GulfcoastStamper

Computer Problems, UGH!

My desktop is dead. We have been infected with some kind of nasty worm which has knocked out my firewall and wrapped itself around my hard drive. It is with the Geek Squad now and I will hopefully have it back by this weekend.
So, please forgive my lack of posts for the last week and if you are one of my SCS Blogging Buddies I apologize for not making it to any of your blogs this week!
I hope to be up and running again soon!

Ronald McDonald Needs Your Help!

Many of my fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrators & Blogging Buddies are teaming up with Sherill Graff to fill a desperate need for handmade cards and blankets for the Ronald McDonald House.
Your cards will allow parents to cheer up their children during their hospital stay. Most children are in ICU rooms....which means they don't allow flowers and balloons; however, they do allow cards.

Please visit the blogs listed below for information on how we can help the Ronald McDonald Houses across the country.

http://www.sugardoodle.net/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task;=view&id;=4995

http://rmhc.org/how-you-can-help/volunteer/30-ways-in-30-days/spread-the-word-by-sharing-your-story/

http://latenightstamper-stampandscrap.blogspot.com/

While your Stampin' away and counting your blessings, please make an extra card or two to send along to brighten up the life of a sick child. I will be collecting cards at all of my Stampin' Events throughout the month of September. Thank you!

Day 4 of Mojo Monday's

Day 4 of Mojo Monday's 100th Anniversay Sketch week!

Okay, so this is a pretty loose interpretation of the sketch but that's why it's called a sketch, right? I started out by making my really cool spider's web using my Top Note Sizzix Die from Stampin' Up and my Cuddlebug Web Folder. The image was a little too large for a standard card so I went with a 5.5 x 5.5 inch square instead. The web was then sponged just a little bit with some Whisper White Craft Ink to bring out the embossing. Cool, huh? I had the spider in my stash which was cut using a Cuttlebug die that I borrowed from a friend last year. The paper is Stampin' Up's Cast a Spell along with some Pumpkin Pie and Perfect Plum. The Spooky sentiment on the bottom is a Stampin' Up! Rub-on. LOVE these! They go on like butter...if you have not tried them yet you really should!

That's all for today! Thanks for stoppin' by!

Mojo Monday Theresa

Day three of Mojo Monday's 100th Sketch Anniversary!

I love the new "Cast a Spell" Halloween Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up! I have already gone through my entire first package and need to hurry up and buy more for all the Halloween ideas swimming around in my head!

I have to admit that growing up in New England, I was never a big Halloween fan. It was usually cold and miserable (and dark!) by the end of October and yet we would bundle up our kids in 15 layers of warm clothing and literally "stuff" them into their costumes to go Trick or Treating. I don't remember it being a whole lot of fun. Then we moved to Florida. Halloween here is usually about 80 degrees and my neighborhood turns into one HUGE tailgate party. Everyone moves their grills and lanai furniture into their driveways...there is food and drinks and lots of treats for the kids. No doorbells to ring because everyone is outside. And although I soooo miss the hayrides to pick pumpkins and apples and the colors of fall in New England, Halloween is probably my favorite time of year here.

Enough nostalgia for tonight, on to my card! Pretty simple stamp design...I used the Haunting Jumbo Wheel from Stampin' Up! If I was going to do it again I would heat emboss it for more depth but I love the way it turned out with the sketch and the Cast a Spell DSP. The Happy Halloween sentiment is from the All Holidays set and the Boo Brads I found in my never ending stash of goodies. I'm on a bit of an inked edges kick at the moment so once again I used my Stampin' Sponges for some added color and depth around my edges.

Come on back tomorrow for day 4!
Thanks for stoppin' by!

Mojo Monday Maria

This week is the 100th Sketch anniversary over at Mojo Monday so they are celebrating with a new sketch every day this week! How cool is that? Here is my take on today's sketch using one of my favorite Holiday sets from Stampin' Up!, Holiday Lineup. I love these silly reindeer, they all look like they've had a little too much eggnog!

I started with Stampin' Up's Merry Moments Designer Series Paper. The brown snowflake layer was run through my Cuttlebug and then lightly sanded to remove some of the color and make my embossed snowflakes stand out. The reindeer were colored with Close to Cocoa Classic Ink and a Blender Pen. The reindeer antlers were colored using one of my favorite tools, my Sakura Jelly Roll Glitter Pen. (I do wish Stampin' Up! would carry these!) All my edges were lightly inked using our Stampin' Sponges. Wide Real Red Grossgrain Ribbon, a metal snowflake from my stash and a few bright red rhinestones finish it off.

Go over to the Mojo Monday Blog and give this week's sketches a try!
Thanks for stoppin by!
Lisa

Recipe Swap

We have started a 6x6 Recipe Swap at my monthly Stamp Camp. We started out with 4 or 5 swappers and are now up to 10. Every participant makes a 6x6 Recipe card x 10 copies and swaps their recipes with each other the night of the camp. I have a very talented group of swappers and will try to share all of their recipe cards sporadically throughout the month. The first one shown here was my contribution this month. This cake recipe is from Paula Deen (so you know it's full of butter!) and is so yummy and easy to throw together in a hurry. It is very rich so it will easily feed a crowd. Click on the photo for a larger image if you want to see the recipe!

Stamps: Tart & Tangy
Paper: Rockabilly DSP & Kiwi Kiss (retired) Basic Black & Real Red CS
Ink: Real Red and Old Olive SU Markers
Other: Circle punches, Scallop punch,
Adorable cherry brads from Creative Imaginations

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Mojo Monday Sketch!

Wow! It's Mojo Monday's 100th sketch Anniversary! They will be celebrating with a new sketch every day this week so why don't you play along!

This is not one of my better creations but hey, you win some, you lose some! I may have to try this sketch again and see if I can come up with something a little more exciting...but not tonight.

The tree was stamped with Artichoke ink on top of Merry Moments Designer Series Paper. It was then cut into three tiers and each tier was pop-dotted for dimension. The large scallop is the Scallop Sizzix Die #2 which was then run through my Cuttlebug.



Stamps: Christmas Classics
Ink: Always Artichoke, Old Olive
Paper: Merry Moments DSP, Old Olive, Ruby Red, Vanilla
Other: Grossgrain, Large Oval Punch, Scallop oval Punch, Star Brad

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Branch Out Halloween

Wow, it's been a crazy month! We started the month with CHA in Orlando, then last weekend was back to Orlando again with Thomas for the Junior Golf State Team Championship Tournament and to move Ben into his new apartment off campus at UCF. Then, this past week has been filled with Stampers 6 and Stamp Camp. I'm sure my children do not share my relief that school starts in another week and I am looking forward to getting back into a normal routine!

Now, on to today's post! With school starting next week I have totally moved in to fall mode...that means BTS projects and Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner! This is just one of the projects we made at this month's Stampers 6 meeting. Every month we learn a new technique and create a 6x6 technique card and a greeting card using that technique. This month we learned the Polished Stone technique. This is such a fun technique because you never know what you are going to end up with and it is so much fun to experiment with different color combinations.



We started by making our Polished Stone background with Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango and Silver Encore Re-inkers. Then, we heat embossed the Branch Out tree in black. The Designer Series Paper "Cast A Spell" was used on the background panels. The skull at the base of the tree is also from the "Cast a Spell" paper that was simply cut out, popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals and covered with Crystal Effects. The sentiment was also heat embossed and then punched with the Word Window Punch and layered on the new Modern Label Punch in Basic Black. I love the way this one came out, I hope you do too!
Thanks for stoppin' by!

Too Cool Back to School

I LOVE this project! The inspiration for the box actually came from Canadian Demo Mercedes Weber and the latest Stampin Success Magazine which is the monthly magazine from Stamin' Up! that is sent to all SU Demonstrators. It has some great project ideas plus lots of product and technique information. (You can get yours by becoming a demonstrator too...check out the top post for information on our limited time Demo Start-up mini kit for only $85!)

The box design came from another Canadian Demo Andrea Walford. The template is actually the same as the briefcase in Andrea's Dad's Day Card Class. When I first saw the template, I immediately thought lunchbox and how cute it would be to modify her template for a Back to School project.

Since my boys are well, boys, and a few years past the young and cute stage I had to borrow one of my favorite young stampers to test my BTS Box on. My little neighbor and veteran stamper Cali volunteered to help me out!

Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Alphabet Fun Upper (retired)
Ink: White Craft, Creamy Caramel
Paper: Creamy Caramel, Basic Black, Close to Cocoa, Summer Sun, Brushed Silver, Pretty in Pink,Real Red
Other: Black Gingham, Tab Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Word Window Punch, Stamping Sponges

Please leave a comment and let me know what ya think! Thanks for stoppin' by!

Mojo Monday Sketch!

Here is my take on this weeks Mojo Monday Sketch! If you have never tried one of these sketches you really should give it a try! You will be amazed at how the Mojo starts flowing when you have a starting point!

I used the new Cottage Wall Designer Series paper from Stampin' Up! for my card. I love the color combo of Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Orchid Opulence. The cupcake image from Crazy for Cupcakes was stamped on scraps of Cottage Wall and pop-dotted for dimension. I used my Rich Razzleberry Marker and White Signo Pen for the cupcake sprinkles. My Mat Pack helped me space the pierced holes around the circle and my square layer was run through my Cuddlebug for a littel more texture. Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Grossgrain Ribbon added the finishing touch.
That's all for today...more CHA pics tomorrow!
Thanks for stoppin' by!