More Drift Creek Camp

Middle school boys are so funny! Look at the expressions on their faces. They volunteered to be in the picture though, so I'm guessing that they enjoyed themselves and ended up being pleased with what they made. I thought they did great! I wish I would have taken a close up of the card that the girl in the grey sweatshirt and jeans is holding...no names here... She made an awesome card by stamping those great Technique Tuesday flower petals on an alcohol ink background. She cut them out, adhered them to a white card, and stamped cute little tiny flowers between the petals before adding her sentiment. SOOO cute!
Remember that creativity and willingness to experiment that I was talking about? One the girls stamped this great Stampers Anonymous image on her face using Distress Ink. Surprisingly enough it lasted a whole day before finally being removed. And the cling mounted stamp was perfect for this because it had enough stability that she could press it evenly onto her face, but was flexible enough that she could wrap it around and get the whole image. She told me that she wants a tatoo that wraps around her eye like that someday. I wouldn't want a permanent image like that on my face, but I thought it looked cool on her in a temporary version like this.

Back from Drift Creek Camp

Have I mentioned that I love middle schoolers? I'm back from a great time at Drift Creek Camp. There were around 90 campers, and I'm not sure how many of them I saw, but I do know that we went through over 250 cards, and created more than 50 mini albums. I had a total of 12 different sessions with about 13 - 17 campers in each session. I love the wide variety of creativity represented in the great bunch of kids that came through. If I put a group of adults into a room full of supplies, gave them some basic instruction, then said, "Go for it, make whatever you want, and just have fun," I don't know what would happen. But when you do that with middle schoolers they just hop up grab some stamps they like and get started. They don't overthink everything, they just have fun creating. It is so refreshing. I will share more later, but right now I have lots of laundry and unpacking to do.

I'm off

This is my van last night when I was almost finished packing up my projects supplies...exciting!

More fun classes

Saturday was an awesome day of full classes at Stampin' Cat Studio. Including the first ever Crafty Secrets Bird Lovers Class, which went really well, and was actually over full. If you were hoping to attend that class and couldn't make it, don't worry, we will put it on the schedule again. One of the highlights of my day was meeting the sweet lady in the red shirt in the picture above. We had already gotten part way into the class when she mentioned where she was from, and all of a sudden I realized that this was the Tanya that I had been exchanging emails with...laughter and hugs followed. I love this industry!

I'm so excited! Guess what I get to do this week? Ok, I'll tell you. I get to spend my week at a middle school camp making cards and albums with 6 - 8th graders, and teaching them how to use Distress Ink and Alcohol Ink. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this. Call me crazy, but I love middle schoolers, and I love watching them experiment and try new artsy things. Middle schoolers are so willing to just try things and see how it goes. It's so fun to see what they come up with. Anyway, I'll be out in the woods enjoying nature, and of course, will be without computer access, so...have a great week everyone...until next time,

I love summer!

I love it that my husband is a teacher! We have been having lots of fun since school got out. Of course this has resulted in me being very negligent in my blogging, but hopefully you can forgive me. The picture above is from a couple days ago. As a family we went to Scotty's Playhouse, an incredible indoor playground at our church. It is open to the public at no cost, built in memory of several children for our church who are in heaven now. If you would like to learn more about Scotty's Playhouse and the See Ya Later Foundation formed in honor of Scotty Banke, you can check it out here: http://seeyalater.org/Templates/ScottysPlayhouse.html
The next day, we took the kids fishing at Small Fry Lake, a part of Promontory Park. Small fry lake is a 1 acre lake, specifically for children to go fishing at. It is free, and is stocked with trout. The drive there is beautiful, and so is the lake. I love how they have made every part of they lake very easy for children to fish from, there are well-kept bathroom facilities on site, and just up the road is a tiny play area with a covered picnic table right there. So we fished for as long as the kids wanted to, then had our lunch right there by the slides and swings. It was such a perfect day, and that is even without catching any fish.
Noah wanted to hop right in the lake and catch them with the net. We could see them jumping, but we didn't get there until mid afternoon...not exactly prime time for fishing...so we didn't get to eat any fish. But then again we didn't have to clean them either :).

We have also been working on our landscaping some. It's always nice to see that project progressing. And, yesterday, I went to Portland with my friend Amy with no kids. I love my kids, but I rarely enjoy a relaxing shopping trip with them along. It was great. We had a long list of things we needed to do since she is going on vacation soon, but even with that list to take care of we had a great time. How can you go wrong when a day involves Starbucks, chocolate, The Container Store, and a beautiful $89 skirt for $15?

Guess what I did last night? Put together Crafty Secrets kits!!! That's right, it's coming up this Saturday. The first Crafty Secrets Bird Lovers Class...yeah! In spite of my blogging absence, everything is going along great. With days this good it is sometimes hard to find my way to the computer, but I will do my very best to keep you informed and throw some inspiration your way. In fact...stay tuned. I will post some fun projects with some brand new stamps soon.

New Class Pics

This is one of 4 cards we will be making in the Hero Art Thanks Phrase CardArt class coming up in August. The stamp will be included in the class fee, and we will learn some great techniques, as well as a variety of ways to use this wonderful stamp.
AND...here are more glimpses of the fun you can have in the Ir-resist-able Art Backgrounds class. This photo shows just a small portion of a couple of papers I made using the techniques and supplies we will be using in this class. I promise to supply loads of inky, messy fun! As well as some great ideas of ways to incorporate these spectacular papers into your projects.

Well, I guess "summer" has hit. Yesterday was Hannahs last day of Kindergarten. She's ready to go buy a new backpack and start first grade. She has no real concept of "summer break". It could be a long summer. Luckily we have some excitement to break up the length of summer...harvest. The kids always love being with their grandma and grandpa on the farm during harvest time. I love it too. The smell of grass seed harvest will always bring back lots of memories for me since I grew up on a grass seed farm too. And guess what, the end of the school year brought a pleasant surprise with it...warmer weather. The next five days or so are supposed to be in the mid 70's. Just perfect!

Now its REALL Y time...

It's time to announce a winner of this fun prize pack!!! Thank you SOOO much to each of you who participated!!! I've enjoyed reading your comments, and knowing that what I write does actually get read, it doesn't just disappear into the giant world wide web. Know that each of you are appreciated.
No computed programs were used in this drawing, we did it the old fashioned way. I wrote out the names on little pieces of paper, and my daughter drew a name, and the winner is...TINA ...YEAH! Congratulations! I will get your prize to you ASAP. I hope you have lots of fun with it!

Now, on to other things. Guess what I got yesterday??? A cuttlebug! I've had the embossing folders for a little while and had been running them through my pasta maker, but while the pasta maker worked, it was definately not ideal. It is so much easier to use them in the machine they were made to be used in. And of course I'm oozing with ideas. And yes, there is a cuttlebug techniques class in the works. Let me tell you...it's going to be a good one! I know I say that all the time, but really, my excitement level as I prepare this class is right up there with the Texture Tiles Sampler class. More details to come as soon as we get this class onto the schedule.
Today I've got sample boards to make so I'd better get busy...
Until next time,

It's Time...

This simple little card is just a teaser. It's time for the giveaway, and this card is just a quick idea of what you could do with your prize if you win. Thanks to Scrap-a-Latte for being a part of this great giveaway. Ok, enough talking, let's get to the prize package...
Prize includes some of my favorite items: Botanicals stamp set by HOTP, 5 White linen weave cards w/ envelopes, 1 set of Sweet Chips Chipboard Die Cut Shapes by Crafty Secrets, 25 Mauve flowers from Prima, 1 Chalk Ink Cats Eye Inkpad in Charcoal by Colorbox, 1 set of 50 self adhesive Pearls by Kaiser Scrapbook, and 1 1/2 yds each of green velvet ribbon by May Arts and Sienna Brown Crushed Velvet Ribbon by Maya Road.
Now, what do you have to do to win? It's simple, just leave a comment on my blog telling me something you love about papercrafting/stamping/etc. and let me know if it is your first time visiting my blog or if you've been lurking around for awhile...lol. Oh, and if you REALLY want to win, send your friends over to enter the giveaway too. If they write in their comment that you sent them, I will enter your name in the drawing again. Oh, and I know some of you are new to this whole process of commenting on a blog, so if you have trouble, just shoot me an email. My address is now listed on my profile. I think that's it, I will draw a prize winner on Saturday morning sometime, so between now and then, spread the word, and GOOD LUCK!

Quick and Easy Card + Technique

I absolutely LOVE the Asian Background stamp sets by Kodomo Inc. This card was created using the Asian Backgrounds 1 set and scraps of paper from my scrap bin. I just picked out some scraps that I thought went well together. Stamped backgrounds on them using VersaMark Ink. Lined them up and matted them on the green cardstock, and my focal design was ready to go. The Congratulations stamp is from Kodomo Inc. also, as is the white string I wrapped around the left side. I created the fun dimensional flowers using the supplies below.
To create beautiful dimensional flowers, simply punch out a flower, lay it on top of a foam mat (this is a stamping mat, you could also use a soft mousepad or even just a tea towel folded over into several layers), then use a dry embossing tool to rub the back side of the flower petals, creating a "cupped" look. You can see that I have done two of the petals on the flower in this picture. When you turn it back over and press something in the center (in this case I used tiny adhesive pearls by K&Company) the petals just pop up beautifully. Try this with all kinds of paper, it is fun to experiment and see how different textures and weights of paper respond.
Moving on to other topics:
Stay tuned for a giveaway coming up!!! In fact, you may want to get your commenting fingers ready by saying hello! I know you are there, and would love to hear from you. But whether you comment or not, thank you for coming to visit my blog, it is an honor to share my life adventures with you.

A whole day of Alcohol Inks

Yesterday was a really fun day. A whole day of Alcohol Ink Classes, and some of these ladies were in it with me for the long haul. Some of them had never worked with Alcohol Ink before, and I must say, they did an amazing job.
This is a bookmark we made using a drip technique. I just think it's so neat how everyones end project is their own unique design, it can never be exactly duplicated, and the colors are just vibrant and beautiful. It was a really fun, inspirational bunch of ladies, and we had a great day together. So thanks ladies!

Bandanna Technique

I often visit Robin Beam's blog (Robin is the Director of Education for Ranger Industries). There is a link to her blog in the left column of my blog if you would like to visit her blog. Anyway, recently she issued a challenge to create something using the Bandanna Technique that she came up with. It is a great technique, I just hadn't gotten around to trying it yet. So here is my first "bandanna" card. The "bandanna" part of it refers to the white doodling that I added to the background. I created the background by stamping my design with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and blending with Weathered Wood and Milled Lavendar. Both of the background colors are fairly soft, so there is not alot of contrast between the white pen and the background colors, but I liked it. You can see it better if you click on the picture to enlarge it. Anyway, the frame is from Technique Tuesday, and is colored with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and Distress Embossing Powder. The image behind the frame is from the Bird Lover's clear stamp set by Crafty Secrets. I colored in the birds with Distress Inks and Cut n' Dry Nibs. Oh, and the background stamp is the Spiraling Leaves background by B Line Designs. It is a huge stamp which is great because you only have to stamp it once even for a fairly large card like this one (5 3/8" square). Anyway, I greatly enjoyed this bandanna thing and am sure it will join the list of techniques that I love and use often. Oops, I just noticed that I forgot to color in the cute little birdies eyes, better do that...lol.

Depleting the Stash

My drawer of leftover scraps of paper is getting TO FULL. My mom was here visiting and I figured that was a perfect time to create a card using some of those scraps that are filling up my drawers. I also had a new stamp set that hadn't been used yet. The bird image is from the Birds Galore set by Inkadinkado, and the Friends Always sentiment is from a set called Messages from Hero Arts.
Do you see those little pearls? They are addicting! These are from K&Companys Wedding Collection, and they come in five different sizes. I just LOVE them...love, love, love. Ok, can you tell I love them? The problem is that I am most in love with the tiniest size, but of course I need to find a use for the bigger ones too. Guess I'd better work on that.
Did you know that tulips used to be my favorite flower? I even carried tulips at my wedding. I still love tulips, I just don't know if they are truly my favorite anymore. I love lots of different kinds of flowers: orchids, some varieties of roses(like this one), and many more.
I got this beautiful rose picture from the Heirloom Roses website. Heirloom Roses is a rose nursery located very close to where I live. Let me just say, visiting their nursery is an experience. It is just beautiful. Amazing cascades of climbing roses, rows and rows of so many varieties of roses that it makes your head swim. It's worth a visit.