Happy Fourth Of July !

This is a facebook cover I created with My Memories Suite V4 software

I used the Red White and Boom digital kit. 

Use coupon code  STMMMS23251 to get
$10 off your purchase plus two extra freebies !

"On this day in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress, setting the 13 colonies on the road to freedom as a sovereign nation. As always, this most American of holidays will be marked by parades, fireworks and backyard barbecues across the country."

If you'd like to read some current interesting facts/statistics 

posted for Independence Day 2013,

 click here to be taken to the US Census Bureau page.

Please remember to keep your pets safe.

Have a safe and happy holiday ! 

Silver Anniversary

This is a framed piece I made to take for display at a large car show we traveled to recently. I am not thrilled with the way it turned out, but for working on it the day before we left town as a last minute idea, it didn't turn out too bad. 

The photos on the finished piece are not very good since they were screen captures of grainy old video. There are no photos of us at the car show 25 years ago. We returned to the same event in the same truck this year after the event had a 14 year hiatus. Does NOT seem possible....25 years !

1988 STREET MACHINE NATIONALS 2013  was cut out of yellow card stock with the Chunkadelic die set from Ellison/Sizzix. I sponged on red and orange acrylic craft paints to simulate flames on the lower half of the letters and numbers.

SILVER was cut out by hand with scissors. I had already messed up too many pieces of red card stock trying to cut out ANNIVERSARY with a Cricut machine, I wasn't going to waste a lot of silver card stock, too. I typed SIL on one piece and VER on another, as large as I could, using an outline alphabet font. I printed in reverse on the card stock then cut out.

ANNIVERSARY was a sad attempt at using the Cricut Create machine connected to my computer with Make The Cut! Software. I bought it years ago literally just before all the brouhaha from the maker of the machines vs. the creators of the software. Had I known there would be so many issues, I would not have bought it. As a result, I have never updated and rarely used the software. Anyhow, I tried to create a custom welded cut word with a font on my computer (I think it is called American Dreams....) . I tried three times and each time it cut crooked. I ended up using one of them, piecing in teeny tiny pieces here and there to fill in some of the gaps, others I left alone, it was too much trouble trying to fix them.


Thanks for looking !

Grad Card

I reused parts of the graduation announcement I received to make this quick card.

I stamped the background with an old image from Stampin' Up! (one of the All year Cheer sets).

The card base is vanilla to match the components I reused from the announcement. They were cut out and punched out from the announcement then glued to card stock colors to match the school colors.

Thanks for looking !

Free Digital Files - Fortune Cookies

Available until June 30th from My Memories. com !!!!!!!!

Check out these freebies!

They make great Party Favors! Easy and fun to make!

These were created using the same kits as the take out boxes.
Perfect for dinner parties or anything else you can think of!

These files can be downloaded for use in other digital design programs as well !!!

For complete assembly instructions Click Here

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_2

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_3

Need  a discount code for the software ? 

STMMMS23251 saves you $10 plus you will receive your choice of $10 worth of digital items from their expansive store. 

25 good years

The truck image is from Stampin' Up!,

but I altered it to remove the apples and sign.

I broke down and bought this stamp brush set

since it is the same style of truck as my husbands.

I needed to alter it though, apples in the bed

were not going to work .

I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils.

This is the second time I've tried 

to color with them; I need practice ! 

I attempted to color in flames on the front

like his truck has.

I also added a teeny dot of blue paint

on the tail lights to resemble the blue dots

in the real tail lights on the truck.

The tire and wheel were created with various

size paper punches and a die. 

I tried to "stretch" the card stock

in the palm of my hand with an Empressor

stylus tool to try to give it some dimension

to imitate the round sidewall of the tire

as well as the center of the wheels.

I used dimensionals under the center cap

and to attach the tire/wheel

combo to the card front. 

The letters are from a Just Rite stampers

stamp set, stamped with white craft ink

that I heat embossed white over. 

The textured background was made 

with a texturz plate Stampin' Up! sold.

 I really need to see if anyone makes a "diamond plate" 

design embossing folder and order it from 

somewhere one of these days.

Card stock:

Whisper White

Basic Black

Real Red

Metallic Silver

Here is another card I made with the altered stamp image

Thanks for looking =)

Ships Ahoy Pop Up Card

A card  I made for my dad.

Stamp images are retired from Stampin' Up!
Ships Ahoy
Lighthouse
All Year Cheer II

I water colored the images with various colors of classic ink and an aquapainter.

The embossing folder is from Stampin' Up!, Square Lattice.

The twine is some old hardware department twine in my stash. I unraveled it into the three smaller strands.

I sponged light blue ink over a home made cloud template on the inside.

The ship was stamped then cut out to remove portions of the image. I attached it to a little
pop up tab I cut into the card. Teeny pieces of red card stock were trimmed to cover the flags on the stamped image.

I lightly painted white craft ink over the sails of the ship to tone down the black ink lines.

We no longer need a boat to get out , yaay ! The river is still quite high with more rain in the forecast it won't be getting back to normal pool soon. The flood waters are now out of the field, just barely back into the banks of the creek. There was seven feet of water out in that field during the flood !!!!  It still has several more feet to fall to get back to normal. What a stinky mess left behind ,  pee-eewwwww !





Thanks for looking !

Graduation Thanks Quick Card

Ooops, I forgot to share this card.

Run white card stock through an embossing folder

then lightly color a portion of the raised image

with chalks, ink, etc.

Stamp and hand cut out an image of a

mortarboard (graduation cap).

I trimmed the fringe of the tassel. 

The cap image was stamped inside the card

and on the envelope.

Thanks Cuttlebug embossing folder

white card stock

blue card stock

darker blue ink

Sketch An Event stamp set, Stampin' Up!

Stampin' Pastels

I made twenty of these fairly simple cards to thank the guests that attended my sons graduation pinball and pizza party.

I have no photos (except the one I'm sharing below) to share since I was so busy being hostess, tending to people, the food and drinks, I never made time to go get my camera from the car to take pictures. I feel terrible about it, but my son said it is no big deal to not worry about it. I didn't even eat ! I only made time to play three pinball games as the party was wrapping up.

The other items I made and posted previously were used, 

but I've no photos of them......... sniffle. 

Free Digital Files - Bow Ties

Check out these great freebies! They make great Gift Decorations! Easy and fun to make! 

Use them on gifts, for decoration or anything else you can think of!

Remember the MyMemories template lets you customize these with your own backgrounds or embellishments so you can use them over and over!

Available free until June 16th at mymemories.com

(you can download these files to use in other digital design programs as well)

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_2

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_3

Use coupon code STMMMS23251 to get $10 off your purchase

plus $10 worth of extra digital content, your choice 

AND 

a coupon for a free 6x6 photobook (you pay shipping and handling)

Pop Up Graduation Cap (Mortarboard) Card

I found the links to instructions here
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/templates-f143/graduation-cap-pop-up-card-t493909.html

here is the direct link to a photo tutorial
http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2010/06/graduation-cap-pop-up-card-tutorial.html


I stamped a piece of acetate with Stazon black ink and a partially inked image from the Stampin' Up! Word Play set. I inked the other portion with a marker and white card stock then used other markers to draw flames, hoping it would resemble a rocket. I trimmed it out and glued it to a piece of white card stock underneath the stamped acetate. The acetate was attached with brads that I added glittery embossing powder to.

Star punches and a circle punch with a tiny bit of inking to resemble the moon were glued on top of black card stock that I stamped stars on.

The card front was supposed to resemble a "Shoot For The Moon" theme for the Graduate.



Thanks for looking =)

Graduation Then and Now Scrapbook Page

An 8.5" x 11" scrapbook page I put together to sit out on the table at the graduation party. I considered making an entire album of photos from all of his school years, then thought better of it. I didn't want to take a chance on food covered fingers messing up the pages since there were going to be dozens of people (little kids!) wandering about and eating all evening.


Cricut electronic die cut machine was used to cut out the numbers from silver card stock.

Heat embossed the letters on vellum.

Black brads, scrap of red card stock punched with a small circle punch.

Printed out the name and saying from my home printer (wasted a few pieces of paper in the process, my printer and digital designing programs are not compatible..........grrr!).  Brilliant Blue card stock from Stampin' Up!

Photos are backed with metallic silver card stock.

_____________________________________________________________

I woke up to a HUGE rise in the Mississippi River, storm / tornado / hail damage all around. I've done a quick look over the house and all seems fine other than limbs down and things blown about ( I was out at 6 AM in cloudy skies) other than the two feet of water in the front yard ! The water will continue to rise and quickly, hitting levels we saw in 2008 with certainty but quite likely going over (which causes great concern for me....................). I am thankful that we do still have a roof when there are so many people that do not. So many across the Midwest  have lost so much,  including loved ones, in this latest massive storm system and my heart breaks for them. Remember, the best way to help in any tragedy such as this is to donate to the American Red Cross.