Papertrey stamps. The velvet pale pink rick rack is from All That Scraps. Happy Easter weekend!

Easter Chick

I think the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder is perfect for a card done in pastels. The chick is from A Muse and is called Cracking up (thanks Marge!) and I colored it in markers and used a gray around it for shadow. The sentiment is from my new Papertrey set.

Ollie the Owl

This image is wter colored and layered on SU Paisley and CHF Polka Dot backgrounds. I used my Nestabilities for the scalloped circle and a white gel pen (www.jetpens.com # UM-153) for the dots.

Papertrey Review

My Papertrey order arrived yesterday. I love the pad of paper. I could not be happier with it and I love the design that enables you to keep loose papers inside. The scale of the paper is perfect for stamping and the colors are a good match to the solid cardstock. Both the Sweet Blush and the Berry Sorbet are more orangy than I expected. The Sweet Blush more pink than the Berry, but is still very peachy and very close to the old SU Blush from a couple of years ago. I have been hoarding that and can now let it go. I was kind of expecting a baby pink. This is nice but not a true pink. I would call the Berry Sorbet more of a Coral. It is pretty and the colors work well together. The inks are true to both of these colors. The cardstock is the same quality as the white cardstock. I am very pleased with it. The Aqua Mist cannot be called blue at all. It is very much a mint green in the ribbon. The only disappointment is that the ink is quite bluish, a rather grayed blue. The ribbon and the ink do not look good together at all. No problem because my SU Mint Medley ink looks nice with the ribbon.

The ribbon is of superb quality and I will most definitely be buying more of this. Very pretty and very nice to work with.

I got the Boxes, Bags, stamp set and the $5 word set and am very happy with both. I love the new label sheet that adheres to the clear case and you can put your stamps on to match so you always know you have all your stamps in the case.

Overall, I am very pleased, as always, with Papertrey. I ordered Friday night and the box shipped Sat. and arrived today.

Happy Anniversary to Us

30 very happy years today. Wouldn't trade him for the world.

Card is made with all SU stamps and the SU Word Window punch for the tag opening.

Liquid Pearls Technique

Elaine just shared on the GW board that when using Liquid Pearls, if you tap the underside of the paper while your dot is wet, it will lose the little point and become a perfectly round "pearl" on your paper. It really does work like magic!! Thanks, Elaine!

Getting Old

I got these images in a sale basket long ago. The sentiment is computer generated. It has been a popular card with my friends.

Hero Arts Fabric Card

I love these stamps that HA came out with a couple of years ago. They really do look textued. I used the Fabric Swatches side by side for the background. I colored the Fabric Flower with markers.

#1 Song the Day You Were Born?

Click the title of this post and it will take you to a site showing you the number one song the day you were born. Mine is Hot Diggity Dog by Perry Como, which is funny because I just loved that song as a kid.

Sue Nelson Case

Sue Nelson, on the GW board, showed us a card very similar to this and so I just had to try it. This could be a wedding, anniversary, shower, or Valentine's card. I just love that Cuttlebug and my Papertrey white cardstock. Click on the card to see the details on each layer.

Howdy!

I had so much fun making this card. The background is made with the Paisley Cuttlebug embossing folder and then I swiped the high places with black in. The blue layer is done with Just Jeans from SU and then I shaded with a sponge and added stitching with a gel pen. The ribbon is from Michael's. The brown layer behind the cowboy is SU Canvas done in copper EP on caramel paper. I watercolored the cowboy. Both the cowboy and the sentiment are from SideShow stamps.

New Cuttlebug Embossing Folders This Summer!

They are wonderful! Click the title of this post to see the pictures of them. I love the argyle!!

A Favorite Company Sale!

March 2008 - smART Madness a.k.a. Spring Fever Sale - 35% discount on all in-stock rubber. Click title of this post and it will take you there!

Eye Update

Several have asked for an update. I have continued to improve a bit at a time. My new contacts arrived today and I was able to wear them for 2 hours with only a bit of discomfort. I am to start increasing time tomorrow. These are the first of 3-4 sets of contacts until they get it right for me. He says I will get a new pair every 10 days until we get the fit perfect for my problem. The goal is that I will be able to wear contacts most of my work day and contacts in the early AM and evenings. I am so relieved to be getting better. That fish oil and the hot compresses helped me turn the corner. My attitude is getting better each day. I cannot tell you how miserable the problem was for the days when it was at it's peak. My fingers are crossed that progress with continue.

Wildflower

I stamped and overstamped this wildflower. I used markers directly on the rubber. The edging is done with one of the blue border punches by Fiskars. I punched 2 tiny holes to allow the purple ribbon to be tied to the stems.

Cherish

These are very old retired SU stamps, and possible a Hero Arts sentiment. I needed to make some one layer cards and made a few of these using bright colors and ribbon.

Blue Roses

The Kitchen Sink rose set has 3 different 4 step roses. I have been trying it in a variety of colors. I thought blue and purple were an interesting combination.

Thanks for the Prayers

My eyes have moved from constant, almost unbearable pain to mild to moderate discomfort. I can actually forget about them for an hour or two now and then. I spoke with the doctor today and he feels I might be ready to try contacts early next week. My inflammation seems to be gone and now I am dealing with just pure dry eye. I still cannot see a bit, but he is going to fit me Thursday for driving glasses and they will be in on Monday. I can use them to get me through until my eyes settle down enough to get good quality back up glasses that include bifocals and all the bells and whistles I will need. They are replacing my current glasses free of charge because I am under warranty so I will only be out about $500 total with glasses and contact replacements. Progress feels wonderful.

Birds Galore in Blue on White

The white layer is Papertrey cardstock embossed with the Cuttlebug. The bird is from Inkadinkado's Birds Galore done in French Blue Colorbox Chalk Ink. The ribbon is from All That Scraps.

Papertrey in Cool Caribbean

This is Papertrey's Out on a Limb set done in Cool Caribbean. The ribbon is velvet and is a close match. I got it at Reasonableribbon.com I punched a slot with a punch to run the ribbon over and then behind. Background layer is Taken With Teal, which goes perfectly with CC.

What Happened to my Eyes?

Several readers have asked for details, so I will do that here as family also reads my blog and it is a good way to update everyone.

In December I got a virulent straIn of pink eye. Such are the perils of being a teacher. Because this strain is so virulent they had me use some strong antibiotic drops. I got better, but then 2 weeks later I had a corneal abrasion probably from all the irritation of the pink eye. Antibiotic drops were again required. 2 weeks after that I felt like I was having pink eye again, so antibiotics again. What they don't tell you is that these antibiotics are hard on your eye tissues and tear glands, particularly if you are of menopausal age and have some underlying dry eye. I also work in a very dry building.

So a couple of weeks ago I again started having uncomfortable eyes, which escalated into really miserable. They put me on a 7 day course of steroid drops, being quite sure I would be better in a couple of days. I ended up staying on them 9 days and my eyes were twice worse when I was done. I personally think the steroids increased instead of reduced the inflammation. I am known by my doctors for having the opposite and adverse reaction to many things. By last Monday I was beyond miserable and quit wearing contacts at all a week before that. I cannot see well with my glasses and I am quite blind so in addition to the pain, I am in my own little world. Some of you know I am hearing impaired and depend quite a lot on lip reading. When you cannot see you cannot lip read. Add to all this that Monday I came down with the nasty cough bug going around. Tuesday I stayed home from work just to sleep and cry (no crying does not make dry eye feel better, it makes it worse as your eyes get puffy and red). By Thursday I was beginning to wonder how people live with this. I have over a hundred dollars into drops and some help and some seem to make it worse.

By Friday, I was beginning to figure out some crucial things. 1-Run a humidifier on high in every room where you spend time. 2-Sleep helps. 3-Low lights help. 4-Dim the computer screen and don't use it more than a few minutes at a time. Then I find a great website at www.dryeyezone.com that has given me so many good tips. Hot compresses work great. Using my drops in a different order helps. Not running the heater in the car helps. Anyway, I am some beter. I can tolerate this. The doctor said it is not curable but becomes manageable. I see light at the end of the tunnel. My new contacts will be here in about a week and should fit better and feel better enough so that I may be able to wear them a few hours a day. I am going to get new glasses so I can see better in the off times. I feel like I am going to live since my cold is better too. Things are looking up, although the world is still foggy until I get new contacts/glasses. I have been told this will be a long haul with 2 steps forward and 1 step back, with intermittant bouts of trouble.

If you know anyone with dry eye, send them to that website and please be patient. This painful condition causes great emotional distress. It causes anxiety and depression. I have gone from a few days of severe where you wonder how on earth people can live with it to moderate bouts and times where it is actually mild. Right now on a scale of 1-10 with 0 being symptom free I am a 1 for the first time in many weeks. I have not been above a 5 since Thursday. I think that prayer and good advice combined are working for me. I took 35 years of wearing gas permeable contacts from the second I woke up until I went to bed for granted. Now, I will be happy even if I have to wear only glasses and deal with mild symptoms. Until you have had severe dry eye (think of the pain you feel when you brush your eye with fabric and then imagine your eyes not making tears to soothe that) you really don't know how bad that nerve pain can make you feel. The only good thing that came out of it was inability to eat much and I lost a few pounds I had put on over the winter.

Thanks for all your concern. I got some stamping done this weekend and have my blog file renewed with photos to show you over the coming days.

Kitchen Sink Roses

I have not been feeling well and these Kitchen Sink Roses came yesterday and made for hours of fun. They were a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy day. I used SU inks in Apricot, Barely Banana, Summer Sun, and Rose Romance on the flowers. The leaves are Certainly Celery. Source for the sentiment is unknown. The ribbon came from a scrapbook store I found while traveling last summer.

M & M Purse Part 1

We made these at 10 club some time ago, using all SU stamps. The purse is made from a rectangle of cardstock, scored and then rounded with the Coluzzle for the top. You can use a bit of velcro tape to keep it closed.

M & M Purse Part 2

Adorable Little Bird Template

Click on the title of this post and it will take you to the most adorable little bird template that can be used on cards, scrapping pages, or as an ornament on a tree. Very easy to use and so many possibilities. When my eyes are better (still struggling but a bit of improvement in the last 24 hours) I will make some cards with these, but I wanted my readers to have a chance to get a head start. These are so cute for spring!

Help, I have Half-Heimers

Kay at GW gave me the link for these seed packets. If you click on the title of this post, it will take you right there! Thanks, Kay!

Sigh!

I have some ongoing eye problems affecting my vision. The doctor assures me that in weeks, not days, I should begn to get some relief. At this point it has slowed my stamping and my taking pictures. I will get something posted tomorrow.

Spring Bird

This is the Inkadinkado bird from the Birds Galore set again. I stamped him on a Nesties circle in a navy blue. The background flourish is an SU roller. The sentiment is from smARTworks Stamps and I masked off part of it for the front and the rest of the seniment is inside the card.

I Have Given Up

I cannot find a way to make my craft room look really nice and organized and have it functional at the same time. I have organized and re-organized and if I have my stuff where it makes the most sense, it is guaranteed that is not where it looks best. I finally had to decide my room was for having fun and not for looking at. I have too much stuff and I do need it. I really do. At this point I can reach what I need and do what I need to do and I have resolved that my room will never ever look like Nichole Heady's room. Due to limited space and not enough money to buy a whole matching cabinet system all at the same time, I will be happy with what I have because---it works!!

Just Sitting Here

A totally "not my style" card, but I had fun doing something different. Images from A Muse.

Papertrey and Kitchen Sink stamps

The main image is from Papertrey Out on a Limb. The sentiment comes from the Kitchen Sink daisy set. After stamping and coloring the leaves, I added light dots of pink Liquid Pearls to the flowers.

Chocolate Bunny

This Easter card is designed to look like a chocolate bunny in a box with an acetate window. It was a fun card to make.

Welcome Little One

I made this card using a small Cuttlebug embossing folder and stamps from unknown sources. The sentiment is SU.