LMac's Catered Crops

Retiring in Style

Ah, to be retired and sunning on the beach . . .

For those of you anxiously awaiting to see which stamp sets from the Spring-Summer Collection 2008 will retire in August, you can find them here: Retirement List. So, which ones are you sorry to see go? Which ones are you relieved to see hanging around?

If it made you sad to see some of those sets on the list, maybe this will cheer you up. My adorable sister sent me these great classic Hollywood Squares zingers. (If you're 50+, you'll appreciate these.)

Q. Peter Marshall: As you grow older, do you tend to gesture more or less with your hands while talking?
A. Rose Marie: You ask me one more growing old question Peter, and I'll give you a gesture you'll never forget!

Q. Peter Marshall: According to Ann Landers, is there anything wrong with getting into the habit of kissing a lot of people?
A.. Charley Weaver: It got me out of the army.

Have a fun Sunday, and a fantastic Father's Day.

For the Free and the Brave

I wanted to get this card finished and to you before the Memorial Day finished, and, well, didn't quite make it. It's hard to find a way to somehow express my gratitude to the soldiers and families who make such supreme scarifies for our liberty. This stamp set is called "The Free and the Brave," and this card is my heartfelt thanks to the brave who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep us free.

 

The recipe:

• Stamps: The Free & the Brave, French Script
• Paper: Western Sky designer paper, Sky Blue Textured, Blue Bayou, Whisper White
• Ink: Versamark. Ruby Red, Creamy Carmel, River Rock, Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red watercolor crayons with aquapens.
• Misc.: Black embossing powder, Chipboard, Meadow and Spotlite Making Memories acrylic paint, Delta Crackle, 1-3/8" and 1-1/4" square punches.

Just Because - A RAP from Pam

Thank you all for the very generous comments you left about my Texas Round Up adventure. I got my official race results. They're kind of embarrassing actually, but, then I just have to remember where I was a few months ago. My official chip time was 42:25. Out of the 372 people who paid a little extra to have a time chip, I came in 321. Well, at least I met my goal of finishing in under an hour and not coming in last, and I have a great jumping off point to improve my time.

I love Pam Downs' work. She does the most creative things with punches and brads. Be sure and check out her gallery at Splitcoast, here. I was the very fortunate recipient of an random act of kindness (RAK), although Pam's kindness is not random, it's just who she is - a very sweet and generous person. She gave me this incredible card quite a while ago, and, shame on me, I'm just now sharing it with you.

This picture doesn't do the card justice because you can't see very well how the popped up the different layers, and you can't see its fun closure clasp. I love how it opens like a file folder. To see another copy and see all the details about the card recipe, you can visit Pam's card at her gallery, here. Be sure to leave her a comment and tell her Linda sent you.

For the Wearin' O' the Green

A best friend is like a four leaf clover:
hard to find and lucky to have.
             ~Author Unknown

One of my dear hostess-club ladies said she wanted to make something to give her co-workers to wear on St. Patrick's day (March 17) so they wouldn't get pinched. Well, I've never designed jewelry with paper craft products so it was a good challenge for me. I came up with this little ditty on the left and a coordinating basket with mint patties. Cambria Turnbow created a great tutorial for making these mint-patty baskets here: Stamp a Little Love.

The pin on the left uses So Saffron card stock with the scallop punch and other circle punches, and the Delight in Life paper from last year's Sell-a-bration. I sandwiched the Delight in Life circle and scallop with a aluminum metal edge tag. To make the center, I stamped the shamrock image from the Pinch Proof stamp set and used the Heat & Stick powder to add the new detailed glitter for some bling.

If you haven't used the Heat and Stick powder to add glitter . . . here's how it works:

1. Rub your cardstock with your embossing buddy to remove static.
2. Stamp your image with VersaMark ink.
3. Sprinkle the Heat & Stick powder over the image much like you would with embossing powder.
4. Heat the image with your heat gun until the Heat & Stick powder melts.
5. Add your glitter.
6. Re-heat the image to set the glitter.

After I punched the shamrock image out with a circle punch, I used a glue dot to add it to one of our build-a-brads. Unfortunately, nothing sticks to glitter very well, so I couldn't get the clear buttons to stay to the top of the shamrock. But . . . Crystal Effects works beautifully. I added a few brads and a pin-back from the jewelry section of Hobby Lobby, and ta da . . . shamrock jewelry. Here's another look.

A spry little tip agin for the wearin' o' the green -

Never iron a four-leaf clover, because you don't want to press your luck.  ~Author Unknown

A Collision of Colorful Clusters

My hostess club members asked me to help them use the Iris folding technique to make an Easter card - they're such a demanding group. Actually, they're terrific . . . but it sounded like a fun challenge. What I came up with is so bright and colorful though(usually not my style), that I hope they don't keel over with sensory overload.

I used the Cricut "Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More" font to get the negative flower image in the Certainly Celery cardstock. The rest of the recipe is . . . Whisper White cardstock as the card base. Flowers for You and Designer Series papers in the colors Lovely Lilac, Pretty in Pink and Tempting Turquoise (Pretty in Pink is only available in the Prints Pack Level 1 Hostess set). Ticket corner and a retired flower punches. Flower Fusion felt flower and flat-back pearl from the Pretties kit. And, from the new Occasions mini collection available March 1, the Hodgepodge Styled Silver Hardware and Poly-Twill Ribbon.

Have you heard the tip for choosing colors in your design? It's a good idea to choose a gallon of one color, quart of another and pint of a third. I'm still not certain that this card isn't a little too busy, but I thought by emphasizing one color over the others it might add some balance - so I made all my accents in Certainly Celery to make it my gallon color.

Well . . . what do you think? Is it a collision of color - or a beauteous bountiful bouquet? I never feel completely confident with my own designs, so I'll be anxious to hear what you all think.

Gettin' Too Big for My Britches

Yep, I'm gettin' too big for my britches. I'll tell you why, but first, how about a card?

 

There's no stamping on this card, but it uses the beautiful tea-bag-folding technique called Dahlia. There are eight 1-3/8" circles that make this focal point, so the circle punch makes cutting the paper a breeze. If you go to the Splitcoast Stampers gallery and type Dahlia in the search engine, you'll find the most absolutely gorgeous creations using this fold.

To get the folding directions, go to this web site: Handcrafting Greetings. The rest of the recipe uses the gorgeous Ginger Blossom paper; River Rock, Groovy Guava, and Ruby Red card stock; Taffeta ribbon; the flat-back pearls from the Pretties kit; and brads. Oh, and the texture in the cardstock is produced with the Cuttlebug embossing folders, not a Stampin' Up! product, but very easily found at Michaels and Hobby Lobby.

Okay, so about them britches. Check this out. I just got this very cool award, but what's even more exciting is how I got it - I was awarded by Laura at Scranextras, whose blog and creations I absolutely adore. I asked her if I could be her stamping clone and then look what she did! Laura uses almost exclusively Stampin' Up! products, so her blog is a great resource for ideas when your mojo isn't working with your new stamp set.

In honor of Laura's generous spirit, I'd like to pass this award on to my adorable twin, Sharon, at Roll Call Ministries. Her blog isn't about crafting, but, she's my sis, and I love giving her a plug anytime I can. Her Christian children's book, Linda the Ladybug Goes to Heaven, is now available through Target. (Sharon said she used me as a character in her book, but, the character dies - hmmm, guess I pulled her hair once too many times growing up.)

It's awfully embarassing to share with you how many stamping blogs I stalk, there are so many great ones out there, and quite a few of them have already received this award. I recommend all the blogs in my blog roll, they're all E for Excellent.

Another thing about those britches - and for those still keeping up with my weight loss - I've lost 41 pounds as of this week. So, even though I'm getting too big for them, I'm having to cinch my britches up with a big ole rope to keep them from dropping to my knees. Woo Hoo!

Always My Girl

Okay . . . you have to allow me a little sappy moment . . . my baby turned 21 years old today. While she's basking in her day, I remember the day of her birth. Back then I didn't want to tell anyone how very badly I wanted a little girl because they might think I was a terrible, disappointed mother if it was a boy. So . . . when she was born I just kept saying through my tears of joy . . . it's a girl . . . it's a girl . . . . Oh, and she was such a beautiful girl with her little wisps of red hair. And, now, she's even more beautiful, and so much more talented and smart and fun to be with than I ever thought any of my children could be. She brightens a room when she walks in it with her joy and enthusiasm for life. I am so very proud of the adult she has become.

But, then, there's this 21st birthday. Even though I'm as old as the hills, I still remember what it felt like to turn 21 and finally arrive to adulthood. I don't worry about Caitlin, but it's a little hard to see her step just a little farther away from being my little girl. So, on this special birthday, I wanted to make a card just for her that said, even though you're 21, you will always be my very special girl.

The second I saw the Always stamp in the new catalog, I knew I had to have it. There went my strategy of trying to use some un-inked stamp sets before buying new ones. So, I searched Splitcoast Stampers for more inspiration to use this beautiful set - I really wanted this card to be special - and here's what I put together for my girl.

 

This card is not just inspired, but almost a direct copy from this card by Laura at Scrapnextras. Laura used the baby-wipes technique to ink up the heart and the bird. I've never done that technique before, but she put together an excellent tutorial for it here. With her tutorial the technique is easy as pie and really gives you a chance to be an artist - creating your own paint pallet with the way you mix the inks on the baby wipes. (I had to laugh about how appropriate it was to use a baby-wipes technique for my baby's card.)

The rest of the recipe is just Real Red and Blue Bayou cardstock; Sky Blue Designer Series paper; Real Red, Sky Blue and Blue Bayou ink and re-inker; hodge podge hardware; red small grosgrain ribbon; and non-Stampin' Up! rhinestones.

So . . . to my baby Caitlin . . . from Mom . . . Always my girl!

Embracing Life

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. day everyone. It's hard to believe that as recently as in my lifetime black people in our country did not have the right to vote (1965). Today seems like a good day to reveal the card with the sentiment "embrace life" in honor of Martin Luther King's passion for non-violent activism.

   

This is the last of the projects we did at our hostess club last week, and, the one my husband says might be my best yet. There are a lot of firsts for me in this card - my first (but not last) criss-cross card, card band, chance to use the beautiful Ginger designer paper, and my first chance to use and dye the pretties flowers.

The card was inspired a great deal by this card designed by the incredibly talented Debbie Olson at Thinking Inking. And, since I had never made a criss-cross card, I followed the very detailed but simple-to-follow instructions by Beate at Splitcoast Stampers, here.

The stamp set is of course the new Embrace Life set, which is such a beautiful stamp set, it's just not possible to make an ugly card with it. We used aqua pens with Groovy Guava and then, because I do love them so, we also used the watercolor crayons in white and ruby red to get the variety of color in the blossoms in the card insert.

To dye the flowers in the pretties kit, I mixed about 40 drops of Groovy Guava from the re-inker with a teaspoon of water and then just dipped the flowers in the mixture with a set of tweezers. There are so many ways to color the flowers (chalk, aqua pens, markers, etc.), but I wanted a full and rich overall-all color so dyeing them worked beautifully.

I finally broke out my three-for-you flower punch. We used that to punch the small ruby red flower that makes the center of the flower along with those beautiful flat-bottom pearls out of the pretties kit. The card was beginning to get a little busy, so I used the stitched gross-grain ribbon for the tab.

Yep, this will go down as being one of my favorite projects. I'm so grateful to Debbie and Beate for sharing their talents and inspiring the rest of us.

Time with Friends

What better way to spend the beginning of the New Year than with precious friends like you.

This was a really fun project we made in our hostess club meeting last week. Honestly, I can't take even a little credit for this because it's almost an exact copy (CASE) of this project by Julie Hunt. (I still like hers better.)

We used the corner rounder punch to give the 4x4 pieces of paper the same shape as the coaster and then ModPodge to adhere the the Cutie Pie designer paper to a coaster. I like to paint to top of the paper with ModPodge too to give it a glaze and a more finished look. Then, we used sandpaper around the edges to make the paper match the shape of the coaster even more. Once we finished putting on the ribbons and brads, we added a magnetic strip to the back so this little guy can sit on a refrigerator, file cabinet, etc. The stamp set is the new Time Well Spent Level 3 Hostess stamp set.

Here's looking forward to all the fun we're going to have together in 2008. As I write this, my tiny little blog is inching ever so closely to 50,000 hits, just 60 hits shy. I'm so amazed by that. Thank you for spending time here with me.

Stamping on Cupcakes?!

Stamping on Cupcakes? Yep, totally . . . we stamped on cupcakes today in our hostess-club workshop. Check this out. So, this time, when I give you the project recipe - it's literally a recipe.

In my web travels I came across this website: Stamp On This, and discovered Icing Paper and Food-Color Markers.

I just made some cupcakes from a box (Duncan Hines Classic White Cake) and used icing from a can (Pillsbury Classic White). We used the food-color markers to color directly onto the rubber stamps, and then stamped the image on the icing paper. (I washed my stamps in soap and water, first, which usually isn't advisable for your stamps because soap and water can dry out the rubber, But, but who knows where those stamps have been. Right?) As the web site claims about the icing paper, "this very cool, specially formulated icing product simulates a cardstock weight paper." We carefully trimmed the icing paper and placed them on freshly iced cupcakes. The fresh frosting re-softens the icing sheet allowing it to "melt" somewhat onto the icing without the design bleeding. When you devour the cupcake, you don't notice the icing paper.

We used images from the Time Well Spent and Double Line Doodles stamp sets. Okay, truthfully, I didn't partake. At 210 calories per cupcakes without the icing, they're definitely not on my diet. But, they sure smelled good. I apologize that the quality of the pictures isn't that great, but, I had to snap the pictures before the cupcakes disappeared.