RAIN?!?!?!?

OK, so pardon my shouting, but it's actually raining here!!!! To those of you out east (or just about anywhere else), this is truly a non-issue. But it has been over a month since we have seen just a few drops, and we're now at 30 minutes of gentle rainfall with a little thunder in the background. WHEEEEEEE!!!!!!

To give you a little perspective, during a normal-ish summer, we mow every 2-3 weeks. (remember, we're in the country and don't have to keep the lawn at 3 inches). This summer, we have mowed only once. Everything is dead. No need to chop anything down. And now it's raining!!!!!!!! God is good!!!!!!!

Now I have an awesome excuse to go hole up in the craft room. Double Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!

May you have an inky day,

This is It!

The final Deal of the Week is the Heart to Heart Punch. My only question ..... why do they keep picking things that I already have!!?!!? Ah, the dilemma! So you get a 31% discount - wheeeeee! You can give me a call to place the order, shoot me an email, or place the order on your own at my Stampin' Up! website HERE. Have a grand time shopping in the comfort of your home - but be careful, I hear stamping is addictive!!! :-)

May you have a wonderful week. I will be here, in my little corner of the world,
Gettin' Inky!

Have Your Cake and Eat it Too!

This was such a yummy (pun intended!) card to create. The glitter on the frosting adds a wonderful touch, as does the Crystal Effects on the cherry. That one is hard to see in this photo, but trust me, it's there! The kids have done a very thorough inspection to be sure that it's raised. Many discussions on that topic!

I actually liked it a tad better using giant circles of White Gel Pen in the corners. But it seems that I have already given those away. Oops. I used one of the guides from the Mat Pack and plopped it in the corner. Colored in the big ol' circles with my trusty gel pen. I believe it was Sue that did the big dots first (you rock, by the way!). It's so much fun to have an idea of how to complete the project and then have everyone in attendance tweak it just a tad to make it their own. I love stamping!!!



The stamp set I used is new to me - On a Pedestal. Pretty fun to play with! The images are meant to stack on each other in all sorts of funky ways. You can add words to the cake and make it tall - or insanely tall, if you're so inclined! You can also ink up only the bottom and stem of the cake plate, turn the cake upside down, and now you have a festive drink glass (sangria, margarita, Shirley Temple,.....). Or you could turn the cake the other way and have a lamp. How awesome to have so many fun options with this one stamp set!





I am doing some playing and creating and having fun (along with the chasing of the urchins). Some changes are in the works for my world o' stamping. It seems that there are only 24 hours in the day (drat!) and they're already spoken for! I have a plan, but it's being tweaked right now. No traumas yet, I promise!

Have a wonderful week, and know that I look forward to Gettin' Inky with you soon!

Medallion

Can I tell you how much I love this stamp?! OH MY!!!! We made this card during Stamp Camp this week and there were lots of "oooooooohhhhhh's."



The process was easy. The secret was the paper! I first stamped the image on Naturals Ivory cardstock. It has little dots all over the place, which add a touch of extra depth to the card. The Naturals White is the same way, but it's not quite a true white (and didn't go with the Kraft and Chocolate Chip quite as well as this one).

Next, I sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip, and added a couple holes with the Paper Piercing Tool (I love that this is available on its own now!). Add the Brad (from Hodgepodge Hardware), attach everything together, and Presto - Spiffy Card! The ribbons are both Chocolate Chip, the thicker one being Grosgrain and the bow is Taffeta.

I failed to take a picture of the inside (duh!). I stamped off once and then put the offset Medallion on the inside, too. Ties the card together nicely.

I'm off to chase the kiddos for awhile, then it's Doug's Surprise Birthday Party! Don't worry, I can't imagine that he's reading my blog (Ha Ha!). Woo-hoo .... fun adult socialization. What a treat! (thanks for babysitting, mom!)

Here's hoping that you have a wonderful weekend and manage to stay cool. I'll be here Gettin' Inky!






Card Recipe: Medallion
Silver Hodgepodge Hardware (Vanilla is on sale through Monday early morning)
Mat Pack
Paper Piercing Tool
Chocolate Chip, Kraft, and Naturals Vanilla Cardstock
Chocolate Chip ink
Click HERE to shop on my website - have fun!!!!

Another Deal!

This time it's Styled Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware. WOW!




It's actually a 37% discount, just so you know. Wheeeee! So that goes on my list .... as do about a billion other things ..... I am soooo glad I am a demonstrator and get a discount on my "habit!"



If you're interested in discounting your habit, too, there's a Mini Starter Kit promotion going on until the end of August. You pay only $85, and have all the benefits of being a demonstrator. This is a great option if you already have a bunch of Stampin' Up! stuff in your collection. You get the new In Colors plus a stamp set and business supplies. More details can be found HERE. You can easily join via my Stampin' Up! website. Contact me for more info.

I must go play with some ink .... not ready for Stamp Camp yet and the urchins seem to be quiet for the moment. Let's cross our fingers to keep the peace!

May you have an ink-ful day!

New Deal of the Week!

Aloha and greetings to all!

As of 10:00 this morning, another Deal of the Week is happening at Stampin' Up! This time it's Rhinestone Brads - the square, fire color ones!!! I have started using the squares more than the circles ..... my world is now less expensive! (insert a picture of me doing a happy dance .... or maybe you should just know that I was thinkin' about it)








Instead of the $10.95 regular price, these little pieces of joyousness are only $6.99 per package. Woo-hoo! You can shop at my Stampin' Up! website and purchase all of your necessities. HERE is the link. That takes you to the ordering spot on my website. Discounts will be added at the end (you get the preferred customer price, as you are claiming me as your demonstrator). Questions? Just ask!

Have a great afternoon, and know that I look forward to Gettin' Inky with you soon!

More Printed Window Sheets

I'm tellin' ya - I love these things! Each one I have made has had some tweaking - like the painted flower from the Pretties Kit. Just grabbed the Aqua Painter and dabbed some Old Olive ink on it. Let it dry, attach with a Glue Dot, and all is well with the world. As a side note, I really like the close-up of the flower, but don't know why the card decided to be soooo much smaller. They're supposed to be the same size! (still a learning curve, it seems!)




To hide the adhesive, I make sure to put an accessory of some sort above the tape. In this case, I made a line of SNAIL on the window sheet under the Celery Grosgrain Ribbon. Then there's a glue dot under the big flower. That's plenty to hold the plastic on the card.

As far as "normal life" is concerned, we went out to dinner last night, and Ryan decided to get a fever. All was well until we sat down at the restaurant. He was REALLY upset by the air conditioning. He cried and told us that since we're in Texas, everyone is used to the heat (104 yesterday). He thought they should just turn the air off. Now that's realistic! So I felt his forehead - hot hot hot. We got home and took his temperature - 101. He went to sleep about 30 minutes later.

He seems OK today, but still a tad on the fragile side. Poor little guy! At least he's not lobbying for turning the AC off in the house ......

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Printed Window Sheets

Greetings and happy Friday to all!

I have had the best time playing with the printed window sheets on page 169 of the catalog. I got the 8.5 x 11 size and had some fun! Other than a plethora of fingerprints (which wipe off easily with a soft cloth and a little warm breath), they were really simple to use. Here's one of my creations:



The dots are the window sheet. The card base is the new Melon Mambo In Color. As a side note, my Melon Mambo ribbon disappeared the other day. Imagine my surprise to find it downstairs with my little red-headed-everything-pink-is-mine thief! Kristen was sooooo thrilled to find an entire roll of pink ribbon with white polka dots. I don't think life can get much better than that. Thanks to the suggestion of some wonderful friends (??????), now she wants a dress made from the ribbon. NOT gonna happen!

I used the new Modern Label Punch on the sentiment. Fun, quick, and really easy. Did you know that the Modern Label Punch is perfect with all the words and phrases from Teeny Tiny Wishes on page 145?! To make it worse, you can layer with the Word Window Punch for all those, too. Oh my! I am sooo in trouble with this new catalog. Thank goodness it's gonna be good for an entire year!

I am off to cause more trouble and play with some ink. Well, that or make dinner. One of those options would be WAY more fun than the other. Ah, the life of being a mommy (love it!!!!!!!).

May you have a day filled with ink and complete joy,

New Deal of the Week!

It's true, it's true! The Doctor's Bag for the Big Shot is $20 off this week!!!! That's just short of a 30% discount. Wheeeeee! What? You are looking for an even sweeter deal?! Well, how 'bout if you like the bag but don't yet have the Big Shot ...... I will entice you with free shipping! That part of the deal doesn't work if you order online anywhere ... you have to let me know and I will process the order for you. (That's what happens when it's a Tricia's Deal instead of a Stampin' Up! deal)



Isn't it fun when we play together like this?! So that's a shipping savings of $10 on the Big Shot, $20 off the Doctor's Bag, and another $5 off for the shipping of the Doctor's Bag. That gives you $35 to spend on dies and other toys that you wouldn't have already had!!!!

Careful, though. This deal is only good during the Stampin' Up! promotion week. You can get all this wonderful-ness from now until the 13th of July at 9:50am (mountain time). Ten minutes later another Deal of the Week will go into effect.

Yes, for those of you who already own the Big Shot, I will extend the $5 savings on the bag to you, too. This is all in preparation of my upcoming Big Shot Workshop. Oh, the fun we shall have.

I am heading to the craft room ..... it's time for
Gettin' Inky!!!!!!!

Lost Marbles

No, not mine. But thanks for asking! :-)

It seems that the kids "needed"to borrow the marbles from the craft room, but "forgot" to put 'em back. Imagine! So Ryan allowed me to use some of his marbles, but I was given strict instructions. No gluing 'em to the paper, I couldn't change the color, basically I was only allowed to look at them. He can be so helpful.

So when I put the marbles in an empty stamp set box and added a drop of re-inker, I thought he was gonna lose it. All turned out well in the end - he even has all his marbles back. That's more than I can say for myself. LOL

Anyway, here's the marbled background technique sample:


I used two separate boxes to make this happen - Tangerine Tango (now retired) and Summer Sun. Tape the white piece of paper on the lid (Dotto works perfectly!). Now turn the stamp box upside down and wiggle. Do this as long as you like. It's fun, and could be considered exercise (as long as you put the chocolate down first!).

Once you have the coverage you like, remove from the first and do the same thing with the second. Ryan actually helped make this background. He had a blast (and finally forgave me for using the re-inkers).

The stamp set I used for this card was Flight of the Butterfly. I am sooooo excited that there is a punch for the big butterflies in this set in the now current catalog!!!!!! Mine has been ordered and I am patiently (???) waiting for Mr. UPS to knock on my door. He's not here yet. Bummer......

Happy Monday and welcome back to the work week. Our last week was interesting, but I am not in the mood to talk about car repairs yet. We still don't have a working vehicle (we used to have two), but are hoping that is fixed by at least mid-week. Yes, mid-week. AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

May your day be filled with ink and paper and happiness .... and chocolate!

Have fun Gettin' Inky,

Fun Bird

This is a card I found great inspiration for on www.SplitCoastStampers. Here is the original. The designer is luvmyboys&stampin (I know .... not her real name .... but that's not listed!).

You can tell that I changed the colors (slightly) and didn't use the Color Spritzer Tool. Otherwise, I really (REALLY) liked the design and the way everything went together. What a wonderful creative genius I found!!!!! As I am sure you know, when you find something truly awesome, you really shouldn't change much! :-)



May you have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

~Tricia

Happy 4th of July!

What better way to celebrate our nation's independence that with a little ink and a lotta chocolate?! I found this idea on Dawn Griffith's website, but hers was done with the smaller sized candies. You know, like the Halloween size. I decided that my fingers were bigger than that, plus I wanted to be able to use my punches instead of cutting everything. Pretty easy!



You can make this happen on any candy bar or box-shaped-thing. Just measure around the outside (circumference) and add about 1/2 inch. The height I used was for the candy only, so that the ends would stick out slightly (that makes it easier to get at the chocolate!). Put the candy in the middle of the cut-out box and mark where the score lines need to exist. Don't forget to turn the bar on its side so you can get the extra marks! Then, a little Sticky Strip to the edge, and you're good to go!

I used whisper white for the base, brilliant blue with Itty Bitty Backgrounds (stamped in craft white) are underneath the big star, and Real Red for the stripes. To adhere the stripes, I used the Two-Way Glue Pen. That allows for a little forgiveness before the adhesive lives there forever! The blue was punched with my 1-1/4" square punch after stamping the mini-stars. 2-Way Glue Pen on the white parts with Dazzling Diamonds Glitter makes it more fun! Also, after using the Star Punch, add glue and glitter there.

May we all remember those who gave their lives so that we may live and worship freely in this wonderful country. Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Watercolor Splash

I love this technique! I found it in several places online, one of my favorites being www.splitcoaststampers.com. (I know you find that amazing!)

The key is to use cardstock with sparkles in it - which would be Shimmery White. I tried it with glossy, and it just looks flat and doesn't dry well (or very quickly).

Here's my version, using Fifth Avenue Floral:



To make this amazing project happen, the secret is water. On your Shimmery White cardstock, stamp an outline image with VersaMark (or white craft ink) and emboss with white embossing powder. Give it a couple seconds to dry, and then squirt 3-4 times with water. If you don't have puddles on the paper, add more water. Don't be shy - this really works!

Now, with your Aqua Painters, pick up a little bit of ink (a drop in the lid of the ink pad works well). Instead of trying to paint with the Aqua Painter, squeeze the ink off as you touch the paper. I know, more water! As the brush touches the paper, the ink spreads through the open image. COOL!!!!!

Different colors of ink dry with different color combinations ..... that you may not be expecting. On this project, I used Lovely Lilac and Almost Amethyst. You can also see Tempting Turquoise, which I did NOT use. Weird, huh?! Also, you may not need to pick up more ink on your brush - it depends upon how much is already there. Have some fun and experiment.

As a spiffy side note, I did two flowers that I was sure I had messed up. Since they were wet, I just put 'em aside to dry and then thought I would throw 'em away later. Didn't need to - they were awesome!!!!! Be patient and wait for the finished product to exist - you will loooove it!

You can use your heat tool to speed drying - sort of. You don't want to burn the embossing powder into the paper - bad things will happen. But it does help to dry the paper a tad.

Have fun, and may you enjoy an inky evening!

~Tricia