Sunflowers and Dragonflies

Reader of the Week: Patti Gilliam

Beth — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:19:35 +0000

It’s been a while since I had a Reader of the Week for you. Now that I’m back on track, I would like to introduce you to Patti J Gillam, a long time reader who enjoys participating in our challenges and chit chatting with me.

Patti has been a rubber stamper for 8 years and has a blog called Cherish Each Precious Day.

Favourite Colour Combination: Black, white with a mix of a third colour.

Favourite Style: Class, elegance and simplicity.

Favourite Stamp: I honestly have never met a stamp I didn’t like, but clear stamps are such a delight to use. I love being able to see exactly where my image is going.

Card done at a recent Michelle Zindorf workshop

I love to take part in challenges and swaps when I can. I haven’t gotten too involved in the forums yet. There are so many options available, and it’s still a bit overwhelming to me!

Card made with one of our Sarah Kay stamps

How did you start blogging? Ironically, my blog began in November of 2008, when we started remodeling a bathroom in our home. Our daughter lived in New York, and our son in California, and it was a good way to keep them up to date on each step of the remodel. When that job was finished, I was going to shut down the blog, and my friends and family suggested showcasing my hobby. 284 posts later, I’m still blogging!

DT Work: I am a design team member of Paper Cupcakes.

Tell us about your family: In April, I will celebrate 37 years of marriage to my wonderful husband, Stan. He is my soulmate, and totally supports my addiction to all things paper and ink! Our son is 34 years old, and is an Air Force Major in Los Angeles. Our daughter is 29, and works as a Marketing Director for a branch of the YMCA. Our little white furball, Flake, and our grand-dog in LA., complete our family. No grandbabies yet, but we haven’t given up hope!

Do you read and if so, a favourite book or author? Next to playing with paper, I love to read. My favorite authors change from book to book! I read anything from History or Political non-fiction to Christian writers, love stories, comedies, and just finished the Twilight Series.

Other hobbies? A spring and summer love of mine is gardening. I will never be too old to be amazed when a clump of dirt becomes a beautiful and colorful bloom.

Patti, thank you for a glimse into your life as a stamper, mother and wife. It was so nice to learn more about one of my readers.

Patti would love to hear from you. Please visit her on her blog, Cherish Each Precious Day, and let her know you read about her here.

Wednesday Technique Challenge

Beth — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:51:47 +0000

This week Diana Enns challenged me to create a card using the Faux Paper Aging technique from the March 2004 issue. I am so pleased with the results, and so pleased I tried this technique because I often want an aged background, and don’t know what technique to try.

This Stampin’ Up train set hasn’t been inked up much, so I thought it was time as it goes so nice with the aged paper.

So, if you’re a Technique Junkie subscriber and have the March 2004 issue, you can play along and post your card to the Yahoo group.

How to Create Spellbinder Nestabilities Frames

Beth — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:45:15 +0000

One of my favourite tools are Spellbinder’s Nestabilities. My large selection of Nestabilities are neatly organized in CD cases which sit on my table, directly in front of me. When I find my labeller, they will be organized even better.

In trying to come up with a unique idea, I discovered that by placing two Nestabilities on my cutting mat, a unique frame was created. To take this a step further, you can mix and match all kinds of shapes and sizes. If that is not enough, you can kick it up a notch by embossing your frame, as seen in my Glitter Embossing tutorial.

My image is a download from Twisted Papers.

Choose the size of Nestabilities that appeal to you. Do you want to cover the entire image or do you have a small image that needs a larger frame to fill your space?

Place your Nestablities Spellbinders onto your cutting mat. Lay your paper on top, and then place the top plate on top. Be careful, you don’t want to move your Nestabilities.

This photo shows two widths. On the left, the inside Nestability that was used was two sizes smaller than the outside Nestability. On the right, the inside Nestability used was the next size down from the outside Nestability. Make sense?

To kick it up a notch, you can emboss your frame. Here I used my Glitter Embossing technique.

Close up view of the Nestabilities frame.

For a full index of my tutorials, visit my Tutorial page

SD Challenge Winners

Beth — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:21:55 +0000

Congratulations to our winners

Pink, Orange, Lime Green

Juliet of Ballpoint Bliss

and

Sketch Challenge

Patti of Cherish Each Precious Day

and

Red, Pink, Cream Challenge

Jennifer of Outside my Window

* * *

Please e-mail me with your mailing address at scrapbook4ever@yahoo.ca

Please use SD Challenge Winner in your Subject line

Thank you for playing in our Saturday Challenge

SD Challenge: Easter

Beth — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:24:54 +0000

Here comes Peter Cotton Tail, hopping down the bunny trail. Don’t you remember singing that as a kid? Easter was always so special. We woke up to the Easter Bunny’s arrival and had new dresses for church. My Polish grandmother would take mom, my sisters and I to church to have our Easter baskets (filled with food) blessed. As I got older I continued on with my own tradition and sewed matching dresses for my daughter, Sarah, and I.

What is your Easter tradition? I would love to hear about it.

Easter will be here soon, so we thought we would get creative and get ahead of the game by creating something for Easter. We are excited to announce that:

We now carry JustRite stamps

To view our stamps click here

Here is what set we used today:

The fun thing about JustRite is that they sell their wooden handle separately, so you can interchange a variety of sets. Each stamp is interlocking and fits snuggly into the handle. The circular sentiments are separate from the center image so you can change the colour of your ink or use a different sentiment.

The Design Team have created some cute projects for you…

Kim’s card

Jennifer’s card

Karen’s basket

Beth’s card

Rose’s card

Cathy’s card

To be eligible to win a $15 gift certificate for our store, link us up to your card. Please mention us in your post. If you post your card in a gallery, use SD32 to identify your card. You have until Friday at noon to link us up. Good luck everyone!