Sailing, Sailing....

Oh boy!  I was so happy to get some new sailboat stamps in the mail the other day.  I just couldn't wait to use them.

It just so happens that 365 Cards had a color challenge up for today (Day 81).  

Guess what?  I just got a new pad of MME Six by Six papers "A Mother's Love" that had the exact colors in it. 

I thought this sailboat stamp by Inkadinkado would look great in these colors as well.  I got out my Sharpie and Bic markers and my Nestibilities and got to work.

The ribbon and twine are from The Ribbon Carousel (May Arts, I believe). 

Thanks for stopping by.  Leave me a comment to let me know you were here.

Holy Cow!

Holy Cow!  Believe it or not, I created another card.  I'm on a roll this week.

This is what happens when I'm home and am looking for ways to avoid Spring cleaning.

The nice folks over at 365 Cards came up with a challenge to use animal print paper.

Well, I just so happen to have some of that.  I'm a paper hoarder and have just about every kind of paper, ever.  Even cow paper.

This is for 365 Cards:  Day 80, Animal Print.

I have no idea where this paper is from, I've had it for years and years. I think I got it in a paper swap way back when, when I was a swap-a-holic.  The back is black, so I flipped it over for the borders.  

The cow stamp is from Gina K Designs.  The ribbon is from The Candle Factory in Indiana (I bought several bags of beautiful ribbons on clearance there).  

The flower was in my stash and is super old as well.  I have a feeling it was from one of those old swaps.  I stuck a rhinestone in the center.

What are some of your favorite really old papers and embellishments?

You Are My Sunshine... My Only Sunshine....

You make me happy when skies are gray....

Oh, that's one of my favorite songs.  I used to sing it to my baby girl Bosco (dog) all the time.

So imagine my joy when I found these stamps from Unity!

I knew right away I had to get them.

It just so happens that 365 Cards has another great challenge!

Day 79 Word Wednesday.  Guess what the word was?

"Sunshine"

I colored the clouds and accented the sunshine with my Clear Start Glitter Pen.

The cloud stamp is also from Unity.

This is another stamp from Unity from a different stamp set.  

I bought it to go with the Sunshine stamp.

Wow, I was busy making cards yesterday!

Maybe I'll make more today.

Just wanted T-winch you a Happy Birthday!

Twinches.  What the heck are Twinches?  I've never heard of them before until I saw the challenge over at 365 Cards:  Day 78 A Matter of Twinches.

Twinches are simply a two-square-inch piece of paper, art, or embellishment.

Well, that's easy enough for me!

I dug through my stash and found The Origins kit from Basic Grey.  These bloomers (felt flowers) were the perfect size for Twinches. 

I also happened upon four scraps of the papers that were perfect with just a little trimming.

I found a matching border in the kit as well.

Does the stamps look familiar?

Yup, more stamps from that really old set from Provo Craft.  These didn't stick, either, but I still had some tape left on my acrylic block.

I also had just a tad bit of that border left over and couldn't bring myself to throw it away.  

So... do you save your scraps, toss them, or use them right away?

Inchies are back!

Wowee, I haven't used inchies in forever.  What are inchies?  They are just square-inch pieces of paper or art or whatever you want them to be.  

While I was over at 365 Cards, I checked out Day 77:  A Matter of Inches.

I thought, "what a great way to use my scraps from the baby card!"

So.... I cut nine inchies from the scraps of paper and slapped them on a card!

I also used a brand new piece of ribbon I got at the Candle Factory in Indiana.

It's a pretty green/blue shimmery ribbon.

I added some buttons from my stash.

I stamped the word "celebrate" using a very very old set of clear stamps by Provo Craft.

These stamps are so old, they don't stick to the blocks anymore, I have to use tape.  Hahaha.

Do you have any really old crafting supplies or tools that you still use, even if they don't work the way they once did?

A Baby is Coming!

No!  I'm not pregnant, but someone special is and she's due to have a baby boy soon!  I'm not saying who this person is, just in case she sees this blog.

I have decided to get busy and make her a baby card.  I don't have any babies, so I have very few baby embellishment, stamps, and papers, so I had to get creative.

I found a great sketch over at 365 Cards:  Day 76 Super Sketchy Sunday.

I just got some brand new stacks of paper, and found these cute papers by My Mind's Eye. 

They're from the Playdate Six by Six designer paper pad.

The ribbon I had in my stash, as well as the word sticker "baby."

I stamped this image using the Baby Stork stamp by Viva Las Vegas Stamps.  I love their stamps.

I colored it with some Bic and Sharpie markers.

I hope you like this card, and I really home the new Mom likes the card, too!

Found: Dog. Guessing Game....

Hello everyone!  I love to recycle things and I love cute images and I love dogs.  So... I found this cute image of a dog and decided to turn it into a card.

Look at that cute face!  Do you have any idea where this image came from?

Go ahead, guess.  Leave your guess in a comment here on this post.

The first person that can correctly guess the answer, will receive a little prize from me.

The ribbon is also recycled.  It was from packages of washcloths that I had purchased.  It was tied around the washcloths into a bow and was very wrinkled.  I didn't feel like dragging out the iron, so I used my flat-iron (for my hair) and flattened the ribbon.  Wow, that works great!

The design for this card was inspired by Tuesday Morning Sketches #190.

I love card sketches and I use them every chance I get.

This card also uses ribbon and fits Challenge #37 at Go Fish.

So... Where did that cute doggie image come from?

Okay... one guess per person. 

The first correct guess will win a small prize from me.

Go!

My name is Ria and I'm a Stack-a-holic

I am.  Really.  I love all kinds of stacks of paper.  My addiction started way back when with the Slabs.  They were available at Michael's, but I didn't have any close by, but some of my crafty friends came through for me and sent me some.  I was in HEAVEN.

Then the DCWV Stacks came along and were more readily available.  Oh by, my addiction blossomed.   I still have all of my old slabs and stacks, plus many new ones.  

The nice thing is that everything that is old, is new again.  Colors, styles, and patterns come back in style every couple of years, so I never have to get rid of anything.  Yup, that's what I tell myself, anyway.

Well, I just stumbled upon the DCWV Blog and noticed that they have a challenge just for me!

The Stack-a-holic Template Challenge!  They named it after me!  I knew I just had to participate.

The paper is from one of the old 8x8 Spring Stacks.  It's one of the smallest stacks I have.

The ribbon is from DCWV as well.  I love how the polka-dots coordinate.

The ricrac is from my stash of mysterious items.

I hand-cut the triangles for the flag banner out of coordinating scraps of DCWV card stock.

I love the texture of their card stock.  It makes the flags look like canvas.

I even lined the envelope with the left-over paper.

The sun is hand-stamped using a stamp from an Autumn Leaves Stampology set.

It's of course, stamped onto some DCWV cardstock.

So, tell me, what crafting items are you addicted to?

Wooden Sailboat

This birthday card was inspired by a technique that I saw Gina K. use in one of her videos, "Woodgrained Focal Image."  I love her videos and techniques.

I didn't have the same inks she had, so I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks:

Old Paper for the focal image background.

Walnut Stain for the boat image.

Old paper, Walnut Stain, and Frayed Burlap for the card background.

I used some homemade washi tape (same inks on masking tape) for the left side of the card.

The sailboat stamp is from Martha Stewart's Clear Toy Transportation Stamps.

The layout of this card was inspired by Seize the Birthday #10 challenge - Masculine Birthday.

There you have it.  What inspires you to create?

A Great Pair

We make a great Pair.  

I made this card for Todd.  I loved using this Gel-a-tins stamp set, the paper from Gina K, and the washi tape.  What a fun card to make.  This card fits right in for the Washi Tape Challenge over at Moxie Fab.  

Here is my second card:

The bird, leaves, and flowers are from a Sizzix die.  I embossed the background with a Cuttlebug embossing folder to look like tree bark.  This card was inspired by the Challenge #105 at Die Cuttin' Divas.

There you go. I hope you enjoyed my Pair of Cards today.

Postage Stamp Christmas Tree

Here is another one of my famous Recycled Greetings.

I cut out the Christmas tree and matted it on a gold scalloped die cut (Spellbinder's).  I raised it a little with pop dots and added it to the card.  The gold paper is even a piece of recycled Christmas card.

I was inspired by the color challenge over at Paper Secrets.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope this inspires you to recycle the Christmas cards you receive.

Advent Trees

I thought it would be fun to make some Advent Calendars this year.  

I found an online tutorial for making little boxes out of old greeting cards and I just happen to have plenty of those.  I really enjoyed making all of the little boxes.

I arranged the boxes into a tree shape and then cut a tree out of a large piece of cardboard.

Then I covered the cardboard and adhered the boxes on with foam tape.

This is the tree I made for Todd.  

And this is my tree (where Todd or the dogs put my little gifts).

These will be entered in the Go Fish Challenge #30.

Todd's idea was to start from the bottom and work our way up.  I'm glad I didn't number the boxes.

If you were one of the generous people that sent me your Christmas cards last year (or in past years), you might see some of your cards here.

These boxes are addicting to make, I could make a million more, but I don't know what I'd do with them.  Leave me a comment if you have any ideas for me.