Snail Mail...Sweet Expressions

You have to check out this sweet little set that Anna Wight designed for Whipper Snapper. It's called Sweet Expressions and you can find the link HERE. Everyone say HIIIIIIII to Anna, she's such a great gal!

I used the adorable snail and envelope along with the *snail mail* sentiment....one of my favorite all time sentiments to use on a card! I stamped the images and then colored them very quickly with Copic markers. I used my Copic color chart to find colors that matched almost exactly to my Papertrey cardstock colors of Aqua Mist and the new Plum Pudding. Is that purple just not the juiciest ever?? It's like grape bubble gum exploded onto cardstock. I looooooove it! Ohhhh, and matching polka dot ribbon!
Here's a closeup of the main images. So sweet! I cut them out with Spellbinder's circle and scallop circle Nestabilities die templates....lopped off half of the circle then attached it to my notecard front. The lined paper image is from Cornish Heritage Farms.
I think these little notecards would be perfect teacher gifts....or keep a little stash handy for quick thank you notes.

Okay, I've got girls waiting to leave to go swimming at Grandma's pool in town. 7 girls for a slumber party........um, I mean sleepover......apparently "slumber party" is SOOO yesterday to a bunch of 11 and 12 year old girls! Josey turns 11 on July 4th but her party is today! Woohoo, great fun!!!!!!! Have a great weekend everyone!

Jordan's Inchies!

My daughter Jordan loves to create stuff as much as I do. She agreed to let me photograph her process of making some Inchies. Inchies are simply 1" x 1" square pieces of artwork. You can learn all about Inchie Art Squares at Ellen's blog and can find all the supplies at Ellen's store HERE.

Okay, here we go! This is my little red headed cutie Jordan! She sits cross legged like this ALL the time.....when crafting, playing her guitar, reading. She's such an artsy girl! Here she is digging through my stash of Lockhart stamps to find just the right ones for Inchies.
She made her own Inchie finder by punching a 1" square out of a scrap piece of cardstock. She loves pink just like me! An Inchie finder is helpful to frame out that 1" square so you can get a better idea of what the finished image will look like.
Here's Jordan stamping all of her Inchies with Palette Black Noir ink. She's very precise, just like me. That's her little finger pointing to her stamped Inchies. She chose a food theme for all of her Inchies. I thought the girl was never gonna stop picking out stamps from Karen's collection!
Here she is coloring an Itty Bitty Radish. She remembered that radishes from Grandma's garden were colored red and faded to white. Such an eye for detail! Where does she get this???And for Jordan, it's all about the bling! Here she is showing you all the wonderful options you can choose from to embellish your Inchies. She's particularly fond of AMuse twinkle stickers. BLING BLING!! I love her little Vanna White hand motions! And TADAAAAA! Her'es Jordan's finished Inchie Art Squares. I helped her with a few ideas but she completed all of these herself. She's nine! didn't she do a great job? I hope that you're able to zoom in on this photo so you can see them close up. (don't know why Blogger will not let us zoom in sometimes!)

Jordan keeps all of her Inchies in a decorated band aid tin. She'll keep a few displayed on the front with magnets and she'll switch them out from time to time. I think she's going to make a few for her locker at school too. And sometimes we just make ONE Inchies instead of NINE at one sitting! Such a fun project for the kiddos! Hope you enjoy!

Inspire Me!

Hey everyone! Whew, the AC guy has been here for 2 hours working on the air conditioning unit. We have a ground source heat pump which is nice because we have NO propane to mess with.....but it takes a little maintenance every year. So I cleaned house while the guy worked and then we talked softball. He's the coach of team we just played. I hope he doesn't bill me for chit chat and iced tea!!

So now I have to get ready for more softball games tonight. Let's hope we don't get rained out for a FOURTH time!!

I do have a little bit of time to post some cards that I made some time ago. I used up some of the last snippets of my homemade patterned paper which I loved SO MUCH! I have to make some more! Lately, I've been collecting magazine pages, catalog pages, paint chips, etc......it's amazing what a little inspiration will do! So I sat down and make some inspirational cards that I can send out to friends when they feel the *mo jo* is gone.

For this first card, I used a portion of Karen Lockhart's pencil jar to create an inchie. It's layered onto Spellbinder's cut squares and then layered onto my card. Image colored with Copic markers. And here's a card that was just total FUN to create. I love the giant polka dots and stripes that I used for my homemade patterned paper so I thought it would be fun to recreate those patterns on Karen Lockhart's Warm Socks. Aren't they just crazy? I would definitely be inspired if I work socks like that! I used the brush tip of my Copic Sketch markers to create the tiny dots and stripes on the socks. What a fun image to color!
The sentiment I used for both cards reads *inspire creativity* and it's one that I just love from Papertrey Ink. It's from the Just Hatched stamp set. So what has inspired you lately? I would love to hear where you get your inspiration from. My most recent inspiration came from a Pottery Barn Kids catalog. I also just received an order from Two Peas which has lots of the new October Afternoon patterned paper. I can't wait to use that too!! Have a COOOOOL evening everyone.......I'm gonna get it SO cold in this house that we'll all have icicles hanging from our noses! Oh, the ice maker quit for a couple days too! Imagine that....no AC and no ice cubes. Not good! But it's all better now so I'm a happy camper!

Bikini Dryer

Thank you to everyone for your wonderful well wishes for my new Papertrey Ink Design Team position. I love to read all of your comments. I think that stampers and paper crafters are just THE nicest people in the world!! I wish I could just give you all a big hug!! You will see my first *official* projects with Papertrey during the July release. *Squeal!*

Okay, on to today's post. I made something really fun that I think you'll like! I know the title of my post has you curious.....but stay with me and wait to see the finished product at the end!

I'm creating a soldered piece today! I know, I know.....you're scared right? First off, you've never soldered before and you're scared of the soldering gun! And secondly, I know what you're thinking.....grrrrreat.......Mish is going to show us some more stuff that will empty out pocket books! Welll, yes I am.....because it's soooo much fun! I am not an expert by any means, but who cares. It's fun and I guarantee you that with a little practice, you can do it too!

I'm not going to give step by step instructions for how to solder. Ellen has a great tutorial on her blog HERE so no need for me to repeat the basic soldering instructions. I just want to show you some of the cool tools. Everything I've used on my project can be found under the soldering section of Ellen's store HERE.

First, I stamped and colored a new Karen Lockhart beach chair image with Copic markers. The colors are show below.
Then I cut my image down to a 2" square. I used the actual Memory Glass pieces and just placed a piece over my image. This allows me to see exactly what part of my image I want to cut. I love Tim Holtz's new teflon craft scissors for this type of cutting. Sharp and a comfy grip. I also selected a piece of K and Company patterned paper for the back of my soldered piece. The back of your piece should always be just as decorative as the front. You can use snippets of patterned paper, old sheet music, vintage wall paper,etc.
Now that I have my two pieces under glass, I'm ready to assemble my piece for soldering. Below, my photo shows lots of soldering tools. There's the soldering gun in it's stand, some clamps, a little bottle of flux, copper tape, solder, the 2 x 2 Memory glass, and a bone folder. All of these items except for the glass and the bone folder come in a great starter kit by Simply Swank(isn't that name a hoot, I love it.....and those two girls at Simply Swank are CUTIE PIES if I do say so myself!) I'm sure they'll be at CHA again so be sure to stop by their booth....GORGEOUS soldered pieces! Okay now...first thing you do is make sure your glass pieces are clean on both sides. You can use glass cleaner and a lint free cloth to do this. Then it's time to add the Copper Foil Tape. This is actual copper tape with a sticky side. Usually it comes in straight lines but today I'm using a fun Wavy Copper Tape to resemble waves at the beach. COOOOOOL! The copper tape is what the solder sticks to....the silver stuff you see when you look at the finished piece. All you have to do is peel off the backing and center your glass *sandwich* on the tape. I start at one corner and just rotate my piece til all four sides are covered. It's easiest for me if I keep turn the square *sandwich* on my work surface. By the way, I use one of those silicone work mats when soldering....it's heat proof and wipes clean.
Once you've got the Copper Tape wrapped around your piece, you'll need to snip off the end and then fold the edges down on both sides. For my piece today, I will have the wavy edges on the front and a straight edge on the back. I carefully use my bone folder to burnish down on the edges......or flatten the edges and smooth them all out. Be careful or you can break the glass. We don't want that.
Next you're ready to solder. See Ellen's blog for soldering tutorials. In a nutshell, you add the liquid flux to all the exposed Copper Tape. This is what the solder sticks to. The solder is the silver stuff that looks like a long thick piece of wire. As you touch your heat gun to the flux and solder at the same time, the solder melts onto the flux. It's SOOO cool to see, but a little scary that first time. It's okay to be scared, I was too!!! You must use clamps to hold your piece or you will burn yourself. The clamps pictured below come with the starter kit. The little locking pliers are great for gripping the scrolls or jump rings that you attach to hang the soldered piece. The locking pliers and scrolls/jump rings are sold separately at Ellen's store. Once you have your piece all soldered....and you want to say a million bad words because you can't get the flippin' scroll piece soldered on.......(need help with that part!).........your finished piece will be dirty. You can purchase the Super Shiny Solder Polish to clean it up. Just apply with a brush and wipe clean with a cloth or paper towel. Now, here's what you've been waiting for.....the finished soldered piece. Isn't it pretty! There's such a homemade feel to soldered pieces that I just love. I particularly think they go well with all the vintage stuff I like. I'm hoping to make labels for all my wire baskets in my craft room. Actually I think every single item in my home needs a soldered label. Adding that to my list! And here's the final use for my soldered piece......a new fangled BIKINI DRYER!!!!!!!!!! I took a vintage hanger that I acquired at an antique store and tied the soldered piece to the hanger part. The old clothespins can be used to hang my bikinis to dry.

Pause. Pause. Okay, now that you are done laughing at the thought of my butt fitting into THAT cute bikini in the photo, I will tell the truth. You will never see me in a bikini. However, my cute little reds love their bikinis and have LOTS of them. Usually, they end up on the shower floor and I find them all dried stiff about a week later. But now the girls have a special place to dry their bikinis. What do you think? Should I get a patent? Snort!

Seriously though, I hope you will try the soldering if you think it's something you would enjoy. It's a little intimidating but so much fun once you get the hang of it. Ask me questions, I'll try to post an edited Q & A post at the top of this one.

Check out some of Debbie Olson's bee-u-tee-ful pieces HERE.

Let's Celebrate!

TGIF everyone!! By now you may have read the news on Nichole's blog HERE that I have joined the Papertrey Ink Design Team. I am so excited for this opportunity. I want to send out a big THANK YOU out to Nichole, Jane, Julie and Rick. I'm looking forward to working with with everyone at Papertrey!! And thank you to all of you who visit my blog that sent your good wishes. It means so much to me to read your comments and know that you like my stories and creations!! I am SO BLESSED to work with such great companies!! Stay tuned for lots of fun PT creations to come!!


To celebrate my good news, I just may have to indulge with a margarita tonight! DH usually takes us out to our favorite Mexican food restaurant on Friday nights.......so a margi and a big bowl of chips and salsa is on my menu!


And, I thought this card fit the mood too! I created it with Anna Wight's new set called Good Times.

Here's a close up of all the details. I created the background by stamping lots of limes and coloring them with Copic markers. For the main drink, I colored it with green and yellow tone Copics and then added some Ranger Glossy Accents to make it shiny. I used the *Cheers* sentiment on a horizontal border and then added a cheery yellow ribbon. The scallop portion was done with a new Fiskar's border punch.
I hope you all have a great weekend!! I will be celebrating with a smile all weekend long!!

The List

Speaking of the list, I wanted to give you my reviews of the movie The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman (one of my favorite actors, I just love his voice). The previews of this movie shows lots of funny scenes but the story line is much more serious...along with those funny moments. I do recommend the movie, it's great! It delivers a serious message but in a light hearted way.

Now on to today's post. I worked kind of backwards on this project because I created this stamped image piece first but had no idea what I wanted to do with it. I just wanted to play with Karen Lockhart's new Apron stamp. Is't it nicely illustrated? I paper pieced the apron with polka dot and striped patterned paper and colored the rest with Copic markers. I added some buttons, a little flower, some stitching and some distress ink to give the apron a vintage feel.

I decided that I would make a little notebook for lists. I cut up some grid paper to use for the inside of my list. I love to use grid paper because I can doodle and sketch and I just love all the little squares. I covered the chipboard cover with some Cosmo Cricket paper, assembled my cover and cut holes with my Zutter Bind It All.....great for making your own notebooks!
For the horizontal strip, I used Papertrey's new Kraft cardstock, the Polka Dot Basics stamp and Palette New Canvas white ink.
I dug out some chipboard letters from my stash drawer and inked them with red ink and dried them speedy quick with my heat tool. Here's my assembled notebook. I simply call it the LIST. I dont' know about yours, but my family is constantly saying, *hey mom, we need more *blank*....well put it on the LIST, duh!! Then they ask *where's the list?*......good grief people. Sooooooo nowwwww they have no excuse. The list is labeled the LIST.....should be easy to find right!? Here's what the inside looks like.
And here it is displayed with a vintage apron on a hanger(courtesy of Karen Lockhart, thank you Karen!) I decorated my new white pantry cabinet with all sorts of patriotic stuff for July 4th decorations. It's a big time of year for us.....Josey's birthday is on the 4th, my mom's is the 1st and we have a HUGE July 4th bash. Good times.
Well, I gotta run....my folks are coming over with their pickup and we're headed off to get the girls' mattresses for their new rooms. Have a great day! It's a beautiful one here in Kansas today!

Fishing Vest/Cosmo Cricket

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there! My DH is mowing the lawn right now but we're headed to town in a little while to visit Eric's dad and go swimming. Then we'll head back home and visit my dad later today. I am so thankful that my husband is such a wonderful father to my two reds. And I am also thankful that Eric and I have our dads around still. My dad is recovering from shoulder surgery and Eric's dad has just been diagnosed with diabetes. So more than ever, we are thankful to have them in our lives.......and it's an extra good time to spend quality time with them. I think any dad would say that the best gift is time well spent with loved ones.

On to today's post.....go figure I stamped Happy Birthday on this card. But I already had my Father's Day cards made a few weeks ago. But I wanted to show you Karen Lockhart's Fishing Vest stamp. It's so wonderful for those fishermen....and fisherwomen!..... in your family. I paired my Copic colored image with some Cosmo Cricket patterned paper. Who knew giant polka dots could look so manly!
And here's some photos of the first big fishing venture this summer. My husband took Josey and my nephew Mitchell fishing and they caught a nice little mess of bass. Notice our fancy method for cleaning fish.....two buckets and an old board. Extra sanitary, right!!!?? Here's the little mess of bass. Not very big ones but they made nice little fillets.
Here's the gang with their catch. I'm kinda giggling because these fish are not anywhere near the monster fish these guys have caught over the years. But I'll take 'em cuz they're soooo good all fried up!
Well, it's time for me to get ready........don't want to keep the man of the day waiting too long. Have a great day everyone!!

Vintage Inspired

Happy Saturday everyone! I thought I would share some cards I made with Papertrey Ink products that were inspired by my new vintage table runner. It's square and sits under my two tiered wire basket. You can see the matching napkins below the cards. I've been having a blast making my own patterned paper so I thought I would try out some flowers. I used lots of different flowers from Papertrey sets, along with my favorite polka dots and some ribbon snippets.
I stitched on the ribbon and then added more stitching around the cards to add to the vintage feel I was looking for.
I also added some distressing ink to all of the edges of the cards to give a worn look. Have you heard that Papertrey is coming out with cream colored cardstock? Woohoo!!

I hope that you all will try your hand at creating some hand made patterned paper. It's so fun to get back to the basics of stamping. It really encourages you to dig into your stamp stash and use those supplies that have never touched ink yet. Plus by making handmade papers, everything matches and coordinates so beautifully. All you have to do is come up with the inspiration. My newest inspiration came from a kids Pottery Barn catalog. The colors are so vibrant and fun......I'll show you my new creations when I get them done. And as always I love to see what my fellow bloggers are up to also....so be sure to post a link in the comments sections so I can come visit your blog.

Have a great weekend everyone! We're off to a BBQ soon at the neighbors.....turkey and fish fry!

Note: I've questions about envelopes. I do not make my own envelopes. I usually use Stampin' Up! envelopes in various sizes, Papertrey Ink white envelopes and for my card stash I often purchase a box of envies from Walmart in the stationery aisle. Hope this helps!