still more bears

eBay has been a very dangerous place for me lately... ;) I started looking for a specific stamp set and ended up finding that set and more....

This guy was the first to be created with my new treasure. The body of the bear & his clothes die actually came from Stampin' Up's clearance section for less than what they were going for on eBay. I used up some browns that have been in the scrap file for way to long. The sticker on his shirt is from sandylion. The frog punch in his hand is from Carl. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn. The sketch is from OWH #81. The stripe paper is more SEI. The shirt and pants are die cut from coordinating scraps. I chalked the edges of this little guy to help him stand out from the white of the background die cut, also from Stampin' Up. I also chalked the edge of the background die cut. The chalks have been in the stash for ages & need to see some use. I actually like the softer look of the chalk than the darker, little harsher look of using ink pads for the edging.

Next to be created was this guy. Same Stampin' Up dies for the bear. Nesties for background circle & it's matt. The sentiment stamp is also from Stampin' Up, called Beary Nice Wishes, which also came from an eBay purchase. :) The small heart punch in the sentiment is from an unknown company (it wasn't marked on the punch) and popped up with dimensional adhesive. The papers are all SEI again. Going to get some of it used up yet!! Sketch is from, I don't know..... I didn't write it down for some reason.... Maybe from some Pinterest inspiration?

And another guy.... Same dies and paper. The sentiment is from Hero Arts & is from one of the first sets they did for OWH. The sticker on his shirt, I don't know who made it, it was just in the stash. Sketch is #203 from OWH.

Can we handle 1 more of these guys?

This is the last one I made. Again same dies and paper. Punch in his hand is from Emagination. Sentiment stamp is from Hot Off the Press. Sketch is from decontructing sketch #134. Looking at it now, I may go back and lightly go around the bear with a light grey pen to help him pop just a bit from the light background. What do you think?

Not bad for a weekend that included a day spent at the Ski Club. ;) I am still waiting on the stamp set that started this eBay craziness. Hope to have it by this weekend so I can play while the game is on. :)

boy bears this time....

The Stampin' up Build a Bear stamps have been on my desk all week & have been getting lots of use. Guess that makes them a good eBay purchase! ;) I started with the stripe paper by SEI. I have a ton of SEI paper that has been aging for years & really want to use some of it up! I thought the bright stripes would go well with a boy image. I colored the body of the bear with copics. His shirt, pants, and balloon are paper pieced from scrapes of SEI paper that coordinate with the stripes. The sentiment is from Doodlebug by Hampton Arts. Sketch used is OWH sketch 29.

Since everything was still out, I picked up the stripe scrapes and decided they needed to be used up. Found OWH sketch #50, and adjusted the stripe width to work with the scrapes I had. Then I moved the bear to the left side so that the bear wasn't waving off the side of the card. The bear was again colored with copics. The skateboard was too, the wheels were colored with a Zig silver pen. The bears shirt and shorts were paper pieced with coordinating scrapes. Sentiment is by Lawn Fawn. I had enough scrapes to make several. :)

Next up will be a card or two made with another eBay purchase-- the Build a Bear dies from Stampin' Up. I hope to get to use the stamps that started this whole eBay purchasing spree soon. Waiting for a hiccup to get straightened out with the seller. :)

finished bears

Yesterday was a very foggy day on the ski hill. Since I didn't have to go out and teach in the stuff, I stayed in the club and worked on a little coloring. ;)

I had already decided on the design, OWH sketch 177, and had picked out the pink paper (from paper fever, it old, not sure if they are still in business...) before we left for the club on friday. I had all morning to sit and watch the fogged in ski hill and color. I color very slowly so it took me all morning to get these little cuties finished. The sun peaked through the fog after lunch so I hit the slopes for a few turns. :)

This morning I turned those little pink cuties into this--

I had a partial sheet of the paper with the dots left from a birthday card I make earlier this week & a full sheet of the swirls in the same color pink, both from paper fever. These sheets are from deep in the stash. Feels good to get them used up!

The stamp is from Stampin' up, the Beary Best Friends set that I found on e-bay. I really need to stay away from e-bay. Our mailman is going to be busy dropping off packages here all next week.... I colored her with copics. The embossing folder is swiss dots by Cuttlebug and I gently swiped a white ink pad across the top of the embossing.

The inside sentiment is stamped-- i <3 you beary much! A sentiment from Stampin' up & the Beary Nice Wishes set. (another e-bay find....)

Time to get organized for another busy week.... :)

Operation Penguin!

2013 is over and 2014 is well on it's way! It's funny how your life is cruising along and something happens, big or small, and all of a sudden your focus has changed. BAM! Nothing is like it was before. That seems to be happening a lot around here. Started 3 years ago with my hysterectomy. Then another shift a year later with another surgery to correct a scar tissue issue from 1st surgery. Then last year with the death of my Uncle. Now, with the reality that my baby will be spreading his wings soon... Well, I got a little sidetracked from the blog. I was (and am still) making cards, taking pictures of them, organizing them on the computer, but just never made it to blogging them.

Cleaning, purging, and organizing has been the focus here for the last 6 months or so. I have made more trips to Goodwill than I care to admit to. A clue-- I have had to buy a new Costco size box of large outdoor garbage bags.... YIKES!!! It's been a lot of stuff. Still a ton more to do, but I feel like I can finally see some progress, so I can take a moment to get back to sharing what helps keep me sane. :)

Awhile ago, as in before Christmas, there was a call put out by Sandy, executive director of OWH, for PENGUIN cards. She wants to send a box of nothing but penguins to a contact who really likes penguin as a surprise. But not winter penguin cards, they needed to be penguin cards that could be used any time of the year. I knew I had a penguin stamp or 2, just had to find them. Which then set off a small detour of it's own, cleaning out some craft stuff in the search for those crazy stamps. Luckily I found them with out to much of a side track....

This is the first card I came up with. I wanted to make it bright so I dug out some old Bo Bunny pattern paper. Added some coordinating BB dots paper. The stamp is from Memory box with the hat and present paper pieced. The sentiment is from Savvy stamps and popped with some dimensional adhesive. Ribbon is from May Arts. Also used OWH sketch # 201. Then I started thinking that maybe a birthday card is to specific, and it should really be more general. Sooooo.....

I put together this miss you card. It uses some really old SEI papers, both the pattern and solids all come from the same collection. The penguin is a QuicKutz die and popped on dimensional adhesive. The "ice" is some torn velum scraps. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts OWH set. Sketch used is OWH sketch # 197. I think they will both work for Operation Penguin after a little pondering. :) I dropped them off Tuesday with another project since the Operation Penguin was due to Sandy by Wednesday. Yea!! I got them completed and turned in on time! I made my OWH 1st deadline of the year! I missed several deadlines in 2013, so I have quite a few cards hanging out in the scrap room waiting on this years deadlines.:)

My goal for 2014 is to continue purging (20 years in the same house accumulates a lot of "stuff"). Thomas graduates from High School in June 2015 & this house will be company/party ready for celebrating that & all of his accomplishments. Still a ton to do before we get to that point, but progress is being made. :) I also have a goal of sharing at least 1 time a week. I have enough cards stored up that I could probably share daily, but I really don't think I have that much to say without it sounding very repetitive after awhile...

Here's to a GREAT 2014 with fewer major detours & speed bumps!!