Oops, I forgot!!

I had a few kits left over for the card I made for the card swap. I made up one of them and sent it to Jalna. If you read my other blog, you would have seen that Jalna sent me a goody box of all kinds of Japanese treats. I thanked her via email and in a post on my other blog, however I hadn't sent her card. I was reminded of my forgetfulness when I made the card for her sister.

And then I forgot to include it in my previous post. So my deepest apologies, Jalna, I hope you liked your card too!! I'm blaming it on "senior moments"!! :)

Jalna use to do a lot of stamping and she posted some of her cards on her blog. Leslie, another blog friend, use to be a Stampin Up demonstrator and Jalna's cards were Stampin Up stamps. They were all fantastic!! I try to encourage both she and Les to do some more. They are both pretty involved in their photography. Their blogs are listed on my sidebar if you care to look. Leslie and her husband are in Argentina right now.

I'm going to try and get some stamping done today, hopefully!! :)

Card Projects

This first card is a Thank You card I made for Didi who is the sister of my blogger friend Jalna. Didi has written 2 cookbooks and Jalna had posted some recipes on her blog from one of Didi's cookbooks. I asked where I could purchase the cookbooks and the next thing I know, I'm getting an email from Didi asking for my address. She sent me both of her cookbooks. Wow, I was surprised and delighted to receive them. I've already looked them over and marked a few recipes I want to try. The card is all A Muse products. The cardbase is a yellow polka dot pattern. The ribbon and scalloped circle are turquoise. I used Copic markers to color the bouquet of flowers. Hope she liked it.

This is the bumper card I received for April. It is also an A Muse card base. The photo is of a butterfly in a garden. I emailed the sender and asked if she took the photo. As I've posted before, I love butterflies. I turned the flash off on my camera because it made the butterfly blurry, however now it is hard to see. Oh well. A photographer I am not!! I love the card!!

Here is the gift card holder make 'n take that I made at The Paper Garden yesterday. I think the stamp used is an A Muse stamp. The card base is A Muse. I think the border punch is by Martha Stewart. Copics were used to color the flower and leaves.

Here is the inside of the card. It can be adapted to whatever you wanted. I know it is hard to see, the tiny apple was colored using a new product by Clearsnap called "Smooch". It comes in 8 different colors and is bottled in a nail polish looking bottle. So cute packaging!! Anyway you paint it on and it dries with a pearlized finish. I am going to have to get some for myself to use. After I got home I thought of a card to make that would be perfect for using the Smooch on. (Is that not the cutest name for a product)!!! :)

Thanks for looking and please leave a comment!!! Thank you!!

Sacramento Card Swappers

At our card swap last week Saturday we talked about how often we would like to have a swap. It has been decided that they will held every 2 months. Three of them will be a large group gathering, the number attending limited to how large a space we have available. It will be decided by the hostess as to whether or not the large group swaps will have a card theme. Then there will be 3 focus swaps which be limited to under 15 people. The hostess will decide on a focus for that particular swap.

The next swap is scheduled for July 11th. It was to be held in June, however the hostess had some conflicts with scheduling a date. So then the August swap will be at the end of August. I will be hosting that one and will reserve the clubhouse at our mobile home park to have the swap.

The focus for the July swap will be doing a technique of some sort on a card made with only Stampin Up stamps and embellishments. The technique can be wet or dry embossing, bleaching, using baby wipes or any other technique the hostess wants to focus on. The first 12 paid will be guaranteed a spot. I mailed my check today, however haven't thought of a technique yet to demonstrate. I still have a couple of months to decide. There will be a potluck for lunch.

The August swap will be a holiday cards theme, ie Thanksgiving, Christmas or Halloween. I have not been able to reserve a date yet with the park manager. She is in the office every day at the beginning of each month and during the rest of the month she is not always there.

We are also going to put up a blog for our group and do a Birthday RAK for those that want to participate. Right now we are suppose to be thinking of a name to call ourselves.

I am looking forward to participating in more of these swaps. The first one was a lot of fun!

The First Sacramento Area Shoebox Card Swap

Saturday, April 18th, 15 ladies from around the Sacramento area gathered at the home of Candace in Rancho Cordova for the first shoebox card swap. Unfortunately, a few ladies that signed up could not make it. We had a great time, putting cards together, eating and getting to know each other.

A majority of the ladies are Stampin Up demonstrators and are members on SplitcoastStampers, an online website for stampers and other paper crafters. A few brought friends.

Each lady was to make up a sample card, bring enough kits for each lady attending to make their card and it was to be brought in a shoebox or basket. Then at the swap we assembled the cards. Here is a picture of those attending. I don't remember the names of 3 of the ladies; I will introduce you to the others. Not in this picture are the hostess Candace (she went to get a neighbor to take a picture of us) and myself.

Note: If you click on each picture, you will be able to see the picture a lot better. I just found this out myself. :)

In the front row, left to right is Twila from Esparto (she has lost over 100 lbs), Deb from Elk Grove (we have the same last name), and Renee from Woodland. Behind Twila is Jo from Elk Grove. Behind Jo is Nancy from Woodland (she is a friend of Renee's and she rode in to Sacramento with Twila and Renee), then Meg from Folsom. In the next row is left to right Julie and Connie (she's Jo's friend). In the next row left to right is Michelle (my friend) and Kimberly. I don't remember the names of the last 3 ladies. Everyone pictured are SU demonstrators except for Jo, Connie, Michelle and myself. Candace (not pictured) is also a demonstrator.

The first project we did is Jo's contribution. It is a little bag made with SU products. A small paper bag in the middle has some sample lotions in it. The ribbon tying the handles together is a yellow stripe with a piece of light blue tied around it. Here's a side view of it.

This is Deb's contribution. A very nice 4th of July card. Stickles were put on the flame from the firecracker. A red brad was used to dot the "i" in America. Love this card! Deb and her husband have a design studio in their home working with glass and beads. She is doing the next swap at her home.

Here is a side view of the inside of the card.

I don't remember the name of the person who did this card. I finished this card at home. I couldn't get the ribbon to work like it was suppose to so when I got home I cut a piece of it and taped it around the middle of the butterfly. Then I took the other piece and tied it around to try and make the butterfly's antennae. Not sure it works or not. Loved the paper used for the butterfly.

This next card is Candace's contribution. I finished this one at home too. I tore the bottom of the white piece and then added some ribbon. The color is a darker green, I think it looks okay. If I decide to use the card, I can stamp a sentiment on the bottom of the green piece.

This is Kimberly's contribution. A very unique card, Kimberly actually cut little squares of the two yellow papers and then adhered them to cardstock before cutting out the diecut. A few of the projects used this SU diecut. A really cute card.

I absolutely love this card. I don't remember the name of the person who made this card. I actually finished it at home. I wanted to pop up the hummingbird and sentiment layers. The colors go together so well.

This next one was made by Julie. She actually downloaded the image from a website called Papercrafter.com (I think). Another great color combination. I left the circle layers off and when I got home, I stamped a sentiment on it and then used some foam tape to adhere it. I noticed on Splitcoast this morning that Meg was asking where Julie got the image again, one of Meg's customers wanted to make the card. I haven't checked out the website yet.

I don't remember the name of the person who made this card either. I had a little bit of trouble with this one and finished it at home too. The stems had to be shortened and there are words on the stems. I messed them up so you can't see them. There was also some ribbon that was suppose to go on one of the stems, I ended up leaving it off.

This next card was made by Connie. I had trouble with this one too and yes, I finished it at home. The dp and cardstock met in the middle and then the ribbon was taped over the middle and adhered in the back. It wouldn't stay on. Thankfully I didn't royally mess it up. :)

This gatefold card was made by Renee. Love this card too. Very simple yet elegant. Renee didn't have her kits together, so those of us sitting at the same table helped her get them together.

This is Michelle's card. Some years ago she went to Pennsylvania with one of our friends from church and she made up a bunch of cards so she could send her husband a card every day. This is one of the designs she made. I really love this card, simple yet adorable! (And I'm not saying it because its Michelle). She actually stamped all those hearts and the design separating the rows of hearts. That was time consuming. She said she enjoyed herself at the swap. I'm glad, I love having her around!

Twila made this next card. This one is very nice! The lily has a shiny finish to it. I think she said she used Crystal Effects on it which gives a glossy finish.

This next one is Nancy's contribution. Very feminine and soft looking. The card is pink and white. Another favorite! She did some embossing on the white card, I'm not sure what she said she used. I don't think its a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The flower is actually 3 different pieces.

Here's Meg's card. Another pink and white card and again very soft and feminine. The butterflies are adorable. Love this card too.

These next 2 projects were things that Nancy made. Some of the girls brought things that they made. These are folders that include cards and matching envelopes. I want to try and make one of these. They look pretty simple.

And saving the best for last and as I promised, here is my card: :)

The card base is peach with a white layer that I used the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder on. I used a piece of designer cardstock for the peach layer and bordered it with Fiskars "threading water" punch.

I stamped the half egg shell that the chick is sitting in on the other side of the same designer cardstock I used for the peach panel and then cut it out. I used some foam tape to pop it up on the stamped image and colored everything with Copics. A very soft spring card! I love the way it turned out.

Here's a closeup of the egg.

We will be having these swaps every 2 months. The next one is the end of June and it will be a focus swap, so the hostess will pick a theme or technique and it will be a smaller group. I am hosting the August swap here at the clubhouse of our mobile home park. It will be a holiday swap, so we will do Thanksgiving, Christmas and Halloween cards.

I had a great time and looking forward to the future swaps. This has been a really long post so I hope you stuck with me to the end. :)

Bumper Cards & Birthday RAK Cards

The first 3 cards I received from Sherry of New Jersey as bumper cards this month. They are all really cute. On the first one she used a white brad for the golf ball. I really like this one. She used 2 new A Muse stamps, an open zinnia and a closed zinnia and stamped one on top of the other. The border is probably the Fiskars "threading water" border punch. Simple yet very nice.

This one is my favorite of the three cards. She used another new A Muse stamp, its a cherry blossom branch and a tiny bird. What I like about this card is that she stamped on a piece of clear acetate and then mounted it on a piece of white cardstock. The pink strip was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and the green piece has a scalloped edge. The card base is a light aqua.

This next card I made for another birthday RAK for someone that lives in southern California. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the aqua piece. I like the softness of it and very springy.

I made this post-it note holder some time ago and hadn't given to anyone yet. So I decided to dress it up a little by adding some prima flowers and then the ribbon on the coils. So this will go with the birthday card as part of the RAK.

I made up this card thinking that I would use it as my April bumper card to send out. We are suppose to use A Muse or Saltbox stamps. Well, the chick stamp is from Elyzbells, however, the sentiment stamp is an A Muse stamp. So I may just go ahead and use it unless I come up with something else. After I got it together I thought it needed something else so I added the yellow brads on the four corners. I think it turned out alright - simple and springy!

I used Copics to color all the images.

Random Acts of Kindness

One of the new blogs I found recently is called Pieces of Me, http://expressivelyme.blogspot.com . Jen Young is the blogger and she lives in Hawaii. She has a Birthday RAK club that I joined. April is my first month to participate. Here is the birthday card I made. I actually cased the card from Geeta (Crafty Engineer) of Austin, TX. She is an A Muse Art Stamps Design Team member and is the one coordinating the monthly Bumper Card group that I am participating in. I did change it up some. She used a 4 bar A Muse Swiss Red card and I used a square A Muse Swiss Red card. I scored lines on the 4 sides at 3.5 inches which Geeta did also and added a ribbon. I used a Spica clear glitter pen on the flower and bud.

Geeta actually made thank you cards for a friend who was having a birthday. I also made 5 thank you cards for my RAK using the same stamp, card base and scoring the sides also. It's hard to see the score lines in the picture. I liked the design so much I just had to make it. :) I like the simplicity of it.

This is going to a person who lives in New Jersey and her birthday is the 22nd of this month. Hope she likes them.

I have another RAK card to make for a April 29th birthday.

The new list for the Bumper Cards is out so I am going to try and get that done in the next week instead of waiting to the last minute and then being late with it.

March Bumper Card

Here is the card I made this afternoon for the March Bumper Card group. It is going to a person who lives in New York state. The stamps are all AMuse Art Stamps which is a requirement of the group. They have to be either AMuse stamps or Salt Box stamps which AMuse distributes. The card base is also AMuse. I used chalk ink to stamp the grass and flowers and AMuse black ink to stamp the bunny princess, the clouds and saying. I used my Copics to color the bunny princess and outlined the clouds with a Copic. The wand that she is holding I colored with a Spica gold glitter pen. The grass was suppose to be right on the green line, I didn't quite get it there. :) I think it turned out okay. I am late in getting it done so hopefully it won't be too late in arriving.

I found out that the person who I sent my February bumper card to is actually an AMuse Art Stamps instructor in Southern California. She is also a science teacher. I thought she can do circles around me with her designs! LOL!! She liked her card I sent so I guess that's good! :)

Hunt for White Cardstock

Since I am still not feeling well, last Friday Gerry took me out to find some good white cardstock. The white cardstock I usually use is from Michael's. It's ok for layering, however when using my Copic markers to color, the ink bleeds. I am out of SU's white cardstock so I was having to resort to Michael's brand.

We first went out to Green Tangerine in Rocklin. Its a huge scrapbook store and they have quite a nice selection of cardstock besides scrapbooking products. Would you believe, they were completely out of white cardstock. I did get some designer scrapbook paper.

From there we went to Scrapbook Station. We were totally surprised to drive up and see a big sign on their windows --- Store Closing!!! Up to 40% off. Well, their stock was just about depleted and they didn't have any white cardstock either. The cardstock that they did have was marked at 30% off so I stocked up on several different colors. When I checked out, the person at the register said their lease was due May 1st and they were closing instead of renewing. They actually had 3 stores in the Sacramento area. The store in Sacramento closed a year ago or so. They were on a month to month and had a high turnover of staff. The Folsom store will remain open. I use to go to Scrapbook Station to find colored cardstock. However, after Green Tangerine opened in Rocklin, I started going there.

We stopped at one more place in Roseville before heading back to Sacramento, The Stamp Art Shoppe. It's a stamp store, not a very big one. Well, they had some of the heavier white cardstock and I got some there. The next place would have been The Paper Garden where I do a lot of shopping. I wanted to avoid going there since I always get in trouble when I go there. Thankfully, The Stamp Art Shoppe had what I needed.

I needed the better white cardstock to do my cards for the card swap which is this coming Saturday. I will post that card after the swap in case someone who is going to that swap just happens to see my blog. The chances of that happening are slim, however, I don't want to take any chances.

After we got home I worked on my cards for the swap and got them finished. I had a lot of it done already. We had to make 18 cards with a sample, doing all the stamping, coloring, etc that making the card required. The only thing we are doing at the swap is putting it together. I think my card turned out rather cute.

Hello and A Wedding Card

Hi there! I apologize for being away from this blog for awhile. I've been playing on my other blog and haven't been at my craft table for some time now. I also have not felt good the last few days. I woke up last Friday morning being very dizzy and being nauseated. I actually called my husband and asked him to come home from his bike ride. I spent all day Friday and Saturday in bed and still do not feel the greatest today. I've been having these dizzy spells a lot lately, so I probably should see if I can get into the doctor tomorrow sometime.

I actually made a card this evening. It's a wedding card for the daughter of some friends of ours that is getting married this coming Friday, Good Friday, in Arkansas. Heather has been in nursing school in Arkansas and met her fiance there in Arkansas. We'd love to be there, unfortunately that is not possible.
Here is the card I made. The card base is a teal blue, then a layer of ivory. I wanted to use a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the ivory, however, I made a 4.75 x 6.75 card and the cs was too big to go through the Cuttlebug. Instead I scored 2 thin lines on the top and bottom. Its probably hard to see in the picture. I stamped the swans with Versamark ink on the teal blue layer and then embossed it with white embossing powder. That layer is backed with a piece of black. Its obvious I haven't stamped for a while, there are some mistakes. Gerry said he couldn't see them. I just got some of those Prima flowers and thought they would dress up the card a bit. I think the card turned out okay.

I need to get to feeling better as I have several projects to get done in the next couple of weeks. The shoebox card swap I mentioned some time ago is on the 18th of April and I have 18 cards to make for that. It was decided that the cards be made and then the only thing to do at the swap is the assembly of them since this was the first swap. We can see after this one how elaborate or simple the cards are that we make and how much time is actually needed to make them. I am looking forward to it, my friend Michelle is going with me.