Another swap set

This may be my last set of swap cards for Convention. I *might* have one more idea in me, but we'll have to wait for this weekend when I'm off to see if I get to it! For this set, I used Dream Pop which was CTMH's special for April, I believe. It's not available any more, I do know that! I cut "quilt squares" out of the different cardstocks and once they were applied to Kraft cardstock that I inked the edges of using the  Direct To Paper technique, I got out my handy dandy circa 1970's Singer Touch and Sew machine that I inherited from my Nana Sara and sewed around the outer squares.

Surf's Still Up!

Yet another set of 10 cards done for Convention using the Surf's Up paper pack. The Thank You sentiment is a special early release from CTMH's Fall/Winter Idea Book and all profits on the sale of this stamp will go to help the OK tornado relief efforts.

Surf's Up!

That's the name of this paper pack. Twenty more cards finished!

First one it's kinda hard to tell but the fishie has Diamond Stickles on the patterned part of the body. Now I'm working on one of "Sue's World Famous Wall Hangings" for a co-worker who is having a little girl the end of the month.  When I get it finished, I'll share pics of it. Also have to get some Father's Day cards done! Good thing I've got two days off in a row this week.

More swap cards

Well lookit me! Posting two days in a row! But don't get used to it. I go back to work tomorrow!!

Another 10 cards done for swapping at Convention. Using Buzz and Bumble again. The technique of the side strip is called Seminole Patchwork. Sentiment is from the Buzz and Bumble Workshop On The Go stamp set. Hard to see, but there is "bling" at the top and bottom of the scrollwork on the sentiment and it's pop-dotted for dimension.

They're so sweet...

When they're sleeping!

Savannah and Orleans piled-ass up in our bed yesterday. Probably trying to stay warm! Orleans is sleeping with his "stuffies" that he "kills" nightly and brings to me in bed, since I'm Alpha! Every morning I gather them up and put them back in the basket and he will generally take them back in the bedroom and leave them in the bed. It's a silly game we play! I rub him with them and tell him thank you for bringing me my "snack" and he maows you're welcome at me in his "hunter/killer" voice! Savannah is perfectly content to lay on the end of the bed in a tight little ball. If I'm in the scrap room, she's generally under the computer desk at my feet.

And an "extra!" CTMH Convention is in Washington DC this year and since John and I have talked about going to DC since we got married, we are gonna go and make it a vacation as well. The theme of this years Convention is "Picture This" and they have asked all Consultants to send a head shot when we register later today. So I had John take a head shot of me last night. Just as he went to take the pic, my eye started twitching and I rubbed it. He took the picture anyway! Now you know why I don't let him have the camera very often. At least with digital, I can delete them. Back in the Dark Ages, I can't tell you how many ass shots of me I paid for and threw away. I've told him for years, just because he likes my ass, doesn't mean everyone else does!

Still cold here. They said last night that we've got another front coming thru on Fri and temps in Tampa could reach 20 degrees this weekend. That means low to mid teens for us, since we are north and more rural than the airport in Tampa, where the "official" temps are taken. Why? I dunno! Nobody lives at the airport, so why is the official temp taken there?!

Convention recap

What a great time! I got to meet three of my online buds for the first time. LA, Melan and Denise. Great girls, all three. Wish the rest of the Boozer girls could have been there as well. LA and Denise managed to get themselves locked inside the hot tub area the first night and we never could get anyone to come unlock the gate, so they had to climb over the fence to get out! Melan and I each won a set of 15 new stamp sets the first night. We won all of the stamp sets that coordinate with the 5 new paper packs that were introduced with the new Fall/Winter Idea Book. We saw some pretty spooky looking outfits. Guess some women think that no tank tops, shorts or flip flops applied to all of the OTHER Consultants who were attending! I learned lots of new things and can't wait for my orders of new product to arrive so I can start playing! One order is supposed to be here today and the rest will be here next week. The last night I won another prize package in a game of Left Right. In that package was a stamp set, new Finishing Files,new Spring color pallet brads new Memory Keeper box and new Color Ready alphabet. So all told, I won in excess of $500 worth of new product over the three days of Convention. The big announcement on the final night was where Convention 2010 would be. Washington, DC!!! So hopefully John and I will be able to attend that and combine it with a vacation as well.

Photo's are:

Denise and Melan, LA scaling the fence at the hot tub, Denise makes her escape, prize from the last night, beautiful decorations, 1500 of my closest friends, Liane and Debbie, LA lounging on the chaise in her room.

I'm baaaaack!

From CTMH Convention in Orlando. I've actually been home a couple of days. Trying to get everything put away, organized, and catch up on my sleep. I think I got about 10 hours of sleep in 6 days! I won some really cool stuff. I'll be posting some pics and a full recap in a few days. So stay tuned!!

Just a song...

before I go. Yep! It's finally here. A year and a half of waiting has come down to a few short hours. I will be leaving in three hours to head over to Orlando for a week for CTMH Convention. Oh, had I not mentioned that before?! Any. Way! I'll be posting here and there. Maybe give a sneek peak or two. So stay tuned!

We had a nice rain yesterday afternoon. We were beginning to think we weren't gonna get any. It seemed to split and go around us. But an outflow storm formed from the one that split and we ended up getting another 1.5" in the rain bucket.

John's got plenty of food to eat. I spent the better part of yesterday making Dolomates and chicken pasta salad. Also made him some Edamame. That's soy bean pods. You boil them in salted water and eat them like boiled peanuts. We love 'em. I bought a watermelon and cut up for him. He's got 2 types of plums and grapes. Hot dogs and pizzas in the freezer. He was making fun of me yesterday. Said I didn't think he could take care of himself. @@ He's such a man!!

Latest Project

And surprise! It's for Convention!!

John lurves those Shoestring Potato snacks. I don't buy them often and this is why. I bought a ginormous can on Fri. He polished it off Monday night! When he went to throw it away, I yelled to him, "Don't throw that away!" And of course he wants to know why. Well, because I'm gonna alter it and put candy in it to take to Convention. So I used Boom-Di-Ada paper pack and Cottage Floral stamp set. There's some CTMH Big Pink flowers that I used Spot On background stamp on. Also some new Prima Collage Flowers that I just got. Garden Green My Accents and Autumn Terracotta Ribbon Rounds. The little dangly on the one side says "Sweet!" I thought that was appropriate! I filled it with Life Savers Sweet Mint and Starlight Peppermints. I'll set it on our table when we are working and anyone who wants one can help themselves.

Couple of swap goodies

First is for three lovely ladies who I know will be joining me at Convention. I kept hearing how we needed a tablet and pen to take notes, so I decided to make the three of them and myself an altered journal and give them so they could have to use at Convention. So Liane, LA and Melan, you now know one thing you will be getting from me!

Also, I decided I might want to do a few things in case someone had something a bit more than a card to swap. So I decided to alter some of CTMH's Creative Clips. These were very easy to do and I'm very pleased with the way tehy turned out.

Now I'm working on Christmas gifts!

A few more things...

for Convention! See, you thought you were in the clear with swap stuff and Convention! Wrong, wrong, wrong! I'm done with cards! I did not do a bunch of these, but wanted to have a few things to swap in case someone had something other than a card. I used coasters for my base, then covered them in different bits and pieces of paper packs I had. Got some Post-It notes and some clips (which I also covered in paper) and, voila`, a little note pad thingy. That's a technical term of course! Note Pad Thingy! I'm also working on a couple of other things but will reveal them later. Then of course is my roomie gifts, but those won't be revealed til after Convention because my roomie reads my blog! Only 37 days til Convention!

same old!

New day, same old cards! These two cards uses up the Whoops A Daisy paper pack. I really don't think it will be one I'll re-order. Way too bright for my taste!

I dug out my alpha and number solo sets for the first card. I reverse stamped the "4" on coasters, cut them out then used my sponge daubers with Ocean ink for a softer look. Then drug the whole thing thru the embossing pad, covered it in clear embossing powder and embossed to give it sheen. Tied a piece of Blush waxy flax around it. The "U" is stamped in White Daisy and cut out. I knew it would stand alone on the bright colors. I used my Marvy scallop punch on Ocean textured cardstock.

The second one is the feminine version of the buckle card. I used Playful Flourishes, Spot On and Say It In Style stamp sets.

Cards, cards, cards!

Three more cards. Don't know if I'll use these as samples for Trish or for Convention swaps. Or both!

First one is a 4x4 done with 1" squares of various B&T from Boom Di Ada paper pack, then I used Simple Stitches to "sew" the lines and for the sentiment. A piece of frayed RicRac for some texture.

Second was stolen from the CTMH Artwork board. I used June SOM, With Love and stamped the flowers in Sweet Leaf. Then stamped one flower in Hollyhock and pop-dotted it for dimension. A photo hangar with a piece of white organdy ribbon. Simple but a really cute card, I think!

And last, is a buckle card using Good Times paper pack. I tried to make this one a bit more masculine since the vast majority of mine are feminine. I will probably do some more of this style in a feminine paper pack.

Guess what?!

More Convention swap cards!

When we were running errands this past Saturday, we had to go to Staples. Course John is in Staples like he is at Home Depot or Lowes. He must look at every. single. item. in the store. Not unlike his wife at Ruban Rouge, hee hee!! So I wandered aimlessly about the store, with every employee asking me numerous times if I needed help. And why is it that when I don't need help, there is an employee every 10 feet? But when I do need help, they are all on break or lunch?! Murphy and his law!! @@ I came upon a bin of marked down items. And in that bin was the cutest little emoticon clips! I thought they would match almost perfectly with the WhoopsA Daisy paper pack. There were 6 different emoticon faces for .50! Yep, half a buck...so I got 2 packages. And lying right next to them was some really cute decorative paper clips; 10 in the package for $1.99. They would work perfectly with Boom-di-Ada! So I got a package of them too! And I know some CTMH purist is gonna get her panties in a knot at Convention because I didn't use all CTMH product, but ya know what? I don't care! If someone doesn't like it, they don't have to swap with me. I have plenty of all CTMH product cards that I can use as a swap if someone doesn't like the fact I have one element that is not CTMH.

What am I gonna do...

Once Convention is over? I'll have to find something new to bore y'all with, that's for sure! Worked on more swap cards over the weekend.

First one uses Boom-di-Ada paper pack and flowers from our Dimensional Elements. I covered the flowers in the stripe B&T. Did a little Random Stamping on some white cardstock that I marked grid lines on using my Scor-It for some added interest. A piece of our new green ric-rac for the flower stem.

For the second card I used WhoopsADaisy paper pack. Man is that paper pack bright! For this one, I scored lines around the outside edge of the white cardstock using my Scor-It again, then inked the edge with Topiary ink for some dimension. The flowers were stamped using Delight In Everything stamp set and Watermelon and Hydrangea inks. The big flower I used some embossing powder from Sparkle and Sprinkle and pop-dotted it for dimension.

A pretty boring weekend here at Chez Waters! Saturday we ran some errands and stopped at Chipotle (http://www.chipotle.com/) for dinner. We had some sprinkler heads that had puked, so we got new heads and while I played turn on and off the sprinkler system girl, John changed heads. Since we can only water one day a week, there's no sense in the water just shooting straight up in the air and not watering what it needs to water. We did get a precious spit of rain yesterday afternoon. Everything is so dry and brown. There have been numerous wildfires over on the east coast of FL and also down by the Everglades. June 1 starts Hurricane season, and while I do not want a repeat of the 2004 season when 4 of them came thru FL, I certainly hope we get some beneficial rain this season. We've not had a good rainy season since that record breaking season of 2004.

'Nother Liane RAK and more Convention stuff

Mailman surprised me again the other day with another RAK from Liane. She sent me a bunch of the new Emmerson Quillin images to color, paint, waterbrush, whatever! I still can't decide which one(s) I can't live without, so I've not ordered any for myself yet!

And, a couple more cards for Convention. We are at 77 days away today. We found out about this time 2 years ago that it would be in Orlando and it seemed sooooo far away, and now it's almost here!

The first card uses new Boom di Ada paper pack, Cottage Floral and Say It In Style stamp set and Sweet Leaf, Autumn Terracotta, Barn Red and Hollyhock inks. The green floral and green strip with "Just Because" sentiment are both distressed using the sanding block.

The second is my take on a card Liane found on a blog and sent me. She jokingly said she knew I had the Little Bee stamp set and the Word Window punch and I could make her some! Well, I did! And can I just say what a PIA cutting out and cutting down all of the word windows was to make the bee hive! This will never be a mass-produced card for me! The big bee is embossed with black then I used Sunny Yellow and my water brush to color the body and wings.

More Convention swap cards

I had so many swaps to get completed and to hostesses before May 1, that my Convention swap cards kinda got lost in the shuffle! I cleaned off my (s)crap table the other day and found the beginnings of a batch of cards that I started back before we went to the mountains and figured I'd best get them finished. I don't remember if the final result was what I had in mind when I started them, but I really like the end result! It's a tri-fold card. I used the scalloped Nestabilities for the biggest circle and Coluzzle to cut the smaller circle. I used Take Flight stamp set and Game On paper pack. For the cardinal, I stamped the image in black StazOn, then picked up Holiday Red and Ponderosa Pine with the blending brush to apply the color. The owl is stamped in Desert Sand with some Ponderosa Pine pine branches. I've still got most of a pack of Game On papers left, so I'm gonna see what I can create now that I can use to swap with.

Lifted card idea

I so lifted this idea from Liane's blog yesterday. Liane's Blog As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to do my next Convention swap cards like hers! I used Rustic Flowers and stamped with Cranberry, Golden Ember (retired), Vanilla Cream, New England Ivy and Topiary for the background. Then I took the Checklist stamp set and stamped the list in Desert Sand.

Chalk pop-dotting

Tried out a new technique today. Chalk pop-dotting. I stamped the image using CTMH White Daisy Pigment Ink (you could use an Embossing pad) then using my chalks, colored in the petals and stems of the flowers. I did set the image using spray Clear Matte Finish since I'll be using these as Convention swap cards as well. I used Sonata paper pack and A Friend Is...stamp set.

Convention card/Color challenge 11

OK, so I putzed around yesterday and never got these finished OR posted! Here ya go:

First is a Prezziebella Birthday card for Convention swaps. Paper pack is Simple Pleasures and I random stamped HB with different stamp sets in Bamboo, Twilight, Cocoa, andDesert Sand. Prezzie is colored with Prismacolor colored pencils and the present has Stickles. Dew Drops on the scalloped edge.

Marjorie's color challenge for this week was Heavenly Blue, Sweet Leaf, Buttercup and Chocolate. Only 1 green this week!!! Woo Hoo!! ;-)

I ran chocolate cardstock thru Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots folder. I stamped one of my non-CTMH Oriental image stamps in Chocolate, then used Sweet Leaf and Heavenly Blue markers to color it in. Then applied Glossy Accents over the Heavenly Blue for some dimension. I cut it out using Nestabilities scallop cutter in Cuttlebug, then pop-dotted it on a piece of Sweet Leaf cardstock. I double stamped the HB sentiment in Buttercup and Heavenly Blue and found a piece of ribbon in my stash that matched the colors pretty darn close! I like the simplicity of this card.