Wildly Wicked

 

Yep, another Christmas gift.....CHRISTMAS?  Why yes indeedy - for Carol who likes all things witchy AND Wicked.  This was actually my first finishing attempt and it gave me the courage to move on to last week's Zombies............little by little, inch my inch.

 

This pattern came from "Just Cross Stitch's 2012 Halloween Ornament" issue.....so see, I'm not the only one who totally digs on Halloweeny things..........hee, hee, hee..........

 



 

Hope you have some wicked good crafty time of your own......!!

That Crazy Karla!





 

 

Zombies?  Seriously?  Wow....really NOT my thing!!  But I've found having a relatively large collection of cross stitch patterns really comes in handy...at the weirdest times!  Wanted to make most of my Christmas gifts and soooooo what can I do?  Crochet, cross stitch, embroidery, stamping and paper crafting.  I decided to mix it up with a bit of crochet and bit of cross stitching. 

 

Why Zombies?  Well because Karla is a sick-O and LIKES the whole Zombie thing....reads books, watches movies and that T.V. show and well, ick..................  But hey, how cool is it that I actually HAVE a Zombie cross stitch pattern in my stash (a huge thank you to the gals at "Raise the Roof"!).  Switched out some of the DMC floss for some hand-dyed fibers (for the whole Zombie mottled-skin look), searched high and low for the perfect worn, distressed Zombie-looking button and found The Perfect fabric (doesn't it just scream ZOMBIES???) for the finishing................ahem........speaking of finishing..............

 

Here's my little secret....while I can stitch like nobody's business I absolutely SUCK at finishing......I have stuff that I've stitched from YEARS ago.  I stitched Creepella the cutest little strawberry house and found the cutest strawberry print fabric and folded it all up nice and neat and presented it to her in a large Ziploc bag.........three YEARS ago..........still haven't finished it into the pillow I promised......what a bad mom I am........ 

 

So THIS year is a year of finishing.........a LOT of things actually - say, do you think that all of those non-finished cross-stitched-completed items are a metaphor for a bunch of things in my life?  Stuff that I've been dragging around for years and years and years???

 

 

Nope, I think it's mostly because I'm lazy and a teeny-tiny bit fearful of actually DOING the finishing stuff - wish me luck in this new adventure in 2013!!

Neck-slinging or Wringing

 

 

 

Well, I guess I wouldn't be actually SLINGING or WRINGING any one's neck, just warming it up a bit!  Here's some of the craftiness that I've been busy with between Finals and Christmas.....oh, and I actually did TWO of the apple green scarves (one for Creepella and one for Heidi).  Used that chunky Homespun yarn and a K-sized hook (feels kind of like Kindergarten crochet).  

 

I edged the scarves with a weird 4-chain scallop stitch.  I like it and so did Gail - I made her the first scarf (very Autumn-y colored and of course I completely forgot to snap a photo) for her b-day in November.  She's a fellow-crocheter and she liked the edging so I took that as a good sign and RAN with it........

 

I'm happy that I've warmed up at least 7 necks (make that 8 including Gail's).......now they'll just need to watch out for those pesky vampires...............!!!

Fresh & New

Isn't the NEW year exciting?  All fresh and new?  Whether you partake in New Year's Resolutions or not, new beginnings (while sometimes terrifying) are pretty ding-dang exciting!  We've (Chef Bo-Bo Head, Creepella and moiself) all have new stuff happening - we're all pretty excited and just a wee bit nervous - but that definitely gets your heart pumping, right? 

While I don't do resolutions myself (why set myself up for failure?) - I do have ideas and goals that are I like to see accomplished within a set time-frame.  In 2012 (aside from getting blasted sideways by the dreaded Statsway class...) I was pretty pleased with the strides I made towards set goals.  There's always room for improvement but let's not get completely bogged down in that.....let's learn from it and move on and on and on. 

I've been a crafty gal since Finals (and I made an 88% on my Final AND earned a B in the class/torture event and am EVER-SO-GLAD the new semester is just around the corner AND I'll be taking a fun AND traditional-style class AND I'll have the best Study-Buddy ever......Creepella!).  I even managed to take a few photos of said crafty items that are fairly blog-worthy...surprise.....actual BLOGGING material!

Creepella has been on a Gilmore Girls marathon since Christmas, I've been fighting her for the remote (trying to catch up on the Burn Notice episodes that we've DVR'd....since LAST season - yikes!!!) and of course we're doing our traditional New Year's Eve/New Year's Day Hordy-Derves and LotR marathon.   In the last week we've seen "The Hobbit" twice and "Breaking Dawn 2" on the big screen for the last time so we're keeping busy with our entertainment outings. 

With that said, hoping 2013 brings everyone loads of healthy happiness -  Cheers!!

Pretty Pretties

 

 

Welllllll, I can't take credit for this cool craftiness......it comes from Creepella - at my request!  Needed some cool earrings for Princess Pamela and Debbie - Pam received the pink presents and Debbie received the cute Snowmen and Christmas trees (I, of course, have received all three pairs for my own collection......). 

 

They were the finishing touches for the Christmas gifties this year.............perfect!

Whew, it's been a while!

Zowwwweeeeeeee it's been quite a long time since I've posted - time flies when, well when you're living life, eh?  Thankfully school is wrapping up for the Holiday Break and I can take a bit of a breathier.  For the last week, I've been super busy with holiday cards and people are retiring left and right (frightfully we're down to one single Retirement card.....).  Heidi and I will be jumping on that next September so that we'll be prepared for the end of year retirements next year.  This year we're just hoping to keep our heads above water. 

 

LOTS of changes happening around here - all for the good but even good changes can cause some stress.........wish us luck!!

 

Now onto the CARD (finally!!)...............this was Creepella's main b-day card.  Another great book-loving gal from Kimmie's (just love these stamps!!).  This one was pretty darn perfect -  a ton o' books & skulls - what more could a girl want?

 

 

Aside from some fun coloring, I kept the card pretty simple - the BEST way to appreciate the skull-i-ness of the embossing folder, right?  Got a great set of sentiments specifically to use for Creepella and Gail - AND I just ordered a book mark set from Taylored Expressions......a book mark and a gift card to B&N, the perfect gifty for lots of people on my shopping list!

 

 

 

As I've said, it 's been ages since I've blogged.  And yikes, there have been a BUNCH of changes to Blogger (I've got to sit down and "re-learn" some of this stuff!!)  Aside from school & work keeping me in a frenzy, I've devoted most of my crafting time to cross-stitching and crochet.  They're both so much more portable than stamping and since I really haven't been able to spend a whole lot of time actually IN my stamp room I've found myself looking elsewhere for a crafting "fix'. 

 

Heidi and I have both been in a weird stamping funk for last few month - I guess we've both been on different paths and had lots of other things that needed our attention but now that winter is finally setting in, I think we're headed back to our cozy crafting hibernation of stamping!

 

Hope all of you have been happy and healthy and have found some crafty fun of your own.  I'll be done with Finals this week and I've got a few items that I think are blog-worthy.....

 

Toodles for now...

Kathy 

Oceans of Fun

Man, I just LOVE these cute little stamps and it seems like I'm ALWAYS forgetting about them!!  Another itty-bitty card for Creepella's b-day week. 

I guess you could call this a "cutesy card".......Doodlebug papers and that darling octopus.....oh well, it's not a crime to be cute (once in a while).

Stamps - Octopus (Snag'em Stamps by Imaginisce); sentiment (CTMH)
B&T paperes - Doodlebug
Ink - Memento
Copics
Stickles
Wave borders - Fiskars
Gemstone - A Muse
Paper flowers - Recollections/Michaels

Sparkle Tree

Yes, another cute & small card.......well, Creepella's b-day week was a WEEK long.

The most amazing thing about this card is the amount of gem-flowers I used....you know how difficult it is for me to share.......and for this card, I used TEN gem-flowers......whew, it just about did me in!!

Since I wasn't hampered with having to make the card fit into an envelope, I got kind of wild & crazy with the clouds............they're over-lapping all over the place and I LIKE it!!

CB and flower gemstones - Hero Arts
CS for grass & butterfly - sparkly scraps
Stamps - Paper Smooches (tree trunk); Cat's Pajamas (sentiment)
Inks - Memento
Martha Stewart Grass border & small butterfly
Cloud Die-cuts - A Muse

Happy 4th of July!



Happy Independence Day to all.  Here's to happy, safe and sane celebrations for everyone! 

Probably should have had a background other than blue but I didn't think of it while taking photos of my 4th of July paper crafting.  I think you can see it well enough though - it's a 3-D foldy sort of decoration...I punched out 10 of the blue stars, and SHOULD have edged them in blue chalk ink BEFORE putting them together but I always seem to forget that step and have to ink the edges AFTER putting it together!!  The red baker's twine is well-suited to the "feel" of the B&T design and finished product.

Here are some of those cool rosettes that you see all over the place now.  I made several small ones (2 strips of 12 inch paper that were 1.5 inches wide (the red one).  I pre-scored the strips using the half-inch guide on the original Scor-pal.  By keeping the width at 1.5 I was able to make 4 rosettes from one sheet of 12 x 12 B&T paper which was way cool as I handed out rosettes instead of a traditional card.  Again I used the red baker's twine for a loop to hang and some stardream CS and star brads for a little center decoration and ta-dah, I was done!

I had so much fun making them (and they were pretty darned quick too), I think I'll make some for Halloween this year.  Since I have a boatload of Halloween B&T, I won't be spending cash-o-la in the way of Halloween decorations this year - wahooooo!!!!

And finally, here's the card that was created from all those bits & bobs from an earlier post.  Very simple design (based on a card that was on the PTI blog) but I tweaked it to fit the supplies I had on hand and the amount of cards I needed to make (I ended up needing 27 to mail and 1 to keep).  Little to no stamping and NO coloring made this a pretty easy card to make.  There were several steps but luckily they were broken down into the easy and manageable steps.  The best thing?  I was able to finish the cards and get them in the mail several days before today (that's a MAJOR accomplishment for me, let me tell you...).

Here's a close up of the star & banner portion for more details and in better lighting:

Sparkly Celebrations to you all!!

Supplies for all items:
B&T paper - CTMH, various others
Cardbase - unknown, it's something I've had for years...it's a rustic white with "specks"
Stamps - CTMH
Inks - Memento, Colorbox chalks
Punches - Marvy (large & mini star); A Muse (smaller pointy stars)
Misc - buttons (sources unknown); Making Memories (star brads)
Embossing Folder - Cuddlebug
Red Baker's Twine - A Muse
Scor-Pal

2 Bad Girls - Cartoon Version

Yes, they're back - the 2 Bad Girls......Lily and Iris........helping to celebrate Creepella's b-day week.  Such a sweet card..........and aren't the stamps so darling?  How ironic that I used them to represent the 2 Bad Girls???

Iris is darker in color, shorter, waaaaaay meaner (can we say abscess-maker???) - she's also pretty stinkin' cute and has lovely amber eyes.

Lily is a love......she's lighter in color, taller, a bit more rotund, has the perfect head for kissing and the prettiest green eyes.

TOGETHER - they usually spell trouble.............just look at them, you know they're up to NO good!!
(Iris-left; Lily-right)

Oh well, they love their girl and they always come through with wonderfully thoughtful gifties (although I've yet to be reimbursed.....).  No matter how "bad" - they're keepers for sure!!

Stamps - Paper Smooches
CS - PTI
Inks - Memento & Colorbox Chalks
Copics
Gemstones & ribbon - A Muse
Heart Punches - Marvy
Embossing Folder - Sizzix

Disheartened

Sorry, no card today.  I couldn't work up enough energy last night to do anything crafty.  Every once in a while do you have a no-good-horrible-really-rotten kind of day?  That was my day yesterday.  I can even list the 3 reasons that made it so terrible:

1) MAJORLY unfair hiring practices at work
Nope, this is not just sour grapes - I hadn't applied or interviewed....heck I wasn't even interested in the position.  But wow - I was walloped good when I found out the new employee is the wife of a director who directly supervises the husband of the hiring supervisor of the new employee.  Talk about "cozy".  Saying I'm disgusted doesn't begin to describe how I feel.  The thought of having to work with some of these people makes me absolutely nauseous.  Oh wait, it gets better....when the new employee originally applied for the postion, she was screened out (meaning her application/resume/supplemental questions did not meet minimum skills/experience required for the posted position).  However when the hiring supervisor found out the new employee was screened out a squawk was made (well probably several squawks) and low and behold, the new employee is once again in the running.  And looky here, looky here - she was selected as The Most Qualified Candidate.  HA - most qualified my ass..............I have a very good idea the new employee was "coached" with not only the interview questions but also the answers (especially all the current buzz words and phrases).  I am completely REVOLTED with the current situation.  Honestly I don't know how I will be able to look them in the eye - I don't think I'll do well with masking my contempt and loathing.

2)  Piss Poor Customer Service at the Credit Union (won't say which one, don't need to be sued for slander)
Won't go into details on this one but suffice it to say we will be looking for a new banking institute shortly.  This is not a spur-of-the-moment sort of decision - we've been doing business with them for over 25 years and the level of service has declined steadily.  Again, more disgust and loathing.

3)  While waiting for the green light at a corner of a fairly busy intersection, The Big B saw a man punch another man......the puncher hit the punchee so hard, the punchee fell to the ground.  The puncher jumped into a waiting car and they took off through the intersection.  The punchee looked to be a homeless man....fairly slight in build and rather frail.  As we were getting our phone to call 911 a van (from a car dealershi) pulled along side the curb and a man jumped out with his cell phone in hand and was heading over to the downed victim.  Thank goodness for him but as to the puncher - WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE???  I'm absolutely convinced we are WAAAAAY over-due for a FLOOD.

Really don't mean to be such a downer but I am having a hard time dealing with these things and I'm trying the  ol' "write it down......let it slip from your mind down your arm through your hand and pen onto paper" routine - something a counselor told me years ago.  Most of the time it works - I'm hoping it helps with some of this too. 

We're off to the movies.............we're seeing The Avengers - coincidence??  I think NOT!!!

Babies...

You know how I ramble on about how I love it when my stitchy and hooky interests can meld into my card-making?  Well here's a perfect example how a stitchy IDEA translates so verra, verra well to card-making.  I'm a big fan of Julie Jackson (Subversive Cross Stitcher & Designer) and while she does sport quite the potty-mouth in her designs................I can appreciate it - in fact, it gives me pure glee while I'm stitching away........

But these cards are sweet - really they are!!!

Well, they are if you and the expecting mom are pretty good friends AND she understands your slightly warped sense of humor........

As for THESE cards.....they weren't actually for an expectant mom at all and well, TOO much to 'splain (on soooo many levels)......suffice it to say they were a hit and each of them held a handy little pocket that was perfect for a gift card or straight cash. 

Call me demented, but I giggled so much making them I plan on making MORE of them......they received lots of "thumbs ups" from my card-buying customers...........hee, hee, hee.......

Stamps - CTMH
B&T - PTI
CS - CTMH
Inks - Memento & Colorbox Chalks
Oval Scallop Punch - Marvy
Paper flowers - Michaels
Gemstones - A Muse
Scalloped scissors - Fiskars


Oh So Busy!

YIKES............on top of starting a summer school class, I'm busy with this!!  Parts and pieces all over the place.  The Big B came in when I was cranking the cardbases through the Cuddlebug.  He watched me do a couple (because come, let's face it - it really IS rather fascinating)......he asked me how many I had done at that point (about 9) AND how many more did I have left (about 18) - he walked away shaking his head and muttering something (I didn't listen closely as I believe it was a reference to my sanity). 

When I have this many cards to do - it's ALWAYS assembly-line style.  So after I've got the card design, I pull together all of the components (and ahem, sometimes THAT'S a bit of a challenge....I'm good at knowing WHAT I have - I just have a bit of a problem knowing exactly WHERE everything is....).  Next, I cut the cardbases, score them (and yes, I ALWAYS make a couple of "spares") and if dry embossing is involved, I haul out the Cuddlebug and start cranking away.  Next, I cut some of precioussssssssss B&T and CS (trying NOT to shed any tears as they will warp the paper....).  If any punched or die-cut items are needed that's next and then I start in with the stamping (including envelopes) which is followed by coloring (if any - for these cards, NO coloring is needed).  At that point, I'm putting pieces and parts together (tonight I'm focusing on star assembly [there are 2 of them] and applying foam-mountaining tape)....and THEN I'm actually ready to start putting the card together.  Once the stars assembly/foam-mounting tape application is finished, I'm hoping the layering of the banners (two of them as well) and the already-assembled stars will only take another evening......that will leave me a couple of evenings to sign the cards, put them into their envelopes (yes, those are already stamped, addressed and have had postage applied) and get them into the mail so that they can be received in time for the 4th......whew, I'm kind of pooped!!! 

If my master plan goes well, I'll post the completed cards next week - until then wish me LUCK!!

Birthdays

One of the many b-day week cards I made for Creepella (more to follow).....however THIS one captures the fun that my mom always seemed to enjoy and since this would have been her 83rd birthday, hats off to you Mom - I miss you...........

Stamps - sentiment (Impress); 3 party hats (Michael's Dollar bin)
B&T - miscellaneous "scraps"
Inks - Memento
Ribbon and gemstones - A Muse
Martha Stewart's Loopy border punch

Yes, MORE Flowers!



Ok, this will be the last of the crochet flowers for now.  Too much of anything is just too much!!

Paper flowers, crochet flowers and a wee bit of stamping........always fun, right?  The original design concept included a ribbon going along the fold-side but when I started to experiment with the ribbons I decided the card was becoming too busy AND I really wanted attention focused on those crochet flower so the stamped vine-y border was perfect (I also stamped that on the envelopes - so it was great tie-in for the card).

Stamps - PTI & CTMH

Inks - Memento

CS - CTMH

Martha Stewart Grass border punch

Cloud Die - A Muse