Sunday 17 August 2008

Stamp club projects

This will be short because I am supposed to be packing. (Those of you who know me, though, will know that I will do anything short of climbing a ladder to get out of packing....)
Here's what we did last club night. I wanted to showcase products from the new catalogue, and the hostess had requested we do the Joy-fold card ( splitcoast tutorial).
For the blue card, we used all new In Colours and Wow Flowers. There is a line of piercing above the sentiment panel. The ladies made cards that were slightly better proportioned. This was my prototype and the sentiment panel is a little too wide.
Supplies (Stampin' Up only): paper and ink: whisper white, pacific point, kiwi kiss, tangerine tango, baja breeze; accessories: paper piercer, scallop edge punch, stamps: Heard from the Heart, Wow Flowers.

The other project was a Joy-fold card (see link above for scs tutorial), which opens twice and is closed by a hidden punched circle under the flower. One of the ladies wanted to know how to dye flowers from the Pretties kit with re-inkers so that's how we did it. The pink panel on their cards was the pale patterned pink sheet from Bella Rose, but I flubbed the stamp on it and needed the rest of the paper for club ladies, so mine is pirouette pink instead. I didn't have enough of this flower for everyone, but this card also looked nice with the next size down flower, set on top of the five-petal flower punch for a closure. One lady did this with a red flower, on a pink flower, on a red flower and it looked fabulous. The ladies could choose to dye their flowers Riding Hood Red or Pirouette Pink. Tip to demos: just use a tiny bit of water and add more as needed.
Supplies (SU only): paper: Bella Rose, Riding Hood Red, Pirouette Pink; ink: chocolate chip, other: reinkers, Pretties kit, bone folder.
Thanks for looking! I won't be back for a week or so. See you later!
Happy stamping.






Saturday 9 August 2008

Back from vacation

Hi! We're just back from a wonderful week in the Adirondacks. We rented a cottage on Mt. Arab near Tupper Lake. It was a beautiful spot and the cabin was lovely, rustic, and everything you could want for a family get-away. It was built over fifty years ago, so there were hardwood floors, log bunkbeds, and an enormous stone fireplace, and even a cast-iron claw-foot tub in the bathroom. The owners were delightful, hospitable, interesting people and we had a lovely time. The girls enjoyed swimming in the lake (the beach and dock were for cottage-renters only so it was very quiet). The weather was a bit wet, but we still had a good time. If you want the latest in sleek, gourmet kitchens, this is not the place for you. If you want a quiet place for children to swing in the hammock and pick wild blueberries, then this is your place. The owner even let us ride one of his rail-bikes - a bicycle he's adapted to ride on railroad tracks. His wife is a talented watercolour artist and I purchased some of her creations. (She also brought us some tasty leftovers from a couple of her meals, including Thai fried rice and lemongrass soup.) Here's a link to their website. We stayed in Mountain View, but looked at the others too. I would love to go back to Val-Al sans enfants....a girl can dream....

I'll try to post some pictures when we get them downloaded, but we are going to be very busy around here this week and next, getting ready to move. And, sniff, sniff, I have packed a good portion of my stamping gear. That is my incentive to move - so I can get my stamping area back. I'm hoping my mother will help me get it organized when she comes to visit in September. She's good at organizing and laying out spaces efficiently so her expertise would be greatly appreciated (wink, wink). But we'll still make time to stamp together too :-)

Anyway, this is by way of an apology in advance for my lack of posts and original creations. I had hoped to be uber-organized and have a bunch of blog-fodder pre-stamped and ready to post. But this went the way of all such plans that I have. I really ought to know myself better. What I will try to do is post links to other interesting blogs that you might not have found.

Happy stamping!
Karen