Busy Weekend (As Usual)

Why do weekends fly by so fast? I guess if I had not spent 12 hours on Friday lost in stamps and papers, maybe this one wouldn't have. ;-) Actually, I still have the rest of today to stamp, and clean, and look up recipes for all my CSA veggies, and cook those veggies, and do laundry, and make up five projects for next weekend's workshops ... I may not make it....

So this was a pretty rainy weekend, and I mostly hunkered down and stamped. I actually had A Plan, of sorts, too. I have been working my way through stuff in the Stash Room, and I am pretty proud of me.

First up we have one of my puppy cards:

I had a package of Movable Parts puppies, and instead of making the accordian-fold single card they show in the kit, I made 14 individual puppy cards! I did this same thing a year or so ago with their Cat kit, so this was really a no-brainer for me.

The base is made from PTI's White Card Stock, which is way heavier than I usually like to use, but I got it to try it, and now I know. I took advantage of my new Scor-Pal and used it to score the folds - works like a champ!

I stamped the SU Linen bg with Sahara Sand ink on the outside fold, and put a piece of yummy card stock on the right side, cut just a little wider than the exposed part of the base so it was "tucked under" the outside fold. The card stock is from a package of paper I got that turned out to be not paper, but textured, patterned card stock. You will see a lot of this as I work my way through it! I love the stuff!

The Thank You is from a pack of rub-ons I've had for way too long, and I just stuck the puppy on the front panel so he hangs over. When the card is opened, there is a plenty-big white space for someone to write in. I added the black gingham ribbon in a last-minute fit of "this is naked"ness.

Next up is a cat card (hey, I had to be fair!) that uses a lot of scraps from the dog cards and from the piece of card stock I used on the 4th for my Thank You card.

In a strangely-weird moment, I decided to try and put two pieces of unrelated paper together to see what might happen, and I like them together! I tied them together with a piece of charcoal grosgrain ribbon from my "I think I have them all, now" ribbon stash.

Then...what to do for an image? I remembered this cat stamp I have that I've used maybe once, and he was perfect! I cut him out and popped up his butt with a dimensional, because, well, that's how cats play! I later went back and colored his ears with Blush Blossom, but I left the rest of him white.

The secret with this card is I used yet another item from my stash - stickers! I had three of these stickers in the Stash, and I decided to use them inside the card as a bookmark.

Making the bookmark is just too easy...all you do is use your perforating blade and run it once (only once!) across the card stock, and later this baby can be removed from the card and used as a bookmark. I have made bookmark cards in the past, and people love getting a card with a built-in, usable gift!

By the way: this whole bookmark thing was not my idea. The guy who runs the company where I got my Carl Cutter gave me the idea during one of my "I need help" customer service calls. Too bad they do not sell the Carl Cutters any more; they only sell the Ott lights now. ;-(

Moving on, here is another piece of card stock from that pack I got:

I really struggled with what color to use as a layer here, and I ended up with a non-obvious Soft Sky. I like how it turned out! This card also uses some taupe-y ribbon from the stash.

And this photo I just had to share with you. This guy and his human Mom are regular visitors to our Saturday market, so I asked (and got) permission to take his picture yesterday.

Ain't this the life? Yes, that is a dog stroller. He's got all his toys in there, and he stopped to pick up a treat for his pose. He is too cute!

And lastly, I managed to mostly redeem myself after my Decor Elements Flourish Frame Massacre of last week. I called SU and told them of my plight with my attempt to put up the frame, and they explained where I had gone so very wrong with my application attempt, and they also sent me another frame!

I followed their instructions to the best of my ability, which we all know is questionable, at best, and look-y what I did:

Don't be too impressed. Even though this is WAY better than my first attempt, more than half of the little dots stayed behind and did not make it to the transfer sheet. But have no fear! I was not going to let the bugger win this time, so I surgically removed the dots from the original image with my paper piecer tip, and one at a time (yes, one at a time) I placed them onto the wall. You can tell if you just look at this, as you can see most of the dots are not very evenly-placed, but to the untrained eye, it is passable. I had to do some advanced trickery since a few of the dots were lost to this world and I had a few gaps with which to deal. I got out the 1/8" punch and punched some holes from the scraps and placed them, one at a time, to make it look like I tried. Like I said, passable. From a distance, I think it looks great!

Good grief, it is only 8:00 am! Durn internal body clock! Sigh ... I will spend the rest of today making up five projects for next week's workshops. I think I'll use retiring sets one last time. Wish me luck!

Oh, and don't forget my milestone challenge! Enter to win a collection of stuff from my stash! Rules are posted here, which is where you'll also need to post your entry! Come and play!