Uh, I guess not...

Seems like I won't have time to sleep this semester, let alone post on my blog. I imagine that this will be a very sad and quiet blog until summer. I do apologize, but with 6 classes, and 5 of them being english, I just don't have a spare moment.

Time well spent...

Kind of a dual purpose title today. This was definitely time well spent making this card. I need to practice more again I think...I'm not so impressed with my creations. I guess that is what happens when you take 6 months off from stamping. Urgh!

The dual part is that this is also the name of this stamp set, lol. The "Time Well Spent" set is a level 3 hostess from the new Spring/Summer collection from Stampin' Up! Did I mention that I am going to try really hard to bring my blog back to 95% Stampin' Up! cards, etc. There will be the occasional card made with other stamps, as there are a couple of newish lines out there that I am lovin'. I'm also planning on putting some of my scrapbooking on here and it is not all Stampin' Up! either, but hopefully you'll enjoy looking at them anyhow. :)

(Shopping list- All supplies listed are from Stampin' Up! and can be purchased through your demo. If you don't have one, you can find one in your area by visiting www.stampinup.com or contact me.
Certainly Celery, Purely Pomegranate, and Whisper White cardstock. Cutie Pie designer paper, Pomegranate double stitched ribbon, black Stazon, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Signo uniball pen, scallop punch, 1 3/8 circle punch, aquapainter, watercolor paper, two way glue pen, and Bashful Blue watercolor wonder crayon)

Stamp to Spend challenge

There is a thread on Splitcoaststampers right now called the stamp to spend challenge. I decided that it would be a fabulous thing for me to try and stick to, so I am going to do my best this new year (starting now) to actually create stuff with all the amazing products that I so often drag home.

The idea behind the challenge is that you only buy what you "earn." I will "earn" 15 dollars for creating 10 cards or 5 scrapbook layouts (I am going to try and stick to 2 page layouts). So far since I began a couple of days ago, I have created 2 cards. Then today I stopped into our LSS to drop of some "Heat and Stick powder" to a customer, and they had 30% off all Christmas supplies. I only bought a few things...some SEI "Holly Lane" papers and a sheet of self adhesive frames/tags, but totally forgot that I was on a budget. Soooo, now I am 4.80 in the hole. Guess I better start crafting huh? I am going to a 2 day crop next weekend, so hopefully I will build up a positive balance in my crafting "account." Well, so long as I don't spend a fortune while I'm there, lol!

Twinkle, twinkle, little card...

One of the girls in my stamp club had a baby boy a week or so before Christmas. I made her this card and actually had the foresight to take a picture of it before I mailed it off. (she lives way on the other side of Tucson, about 45-50 miles from me, so I mailed it instead of taking it by)

Anyhow, it is one of the first cards I had actually gotten to stamp in a loooong time. I don't have a current baby set, so I used this little elephant from the "Wild about you" stamp set. I stamped it in Versamark on a piece of "Cutie Pie" designer paper and then used heat and stick powder and dazzling diamonds glitter to shine him up a bit. He was stamped again on a small piece of the same designer paper, and then I cut out his ear and mounted it on top of the shiny guy with a dimensional. His eye is a googly eye from Michaels, and I used a Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker to color in his toenails.

The card base is Bashful Blue, the other cardstock is Wild Wasabi, as is the double stitched grosgrain ribbon. To finish the card up, I added three "Ice" rhinestone brads, faux stitched around the elephant's panel, and used my Basic Black marker to take the sentiment stamp from "Curvy Verses" and stretch it out as one long curvy line as opposed to the two lines it is originally.

You can click on the pic to open it in a larger window. Thanks for checking in...all 3 of you, hehe!

(Shopping List- all supplies are from Stampin' Up! contact me or your demonstrator to place an order or if you have any questions)

Ok, maybe my vacation is really over now...

Been a long time, I know. I honestly haven't had alot of time spent on the computer (or the phone for that matter) over the last 6 months. I have been so busy with my Stampin' Up! business, and school. I went back to the University of Arizona this past August, and the semester kept me so ridiculously busy. So busy that I am actually terrified of telling you that I am back blogging. It's Christmas vacation...I have some time on my hands and have been enjoying catching up on my blog reading and thinking about posting again. The Spring semester starts again in January. Honestly I don't know where that will take me, but I am going to try my darndest to post at least once or twice a week.

If there are any of you still out there checking in, well...you are amazing, thank you! I'll try not to disappoint you again. And, to any of you who participated in my A*Muse swap a zillion years ago, I am SO TERRIBLY SORRY, I just dug a pile of envelopes out from under my stamping table this week. I don't know how I forgot, and I really have no excuse. I will be mailing out the ones I have this week...I'll include something special too. I know that won't make up for my total flakiness, but it's a start...right?

Been a while...

Hasn't it? I know I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. I apologize. I have had a lot of you lovely ladies email me asking if everything is ok. It is, I just haven't been motivated to do any stamping, or posting for that matter. Funny thing blogging is. Long ago I remember reading a post on JulieHRR's blog that said she was taking a blogging vacation and I was mad, lol. I couldn't understand why she couldn't post a little something everyday....we were addicted, didn't she know? It's been a year or so since then. Guess what? I totally get it! LOL

Anyhow, thank you for your concern and kind words....I think I'm back. So, without further ado, here are some projects I've been working on.

This is the first one. It is for a WoW card swap at convention. I signed up to make a pocket card, and boy was it time consuming, lol. The card pocket is So Saffron stamped with the flower stamp from the Simply Said stamp set. Then I added pieces of the new Cutie Pie designer paper from SU! and rounded all the corners (with my old SU! small corner rounder...sorry).

The insert was also created with the So Saffron paper, some Whisper White, and the same stamp set. To create the pull tab, I added a piece of the new Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon that was tied to a clip from the Hodgepodge Hardware kit. It really isn't a difficult card. It was really only time consuming because the amount of steps involved in making it.

Simple but Sweet

I needed another quick but pretty card for my stamp club last weekend, but my mojo was still missing. So, I checked out the gallery on SCS and came across THIS awesome card that was created by Sandi175. I changed the colors to Cool Caribbean, Rose Red, and Marigold Morning, but left the sketch as is. I think that it is a really super cute card and only takes 5 minutes to create!

Love it! Now just keeping my fingers crossed that the spiral punch makes it into the new catty.

Waterfall card

I made this waterfall card as one of the projects for one of my stamp clubs last weekend. The colors used were Cranberry Crisp (which I think is the PERFECT color for this little crab), Sahara Sand, and Buckaroo Blue. All of the little sea creatures were stamped in black Stazon and then colored in with reinkers and a blender pen.

Here is a pic of the card when it is pulled out. We stamped the "Snappy Birthday" sentiment on the strip so that when you pull it out it's like a little surprise, lol.

Sad realization

Dear Bloggers,

Can you tell I have had no motivation for my blog over the last couple of weeks. Last night I was sitting here trying to figure out why...I looked back over all of my posts from the last 6 weeks or so and came to a sad realization.

My blog had become a running commercial for A*Muse. Somewhere in my quest for a 250 dollar gift certificate, I had forgotten why I started this blog. To share my love of stamping, of Stampin' Up, and bits of my life with my customers, long distance friends, and whoever else might enjoy it. Instead it became a way for me to win a 250 dollar gift certificate, and no fun.

So, I dropped out of the AMPA contest. Not officially, but I'm not participating anymore. It was making stamping and my blog a "job," and one I was not enjoying. So as of today, this blog is back to what it was intended for....fun! Back to Stampin' Up because that is where my true loyalties are (even without a 250 dollar gift certificate), back to posting because I want to share something with you, not because I need 10 points, and back to being fun.

Thank you for sticking with me even though I turned into a sell out, and turned my blog into a commercial. I deeply apologize that I got so caught up in that, and am so grateful that you are still checking in with me.

Great things to follow!

Hugs to you all!
Cori

Swap info

I am so sorry for the lack of posts this week. I have been having major issues with my computer and blogger.

For those of you who joined my swaps, all 3 groups have basically the same info.

**They are due to me the first week of July.
**They need to be 4x4 inch full cards
**If you are in the limited supply swap, please use what I sent you. If you want to add a brad or something, go ahead, but please make sure to use what was in your packet as well.
**Include enough postage for me to send back your swaps (the same amount it took to mail them to me, plus an extra just in case)

You can mail your swaps to me at

Cori Bravo
po box 231
Cortaro, AZ 85652

Thanks a bunch.... stay tuned....I have cards to post if the computer will behave. :)

Challenge 6 winner announced

On the AMPA blog. There were 123 entries for this round, and unfortunately one was not mine. *insert sad face* I just never got around embossing a card until the one I posted today, and it was already to late. Oh well, congrats to the winner. You can see who she is by clicking on this link.

More weekly winners posted

On the AMPA blog...did ya win? Click here to check out who the two winners are and what great prizes will be arriving on their doorsteps soon.

I told you my mojo is gone.

This card looks like I made it 3 years ago when I first started stamping, lol. What I was thinking when I colored this frog turquoise is beyond me. Maybe the antibiotics are eating my creativity? Grrrr!

Ok, here it is...I don't like it. Not really at all. I like the way the scallops match the ribbon. That's all, lol.

Sorry for the boring post. Hopefully my mojo will be back soon! Please mojo fairy? Please bring it back...

Quick card

My mojo is still missing. If anyone knows where I can find it I would really appreciate it! lol.

This card was pretty quick and easy. The birdcage was stamped in Versamark and then embossed with silver embossing powder. I drew the wire that is holding the birdcage with a sakura silver stardust pen. The bird was colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. This was mounted on Tempting Turquoise cardstock and then on some brushed silver cs from SU!

The charm I think I got a Michael's and it is tied on with grosgrain I got from Anna's ebay shop.

Would you believe?

That 7 people have correctly guessed the person holding the goodies in 3 rounds of secret squares? Yup, that's right, 7 lucky ladies are moving on to round 4. How fun would it be if they went through like 10 rounds? Lots o' yummy prizes that's for sure! Click ---->HERE to go to the AMPA blog and see who the 7 lucky ladies are, and what round 4 looks like.