Me and the King!

Ok, if you are done laughing at yesterday's post. Get ready for me and the King. I put my pic in the little frame we made at class and what cracks me up is my 4 year old's reaction. First it was - Who's that? As if she should know this funny man in a purple suit. I say, "That's Elvis." Isn't that fun? She looks at me like, "Why?" Then promptly starts calling him "Melvis." She walks around the house talking to everyone about "Melvis." "Dad," she says, "Did ya see mom with Melvis?" When her brother picks up the frame - she says, "Oh, that's just mom with Melvis." I crack up. I think I'm going to leave it at my computer desk for awhile just to see how many laughs I can get out of this!

Now... on to the pic!

What this is - is basically just a dressed up coaster! The front was decked out with decorative paper. I stamped the Elvis silhouette from Cornish Heritage Farms off to the left side of the frame. Above it, I stamped the word ELVIS and accented it with my Copic Spica clear pen. The mat for my picture was created thanks to my rectangle and scalloped rectangle Nestabilitie sets. Then, I just added a flower and some bling!

The back/stand was just created by imitating a table tent kind of fold. I took a 2-1/2" by 11" strip of paper and scored it at 1", then scored again 3-3/4" from that score line, 2" from that score line and then again 3-1/2" from that one. I cut off the excess and then used the 1" flap to add glue and make my tent. Piece of cake!

Well, before I go, I have to tell you that two friends already cheered me up and gave me some warm and fuzzies!!! Anna from Home Made Greetings gave me the "You Cheer Me Up Award!"
Me? I do? Really? Seriously? Ok, ok, if you insist.
Who would I bestow this honor on? Well, here are just a few ladies that make me laugh whenever we meet in blog land!
Pat
Jacki
Deb (I know you got this award - but you crack me up so you're getting it again!)
Cheryl
Becky

Way cool! And my buddy Diane at DDNJOYS2STAMP gave me this little beauty. It's the Arte Y Pico award. The award is given to bloggers who share their art creations through blogging!
Now.... I have to pick SOME folks to pass this beauty on to..... (there are more--I know!) They are picked because of their creativity, design and interesting material. I pick....
Janine
Jennifer
Kim
Laura
Phyl
Chris
Lesli

If any one of you have already received these fab honors - I am sorry. It's just so hard to keep track of all my talented bloggin' buds!

Hope you're having a great week! Until tomorrow!

I'm all shook up!

Last week we had one of the most fun classes EVER at my LSS. It was a blast to teach, but none of the fun was because of me. Can you believe it?? LOL! You're about to see why this class was a blast in about 3.2 seconds. It was an Elvis class and revolved all around some of the recently released images from Cornish Heritage Farms!

First, this is one of the cards we made that night. I took three 1-3/4" by 2-3/4" pieces of cardstock and stamped the Finger Clickin' Elvis all over the place on each one. I wanted it to look like he was in a blender! Seriously. Isn't he getting all shook up??? There's very little going on with him though. I just colored his face and hands with a flesh colored Tombow and then colored his shirt with my red Copic Spica glitter pen. Add some decorative paper. Cut the sentiment out with my Stampin Up Word Window punch. Tie some black satin ribbon on and done! Fun!

Now.... for the fun part. While our ladies were making their cards.... ELVIS ENTERED THE BUILDING...

THIS... was the reaction!!!

OK LADIES, don't all jump up at once to greet the King!!! This is Mary, the fab store owner who helped put all of this together. She has the "connections" to Elvis. How fun is this???
Here's Linda & The King!!!

Two lovelies showing off their cards! The card on the left I'll show later this week. It was influenced by one of the CHF designers who has done AMAZING things with this line of stamps. I'll fill you in more on that later!I don't know about you, but something strikes me funny about Elvis taking an interest in rubber stamping. What a good sport to put up with all of us!!!!


Artha won the Elvis scarf and "shows it off!!!" You go girl!!!

We had an absolute blast! Tomorrow I'll show you the cute mini picture frame we made to put our Elvis photos in!! Happy Monday!!

And we have a winner!!!

Hi All!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend. We had beautiful weather here up until yesterday. So, it got cold and blustery just in time for the weekend. How unfair is that?

It's Sunday which means it's time to pick a winner for the Green Grass Stamps giveaway. And the winner is........

Cindy --
She wrote:
"What a nice card, Julie. There are a lot of Thank You sets out there, but you are right... that one is awesome!"

So, Cindy, if you click on my profile, my email address is there. Just shoot me an email with your address and I will get that fun set off to you!

I did want to post one more creation I did with this set. I want to start by saying this card is NOT my typical card. In fact, I don't think I've ever created a card this loud - BUT- the paper was perfect for the set and I had the right embellishments and so it just kind of clicked. You just might need sunglasses to look at it!

I started by stacking all the thank yous in the set on a long acrylic block - I didn't care if they were straight. In fact, I wanted a few to be a bit crooked. Let's face it, this card is all about the chaos!! I stamped the thank yous a few times down a 2" strip of paper. The scallop edge was created thanks to the stamp in this set. The rest is just patterned paper, a loopy brad with gingham strung through and a super big rhinestone on each brad. That's it!

Here's a close up of the bling! You know I gotta have the bling!


Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Don't Forget.....

Don't forget to sign up for the Green Grass Stamps give-away! See Mondays' post and leave a comment there if you like the stamps!!!

Stamp Simply Time!!

Well, today I have a double treat - a new stamp from Impression Obsession and a fun challenge courtesy Miss Sharon Johnson (ssnotime28)! The challenge this week? Paper piecing! Doesn't matter how intricate - can be just cutting out a simple flower! Just take a trip HERE to Sharon's to see her card and check out all the challenge details!

Of course, you'll also have to travel over to Dee's place to see what she cooked up with this challenge too! If you have to make a baby card for any reason, her spin on this challenge will surely give you some inspiration!!

We've got a new partner in crime this week too! Tammy over at Stamp Happy! She jumped right in with a darling card that uses some really fun decorative paper. Love it!

I have to say, I went a little overboard. Ok, a LOT overboard. I love to cut and when I saw this new image from Impression Obsession (not yet released) I thought, man, I have to use it! I used a mix of solid green paper and patterned green paper for both the lime and leaves. Then, I used that same paper for the base of my card. I used mini glue dots for under the leaves so that they would just kind of "float" above my image. It gave it a ton of dimension. Then, the little circles in the image were colored with my lime green Copic Spica glitter pen. The centers of the lime I "painted" with two way glue and then when it dried to tacky, I sprinkled it with Prisma Glitter. I love my glitz you know!!

Here's a close up...

Now, to my favorite part! IO has a new stamp coming out saying, "Got Margaritas?" But, unfortunately, I don't have it yet (emphasis on yet!). So, I made this little number on my computer because I thought this was the perfect saying for this card! I just used a 1" circle punch to punch it out and then added it do my polka dot sheer ribbon with a little jump ring.


Come to think of it. It's Friday. I just might "get" me some Margaritas tonight!! Anyone want to join me??? TGIF!

Have a fun day and hope you make time for Sharon's challenge!

Clear/Cling Stamp Storage...

Ok, I am in the middle of a reorganization for my stamp room and need some honest advice on clear/cling stamp storage. What do you guys do that works? Right now I just stuff them in photo boxes and have no real plan. As I "collect" more, it just is becoming a mess! Please HELP!

Impression Obsession Design Team Challenge

About a week ago, a crisp white box arrived in my mail box FULL of Impression Obsession's new stamps for spring and summer. I'll admit, I drouled. Thankfully, before the box arrived, Kelli, one of my fellow DT members said, 'Ok, we need a little spring here' and she organized a challenge for us all. The challenge was actually a color challenge to use green, purple and blue in our card layout. When I saw this new stamp from Leigh Hannan, I knew I had to use it! I stamped it with Versafine Black Onyx on watercolor paper and then painted it with my marker on a palette technique. Basically, you scribble marker onto a palette and pick up the color with a damp watercolor brush. It's watercolor without the hassle!

After I colored it and created a kind of light blue wash behind my flowers, I matted my image onto purple shimmer paper and then again on a light blue piece of card stock. Before I attached my blue mat to my card front, I used my Stampin' Up slot punch so that I could string a bit of sheer ribbon through. I attached another piece of tied ribbon and then attached a mini-tag that has "Embrace Life" stamped on it. (This sentiment is a mini set that has about a dozen mini sayings and will be released soon!) The tag was created from one of the Cuttlebug sets.

Here's a close up. If you look closely, you might see the glitz on some of the flowers thanks to some Diamond Stickles. I just dotted those little circles for a little pizazz!

Wanna see what some of my teammates did? Check them out!

Kelli, Penny, Daniela, Tina, Deborah, and Laura

Hope you have a happy Thursday! I can't believe tomorrow is Friday already! You know what that means --- a Stamp Simply Challenge! I had so much fun with this one.....so get ready to play! I'll show you some more new stuff from IO with this challenge!

Take care!

Sharing a little talent from my friend....

Ok, I know right off the bat Jacki is going to email me and say.. "little talent?" What? She cracks me up! I was singing the song "Try to get by with a little help from my friends" when I wrote that. I'm sorry, a lot of the time I think with songs! She has a LOT of talent. Check out her blog, you'll see! You can find her at the Card Castle!

About a month ago, she had a leap year challenge. You had to take a stamp you haven't used ever - could be years old - and stamp with it. Well, I won! I won some FABU things like magnetic snaps, flower photo corners, a Starbucks gift card, foil and more! Well, some of the things were hand made and were absolutely AWESOME!

Here's my fave. I just love the watercolored effect she put on the front of this little box with the rose. It is so soft and pretty.

Then, you open it up, and on the inside, this is the saying.
Isn't this just LOVELY! That saying is awesome and what a perfect creation for someone getting married or having an anniversary!

Then, in amongst all the other goodies was this beautiful portfolio. It has the prettiest edging on it made out of mulberry paper. The tulips were watercolored and had this speckled effect behind them. Beautiful!


And, you wouldn't believe the goodies inside this beauty! Tons of photos that have the most intense color and wonderful photo effects --- perfect for card fronts!
I'm glad I could share some of Jacki's work with you! I'll be back Thursday with some new images --hot off the press from Impression Obsession. They rock! The summer supplement is jam packed with fun new images that are really unique.

Have a happy Wednesday!

p.s. Don't forget to sign up for blog candy! See Monday's post with the fabu stamps I am giving away!!! Just leave a comment there!

More Green Grass!

About a week ago, I was blurfing and found this awesome tutorial on Paper Pleasing Ideas with Julie. It's on CuttleBug Ink Embossing. Click HERE to see it! It's worth it! You'll also have to click here to see Carole Burrage's awesome card that she did with this technique. My jaw dropped. I just love THIS card.

Here's the technique in a nutshell. Wish I knew who came up with this. I'd give them credit right now! It was apparently a part of a technique lover's challenge on Splitcoast. Anywho, here goes- You take a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder and ink up the flat side, not the bumpy side. I chose to ink my folder up with Versamark. You put your paper in and then run it through your die cutting machine. If you use normal ink, your paper is done when you roll it off the machine. Mine, however, took one extra step. I brushed a layer of bronze Pearl Ex on and used a soft paper towel to rub off the excess. What I was left with was a peice of paper that looks kind of like an antique tin or copper ceiling. It's not something I would do all the time, but fun for just the "right" card! The only stamping on this card is the sentiment. Recognize it? It's a part of the Thank You set from Green Grass Stamps that I am giving away this next Sunday! All you need to do is leave a comment under Monday's post and you're in for the giveaway. Thanks again to the company's owner, Tammy, who offered this set up for my blog candy. How sweet!

Happy Tuesday! Until tomorrow!

Thanks - A Bunch!

A couple of weeks ago, I was surfing or Blurfing as some call it! I stumbled upon a company called Green Grass Stamps! Well, after emailing the company with some questions, Tammy, the company's owner sent me this darling set of Thank You stamps! Guess what? She said for me to keep one and then give away one..... TO YOU! Wasn't that sweet?

This card is as easy as it gets and, I think, makes a card full of sunshine! I stamped the word Thanks in green pigment ink and then attached a sequin flower with a rhinestone to the top of the "k." I wanted it to look like the flower was just sprouting from the Thanks! There is another stamp that reads special thanks that has that little leaf. I stamped that as well, but only used the leaf so that my flower would have this little embellie to it.

There is also a really neat scallop stamp that is a part of the set that I stamped in hot pink, cut out and then using different size hole punches, punched out that part of the stamped image. You can see what I am talking about if you scroll down and look at the image itself. The rest is just decorative paper and ribbon!

Here's a close up....

Here's what the entire set looks like. Isn't this awesome? 10 different stamps in all!
Do you want one? Just leave a comment and I will draw a name next Sunday! Good luck and have a happy start to your week!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Hopefully, you are relaxing and reflecting with family! Here's the last card of the Easter season! It's kind of a simple one! I love this little chick from Inkadinkado! My LSS had a make and take a week ago and used this to deck out some Easter tins. Well, I couldn't resist making a card!

I actually stamped the chick twice - once on the grassy background paper and then one on white. I knew I wanted to cut the chick out, but I didn't want to have to cut out his little curly cue of hair! Too hard! So, that's why I stamped hi twice! I used my rectangle and scalloped rectangle nesties for the mat and background. I used my slot punch to string the ribbon through. Added a sentiment and I was done! The coloring is just watercolor pencil. I did add a bit of bling to the little guy's egg with the help of some Crystal Stickles but you really can't see it!

Over the weekend, my family and I took a walk to this little chapel area by our house. Because of today, I wanted to go over and take some pictures of this beautiful cross that stands nearby. I think the photos turned out really neat and how appropriate for this time of year when we reflect on all we have because of one perfect sacrifice. When I popped my card reader into my computer I was amazed at how blue the sky looks! This is completely untouched! Anyway, I wanted to share a few!

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who
believes in me will live even though he dies;
and whoever lives and believes in me will
never die"

John 11:25-26

Happy Easter...
Until tomorrow...

Pay It Forward Winners!

Hey all!
Got three for my pay it forward!

Jennifer, Lay Hoon,and Kathy Herin . If you want to email me your snail mail address, I'll pop the surprise in the mail! I am still working on what I am going to stuff in side so it might take a week! But, I promise, it will be worth it!

My email address is juliekoerber@bresnan.net

p.s. Jan Marie (Flourishes), Hilmarose, mwit, and Deb, go ahead and email me your addresses too -- might just surprise you too sometime soon! Thanks so much for wanting to play!


Thanks all!! Have a good weekend!

Pay It forward.....

Hey ladies, still one spot left for my Pay It Forward! I'm feeling generous.... so leave a comment and...... maybe you'll be my lucky target! :-) I will send a package of goodies to the first three people and then they in turn will Pay It Forward to three more people. Easy enough... right?

Black and white and round all over!

Happy Friday! Time for another Stamp Simply challenge. This one is super easy! All you need to do is round a corner or two! It doesn't matter where on your card - it doesn't matter how!

To find out the details... check out Sharon's blog HERE. You'll also see her lovely card that is just so yummy, you could eat it!! :-)

Dee Jackson took this challenge LITERALLY.... you can see what I mean when you click HERE. It's a beautiful creation. In fact, if you put all three cards next to eachother, you might not even be able to figure out the challenge. That just goes to show how creative you can be with this one!

My card actually has a story behind it. A few weeks ago, some of my sisters with the SBS5 group decided to do an image swap. When all was said and done, 17 of us swapped images leaving us all with a bag of close to 100 images for us to use sometime down the road. These floral images and the saying were from one of my sisters --- but dummy me--I took them all out of their original evelopes so- I basically lost who it was from and what the set was called. If you know this set - just please leave a comment to fill us all in! Isn't that completely silly!

Anyway, the rule was to stamp the images in permanent black ink so that we could color them or do whatever we wanted to later - Well, I thought these flowers were perfect as they were and envisioned a black and white card from the get go. The accents are polka dot sheer ribbon, and pearls. I even took one of the flowers and using foam tape, attached it to the larger flower for some dimension. So, how does this qualify for the "rounded corner" challenge? Well, I decided when I looked at this card, it kind of looked harsh with pointy corners! So, I made everything with a rounded corner - from the mat to the actual card! I like how it turned out!


Here's a close up of the flowers!


Well, thanks sister -whichever one you were for those awesome images that are part of that one set that I can't remember what it is called! I really am a blonde at heart!

p.s. Don't forget about my pay-it-forward! Just take a peek at yesterday's post. Sign up and just agree to either post on your blog for a similar pay it forward OR just agree to do three nice things for friends! That's all it is - I send you fun things and you agree to do the same!

Anyone want to play????

Hi All! Hope your week is going well! First things first, my mom has a Pay-It-Forward going on over at her blog - so I agreed to play! Wanna join me? Either leave me a comment here and say you'll play or go to her blog by clicking HERE. Or... BOTH! I'm not quite sure what I'll do! Maybe a stamp or two? Maybe some handmade creations? Maybe both??!?? If you want to leave a comment but don't want to play, don't worry! I won't strong arm you into anything!!! I love my daily chats with all of you - whether you play or not!

Now... to a card! If you saw my creation Tuesday, you know that I am in love with Carolyn King's new framed flower set just out through Gina K. Designs. This card is the second idea I came up with. Because these flowers are so sweet and petite, I didn't want my design to overwhelm them! So, I used my circle nesties, added a scallop, used my word window punch for the sentiment, added some bling and was done. I like the result!!

Here's a close up of all the rhinestones. These babies took some patience! They are 2mm rhinestones which meant squinting eyes and tweezers! Not to mention, a careful hand with the glue!!! BUT, I am happy to report, I didn't have to swear like a trucker to get the job done (no offense to truckers! LOL!) Anywho, I really love the sparkle it adds!


Hope you are having a good week! Tomorrow means Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge.... and it's another goodie!!!! Stay tuned!

My baby is 11 today!

Ok... starting to tear up a bit. sniffle. sniffle. The boy who used to love to jump off anything and couldn't just drive by a construction site without making me stop to look at the big trucks has morphed into a young man right before my eyes! My son, Cal, turns 11 today!


So, in honor of his day, I made this card. I admit, it's not the stuff I normally create - but let's face it - 11-year-olds don't do flowery OR cute! I wanted to show this card because I used punches to help create the different parts of my birthday cake! I used the Everyday Whimsy set from Wordsworth. If you click on the name, you can see how I used the lines and curves to create the pieces of my cake! I took 3 one and a half inch by 2 pieces of cardstock, stamped my lines and then cut along the lines to create the look of frosting! The candles were created with SU's word window punch, and the flames were just a heart punch cut in half! So easy peasy!

Well, I'm off and running - presents to wrap, cake to pick up (remember, I don't bake!!!) and things to get in order!

Have a good one! Until tomorrow......

Framed Flowers

Just a little more than a week ago, Gina K. Released her new images for March and one of them was from the talented Carolyn King. It's called Framed Flowers. Being a flower fanatic --- well, this one was a 'gimme!'

Last weekend, I got a chance to play and, let's just say, the fun has only just begun!!


This first card took me literally an hour and a half to make!! I started with a completely different concept and kept going -- until it morphed into this! I won't even tell you where I started because it would probably have you scratching your head -- saying 'Huh?'

So.... moving on!


I used my classic circle Nestabilities to create a cut out on my red textured card stock mat. I wrapped some grosgrain ribbon around the bottom of it and tied on a smaller piece of ribbon to create my "knot". Before tacking it down, I matted some fun paisley paper behind it. I also used my classic circle and one of my scallops together - setting the circle inside the scallop as you cut - to create the green "frame." Debbie Olson did a tutorial on this forever ago. If you'd like to see how it's done. HERE's the link! She totally rocks.

After I attached my green frame and then created a smaller circle to stamp my flower on and a scalloped green to mat this on. I attached this to the center of my large circle using foam tape.

Here's a close up of the little tag that was created with some Cuttlebug mini tags - I threw away the original packaging so---I have no idea what this set is called! In Carolyn's set there are not only the big flowers but little minis as well. I used one of the minis to stamp behind my saying "friend." The saying is actually just a part of the full saying - "Thank you for being a friend." I love, on small things, to just ink up part of stamps. Man - think of the potential of all of those saying stamps you have!!


Happy Tuesday! Until tomorrow!