Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Shower Time


DSC02996.JPG
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
This is a sketch challenge on SCS. I am loving the Member Companies section of the forum. This is for MFT

Did you all know that they are rolling out 3 more new sets tomorrow? OMG, I swear, I'm going broke just to buy their stamps. Nah, but they do have really good clear, sharp images. On top of that, it's very chic and very updated to today's time.

Anyway, don't just sit there, go over to SCS now and check out their forum. It's da bomb!

Supplies:
Cardstock: SU
Patterned paper: Paper Salon
Stamp: Shower Time

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Uh-oh, I'm tagged

I've been tagged Estivalia over at Paper Leisure.

What we do is list out 10, 20 and 30 years ago and tell what we were doing at that time. Then you “tag” some other bloggers and go back and comment on Relevant and let her know.

10 years ago… Hmm... I had turned 21, so prolly been drinking and partying like there's no tomorrow.

20 years ago… Well, guess that'll make me 11, so prolly in school. I didn't have much interesting things happening at that time.

30 years ago… Haha, I was literally a baby then, so I'm guessing I was crawling around. that's funny...

So, I tag…

* Linda SS
* Wife2TJ
* Andrea

Hope the girls play along

Stockings


Stockings
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
Man, CardStudioDesigns.com is down and now I have to work. Boooo! Actually, I've been lurking alot on SCS too. Wish I'm home to play w/ the new sketches and techniques that are posted. The ladies are so talented. Gosh, wish I have the time.

Anyway, I'm just happily chucking along here, just got my review done yesterday. I hate the first part because they want you to do a self-evaluation. I hate that part of the process because they want you to say things (good/bad) about yourself. Well, nobody wants to point out their faults, that's just bad marketing all around. But on the flip side, I can't just say that I've worked my butt off and I'm the rockstar of the group, give me a raise. So, that's the hardest part.

The second part is a sit-down w/ my boss, that part I'm ok with. I like her, and she and I have been working together for a while now. So, my official review is like a chat w/ a friend. So, that's cool. Basically, I came out unscathe, not that I expected anything but still you never know.

Anyway, I'm in such a good mood that I'm sharing another holiday card with you. This is made w/ the Making Memories Flock & Foil kit. Here's my thing w/ that, I love it, but it does get sticky and I do mean sticky. But, the outcome is awesome. You should totally try it.

Supplies:
Card by Making Memories
Patterned paper by DCWV
Rubons by Making Memories
Embellishments by Jolee

Monday, October 29, 2007

Playing Snowman


Playing Snowman
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
Sorry guys, been a slacker again. Hee hee...

Well, actually, I'm working on 25 baby shower invite, so I'm a tad tied up. I've been wanting to throw a party, and asked my friend who's preggers if she wants a baby shower. She took me up on it, and now I'm working on the shower invite. I'm not going to get fancy w/ the food and stuff where I've seen some talented ladies would so the name frames or put a cute little cupcake tag for the cupcakes. I am taking it upon myself to do the games, but it'll be simple. Like guess the jellybean stuff or anagrams.

The main thing about doing invite is that I do get bored after one design. That's why I don't mass produce Xmas cards. I don't have the patient for it and I do get bored easily. One year, I remember I would stamp and emboss all the images one day, then color the week later, then add embellishment a week later. I get bored doing it that way. Guess I just like the creativity of the process rather than the product. Plus, some of the cards I like, I use up the supplies and make mass producing hard to do.

That said, I do alot of scrap cards if I need mass quantity in a short time and still create. It's fast and definitely cute. Alot of cute stuff aren't available on stamps so this is a pretty good solution.

So, this is Mr. Snowman goofing off. You wouldn't believe that most of the supplies here, I got from last Xmas clearance from various stores. I'd say some of the stuff I got for like 50 cents, and some for a dollar. But either way, this card doesn't cost as much as it could've been. I just love a bargain, what can I say. ;)

Supplies:
Card and patterned paper by DCWV
Snowman by Jolee
3D embellishemnt by Soft Spoken
Snow sticker by CK

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Trim the tree


Trim the tree
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
Ha, more Xmas cards... I do plan on doing the MFT sketch challenge from SCS, just haven't got the time.

This is from a great set of cards at Paper Source. I think I score those at their warehouse sale, and since I went on Sunday they marked down the prices even more. Seriously, if you're ever in the Chicago area, that's where their warehouse is located, and if you can beat the elbows of anxious brides, you can pick up some pretty cool stuff.

That said, I go the card set from PS, was playing around w/ the birds. I contemplated on coloring the rest of the tree in, but also didn't want to overwhelm the card and myself with more color. It's pretty busy already. Don't you hate it sometimes you got a good basic sketch but you just can't stand it and wanted to add more to it. But by doing that, you just overwhelm the card, and go to the point of no return. That happens to me, especially I do so much DTP stamping that it can go to hades pretty quickly.

Anyway, that reminds me of a pottery painting that a bunch of my friends and I do. And one friend is truly artistic. She started painting a very pretty bowl but after hearing some bad news totally ruined it. So, we called it the Tempest bowl, nice on one side, not so much on the other.

That said, this is one of the ones hopefully not too overwhelming but still cute. I did colored in the birds to make them BlueBirds, but because the green cardstock has texture on it; it looks a little faint. But you get the point.

Supplies:
Card by Paper Source
Background stamp by Stampendous
Tree & birds stamps by Hero Arts
Ornament by Jolee
Rub-on by Making Memories

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Drum roll please...

... *brum, rum, rum*....

Thank you to everyone for playing. Hope to offer more goodies soon and play again.

Ok without further adieu...

The winner is....

Jan Scholl, her guess: my guess is 666. I get over 2000 a day, so hopefully you are not in the crazy place I am.

The correct answer was 671.

Yep, I had 671 emails from 3 days of leave. Crazy, I know, but I usually get about 60-90 overnight, and don't know how many I get throughout the day because I delete them as soon as I see them. Like a little zapper.

Congrats to Jan, and please email me your info.

Hopefully we'll play again soon!

Puppy


Puppy
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
Alright, alright, I know you guys must be anxious to know who won... I will post the winner after 6p CST. It's all at home, and we do have one clear winner... I promise!

This is one of the cards I made during my mini hiatus. I swear I love this stamp soooo much. She's adorable and the puppy is too. No matter what, you look at them and you think: Winter. No doubt. I really need to use her more often, but there's so many Xmas stamps out there, so hard to choose...

Speaking of, I need to use my scallop punches more often too. Every since my Xmas box o' craft exploseded in my craft area, totally covered up the punches and not until I was shuffling stuff around that I see the box o' punches.... duh on me. I love it though, I can punch and punch all day. Everything frames better when they're in scallops, I swear.

Well, there's no bosses today thru Friday... so you know you what they say, Cats away, Mice come out to play. I have to say that I've gotten alot done and since I have a 200 pgs report, it's good to have some piece and quiet. Now if I can just get the IT guy out of my dept, he's not doing squat, I can do his job better than he can. That's just wrong in so many levels. Oy!

Supplies:
Patterned Paper by Reminisce
Stamp by Hampton Mara Mi
Ribbon by Joann's
Card by DCWV
Blue mulberry paper by Target

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Overfilled


Overfilled
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
Sorry, gotta be short today, I have tons of paper to go thru before both of my bosses leave me here for the rest of the week...

Yep, already start on my Xmas card making extravaganza. This is one of them... It's just so cute, so many presents and it just about to topple off. I swear, secretly, I wish I have that many presents for Xmas. Haha...

Remember when you're little, it's not what you get but how many boxes you get? It's awesome. Of course, being an only child, that is not really an issue and not that I'm complaining. Now, I just want more time and money to feed my expensive hobby. :P

Supplies:
Card & Patterned Paper by DCWV
Ribbon by American Craft
Stamp by SU

Monday, October 22, 2007

Xmas tree


Couple
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
So, for those of you reading about the water situation... that was resolved at 2pm on Friday... which was over 7 hours of their estimate. The city suck! I hate them.

Good thing, I was ingenius and got a shower and went to work. Otherwise, no one was here to hold down the fort. Ok, it wasn't that dier, but I was the only licensed management and yes I needed to be here.

Anyway, busy weekend this past weekend, won't bore you w/ the details, hopefully, I'll have pics or vid to share (when my hub and friends will upload their stuff). We had a big dance, did a little performance, but will see if I can dug up any vid.

That said, here's a quickie card. I've been dying to use the stamps. This is my couple picking tree. I love the romantic factor of the card. I'm thinking that I want to go back and add some snow on the top of the trees.

However, I'm quite impressed w/ the snowflakes, that's from the Making Memories Flock & Foil kit. That's pretty neat.

Don't forget to scroll down to a couple of posts for some goodies I'm giving away. Deadline is Wednesday.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Candy, Candy everywhere...


DSC02954.JPG
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
Yep, no water... still.

But here's the post about the candy.

Here's the goodies that I'm offering. 2 brads set (one is Fall, one is pink) , ribbon by Martha Stewart, a So Many Saying stamp set..

Just guess how many emails I got when I return work for being out for 3 days. The person guess the closest will win this fabulous prizes. :) Good luck!

Hooray for RAK & Blog Candy


RAK from Allison
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
You guys, did you see this... how cute is this card? I LOVE it! Just too cute. This is a RAK from Allison. What a wonderful mail day! That's so cool.

Here's the irony, the city once again shut down the water to work over night. While they promised it'll be back up and running by 5am, it's already 7am and it's not done. So, I'm waiting for the water to take a shower before heading off to work. (Prolly TMI, sorry. :P)

Alright onto the Blog Candy info: I had taken a few days off of work this week. Just so that I'm not going to lose 11 days of vacation this year, just forced myself to go on one. Here's how you can win (and I'll post the present in the next post (if the water doesn't come back on soon, I'll do it shortly).

Here's how you can win. If you guess how many emails I got when I went back to work, the closest person will win the goodies. (Here's a hint: it is more than 100) Post your answer here, and I will announce winner on Wednesday (10/24)

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Sister & Chocolate


Sister & Chocolate
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
*Jump, Jump, Jump* Today is super mail day! The stamps I ordered from My Favorite Things came in today! Hooray!!!!

Been totally jealous seeing alot of ladies out there have their newest stamps. So, I finally go to play with them. This card, literally only took 10 mins. How awesome, is that?!

This is also a sketch challenge for MFT's Section on Splitcoast. This is so awesome! I really liked their stamps just because it's clean, neat, and chic.

Now, those of you who are familiar w/ their products know that the main stamp is for Think Pink benefitting Breast Cancer month. I just turned it into a chocolate thing. I know, not necessary what it was intended for, but hey, stamping has flexibility, right? Plus, did I mention it only took 10 mins to make this card?!

Anyway, stay tune, blog candy to come... I'll give out the info Friday!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

So, I saw this tutorial and just have to give it a try...




I think it worked out one better than the other... but it's true that you need a thimble as I didn't think that was necessary. Because by the time you started to pin thru 3 or 4 levels of paper, your thumb does hurt. And that thimble will help push the pin thru.

So, I'm basically done w/ the ornaments for a while... I've made 6 so far this year... I may do one more w/ the local musuem.

Monday, October 15, 2007

So, I got my Pottery Barn catalogue over the weekend. It was filled with things I want but cannot afford, until I got to this. Wait a minute, I thought, they are charging $6 for something I can make? That's outrageous...

So, I went to Hobby Lobby to get some styroform and off I work:


Don't look at them too close, they are still prototypes. The Blue one I thought they were using individual strips of ribbon, but I'd figured it's not true... so the Red one I use one continuous ribbon. The only problem is the ridges you get from the folds. But, I'll keep playing w/ them...

At some point, I'm thinking $6 is worth it.... hmmm....

Friday, October 12, 2007

Celebrates


Celebrates
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
I'm back, I swear.... :P

Well, I had a fabu trip in NYC, but when I got back, first thing was audit at work. So, I was very very wrapped up about that. It's odd because she's a good friend but because of her role, I'm very very nervous and on edge.

That said, I think we passed w/ flying colors. Just waiting for a final report.

Alright, onto the card: this one I've made a while back, but this is the right season for it... thought I'd share. I like to think my stuff is clean but can see that it can be viewed as boring. That said, this 3D embellishment has leaves inside, they move. So, if it's a real shaker card, you can see it running around.

Hmm... maybe I should do a shaker card....

Supplies:
Card by Stampin' Up
Celebrate sticker by MAMBI
Stamps by Hero Arts

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Michelle or Krista, please stop reading this post!




So, my friend, Jaime started this game, where the first 3 people respond back to her, she'll give us something groovy and handmade. So, I signed up on hers. The caveat is that in return, we need to do that in ours too. So, I did, and Michelle, Krista and Becky B signed up. So, I have worked on theirs already. (We have 365 days to make whatever it is we're giving.) I think Jaime was just buying time... haha... but it's ok, because we're all so busy.

So, this is the first one. It's just a clipboard, and all the paper is from this free pack I got from CTMH. I enjoyed just doing stuff like that, making it pretty. I'm thinking of adding ribbons on the top, but was waiting for glue to dry when I was taking the pic. So, no ribbon to show off, but I think it came out pretty nicely.

That said, naturally, I'll put some cards along w/ my pack, I think I'll throw in something else, but since I know Michelle read here, I'm not going to say, keep some things a mystery. ;P

I highly encourage everybody do that w/ their girlfriends, its a real fun to see what other 'crafters' comes up with. For instance, one of the girls does jewlery, one does cross stitch. So, it'll be neat to see. :)

Supplies:
All paper by CTMH

Monday, October 8, 2007

leaves


leaves
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
Hi everybody! *waves*

I've been slacking off, and I know it. NYC was great... I tell ya, if I can move anywhere, well.... actually I wouldn't want to move there. But if I had, I think I would dedicate one weekend per neighborhood and still not be done w/ the city. The place is huge, and you can walk and walk and walk... I swear my feet are about to fall off from all the walking I did.

I did ended up going to a LSS, it's called The Ink Pad. It's down at the LWS, and the owner is very very nice. I just randomly tell her that I'm from Houston, and she's started to talk about places she's been near here, and ask about the stores here (which there are none to speak of, really). And we talked about companies we liked. Then a customer came in wanting to have stamp for her business cards, and she started to ask me for my opinion. Very kind of her, and asking me to help brainstorm for this person. Which ended up making a sell of $50 for her. I mean, literally the girl came in just wanted to buy one stamp. She left w/ stamps, ink pad, embossing powder and a heat gun. So, that was cool.

I, myself, was not so lucky, I basically did twice that at the store. They have alot of stuff I haven't seen before. Or companies I've forgotten. Don't get me wrong, I love my Amuse, my Stampendous, and Hero Arts, but there are alot of smaller stamp companies that doen't have the exposure like they do. But produced some awesome stamps too. So I got my shopping shoes on and bought a few things... Let's just say, so much so that they threw in bonus gifts (yes, that was plural).

Anyway, tons of fun, definitely recommend it. I mean, this is a real stamp store, not a scrap store that happens to sell stamps. Trust me, I was giddy.

Ok, back to earth now...

This card, is the other half of the die cut I used in the previous post. The paisley is from a friend, so don't quite have a company attached to it. But, it's a fun little fall card. I just wish we have the weather to match. At NYC the weather was in the upper 70s, and in Houston the weather is close to 80s. I thought this is fall.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Falling


Falling
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
*Sigh* I would've been able to blog this yesterday, except my stupid hotel room in NYC doesn't have internet access as promised on the hotel's promo.

I got here about 11p and by the time we got the tech support it was midnight, by the time they send me a device it was 1am. Needless to say I didn't get on line at all.

Here for work, will totally missed the World Card Making Day. So, to compensate, I'm going to go to a stamp store on Saturday just to make it up....

Supplies:
Card by SU
Ribbon by American Craft
Leave die cut by Paper Source
Stamp by SU
Brad by eyelet outlet

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Boo


Boo
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
Man, I am crazy behind here.... Geesh, much like chicken without its head. I'm trying to work on my real job's tasks, get ready for an audit and prepping for a trip to NY all at the same time. Oh, and I managed to make a few cards, a couple of paper projects, taught a lesson, trained a DJ and a skating lesson.

OMG *inhale*

There's a reason why when I'm stress I tend to hang out in my craft room more. It's so therapuetic. Like this weekend, I made several fall cards. It's really catching up with everyone out there.

In the mean time, I've been drooling on the My Favorite Things new stamps. But man, when will I have time....

Alright, have to get back to work so I can head out to the airport... I'll blog when I get a chance. :)