Monday: Obsessed

Happy Monday!

And I mean that-  I want you to have a Monday as happy as a Monday can be...

Am I being negative?  No.  I just don't want to be secured to a desk until 5pm.  I want to be at home, working happily away on a little project.  A project that I started yesterday morning.  It's sitting halfway completed, now, crying for my return.  What is it?  I won't tell you, yet.  But I will give you a hint.  It began with these nice 12x12 sheets of chipboard.

That tells you lots, doesn't it?  I'll give you another hint-  it's a project for my favorite holiday.  Halloween.

I'm really proud of myself, thinking ahead and all...  I've got projects lined up for your amusement and entertainment needs.  All the way through Valentine's Day! 

I'm here today with some inspirationical links.  Stuff I'm obsessing over or stuff that has inspired me enough to lay in the middle of the floor thinking about what I'd do if I would only sit up.  If you follow all the people I've told you about in the past, you'll have seen it already- so in that case, you should skip to the bottom and let me know what you're obsessing over!

First up:  Sherry C's blog, My Favorite Things.  I'm loving her blog so much she should change her blog's title to KORY'S FAVORITE SITE.  She's a genius.  Want proof?  Lookit how she cut a square out of the Core'dinations and flipped it around so you can see both sides of this great paper.  I love this idea.  And I love that set of Core'dinations.  I have lots of it, mostly scavenged from Basket Market.  Also, don't miss the later post where she draws/embosses the Core'dinations by HAND.

Now, head back over to Frank's Haus of W.  Not only can you admire the old-fashioned CAMERA that he built, but the amazing Vintage Envelope Mini-Album he designed to go inside the camera.  And my dearest Franklin was also too kind to give away a PDF of the envelope template that he made!  I love envelopes more than I love vodka and tonic- so I spent some time playing with the template.  I printed it out in three sizes- regular size, medium size and a baby size!  Here they are, lined up in my mini-Smash book:

Cool, huh?

I would much rather make a card- but there are still times when a moment arrives and you just need to grab a store-bought card.  I have hundred of cards.  I always pull a selection of two or three cards from each package, to keep in my file cabinet at the office- so that I always have both thank you cards and blank cards near my right hand at all times.  How often do I need a thank you card?  Just about as often as I need a blank card to write happy birthday to someone down the hall, that's how often.  In other words: ALL THE TIME.

And I saw these colorful cards at Target:

I like the 'Tired of Texting' card.  And the 'Freakin Thanks' card.  Fun, huh? 

Okay, I've got work to do-  wish me luck!

-kory


 

Sunday: A card!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

You know what Sunday is-  MATINEE DAY.  

As I went out with the sound designer for much needed drinks after last night's show, I didn't just spring out of bed this morning, ready to do the show.  I did somehow manage to drag myself downtown in time- and guess what?  Somebody up above must have decided to do me a favor and give me a break- we had the smoothest running performance EVER.  It was such a nice break from all the issues and problems that have been attacking us every night!  Finally, the drama was onstage, where it belongs!

I'm here, today, to share a card that I made with one of my favorite stamps from Stampotique/Daniel Torrente.  I love his stamps!!!  They're so fun!

Isn't that cutest little creepy guy?

I used some kraft cardstock, the ever-trusty Vintage Photo Distress Ink and Hobby Lobby's knockoff Tim Holtz style gears.  Hobby Lobby's gears are VERY thin and cheap feeling-  I'm kind of conflicted, they look kinda cool, but they feel so cheap.  But they are very thin and lightweight, so they work well on cards.

I grabbed a few random bits out of my scrap-pile.  A piece of Kraft Funday border, a strip of cardstock I'd embossed using the new Stencil embossing folder from Mr. Holtz, a bit of stamped chevron graphic-  everything just jumped out of at me and ended up on the card.

Wanna see it?  Here it go!

I love that little guy!  And these stamps are addictive.  I want them ALL.

I colored him with a few Distress Markers.  Do you have any yet?  They are fantastic!

Alright.  I'm out- it's Sunday evening in a few minutes and I need to rest and relax and clear what's left of my foggy mind!  Have the best Monday possible, tomorrow!

-kory

Embossing Diffusers, or: The Most Exciting Day of My Life

Have you ever had one of those moments, when you realize that your life hasn't been lived in vain?  That moment has happened to me a few times.  The first time, it was while stage managing the rock musical, HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH.  The second time was today, when I discovered the EMBOSSING DIFFUSERS from Sizzix/Tim Holtz/Alterations.

You should know right away that if Mr. Holtz has allowed his should-be sainted name to be placed on a product that it's worthwhile.  Yeah, I'm a little drunk on boxes wine, so I might be going overboard.  But really.  You know true love when you see it...  whether it's in the broad sober daylight or in the dark of a nasty smoke-filled bar.  Or in your local scrap/art store.

Today was DEMO DAY at My Heart's Fancy- one of my most favorites spots in town.  I went with the lovely Darla/Chocklit Dee from Scrapbook.com.  They were demo-ing (is that a word? no, it would just be 'demonstrating,' I guess- that's another thing that can get on my nerves-  I mean, as much as I love to invent new words, I dislike it when they're co-opted by the masses, such as 'demo' for 'demolishing' thanks to HGTV).   I'm sorry, I tend to ramble a bit when I'm on the Jesus Juice (thank you, Mr. Jackson).

What the hell was I talking about?

DIFFUSERS.  EMBOSSING DIFFUSERS.

Just go out and buy them, ladies and gentlemen.

Here's mine!

See?

Now, do you get it?

If not- here's a brief and the best explanation that I can do in such circumstances.

You use the diffuser to emboss all but a part of the card.  You can emboss all but a circle, oval, or small wide oval, of the the card.  OR- you can use the inset shapes to just emboss a circle of the card.  Or an oval or a small oval.

Do you get what I'm trying to say?

Yes.  You have just multiplied all of your embossing folders by six.

This product will change the way you look at every embossing folder that you own!

Promise.   Go buy it.

Here's the card that I made at DEMO DAY.  This might give you a better idea:

And here's one that I just made, at home.  Pretty much ripping off that demo design- but using a different diffuser:

I LOVE THESE!!  

I can't wait to play with these more.  And more.  If you're into card making, it really makes a world of new ideas.

-kory

Learning Lessons

I guess that shouldn't be plural.  I can really only think of one lesson I've learned, tonight.  And that lesson is that: RED DOESN'T PHOTOGRAPH WELL.

There is another lesson- but it's one that I need to learn.  That is: learn to take proper pictures.  Maybe I need a better camera.  Yeah, that's what the camera companies WANT me to think!

I'm stone cold sober, and thought- well, I'm home alone on a Friday night, why don't I pull out that new package of BasicGrey KONNICHIWA paper and see what I can make with it with it's delightfully colorful paper and possibly racist sticker?

Well, here's what I managed to make!

I offset the 'cuteness' of the sticker by using the (also included) alpha-stickers to say 'smile dammit.'

A great card to send to a friend who's down in the dumps.  You know, that friend of your's with an unhealthy me-no-speak-english-geisha-fixation.

Here's to a great weekend!  DEMO DAY at My Heart's Fancy, tomorrow!

And in the GREAT NEWS department, Ghostlight Records has recorded the off-Broadway revival of my FAVORITE Broadway musical of ALL time:  CARRIE.   YES!  1988's Broadway musical, CARRIE, has finally been professionally recorded!  No more suffering thru scratchy bootleg recordings!  However, no wonder how great sounding this new production will sound- it will never compare to the insane thrills of the original Broadway cast.  Here's to CARRIE!  There's NEVER Been A Musical Like HER!

-kory

"Sometimes, I feel just like Mary's donkey..."

What a day.  I have had a killer headache all damn day.  The kind that makes you sick to your stomach.  The kind that makes you want to throw your Cricut Expression 2 at anyone who makes a noise.  The kind that makes you leave work at 1 and call it a day...

So that's what I did.  No, not throw my Cricut.  Leave work at 1.  I thought my head was going to explode.  And since we can barely get the cleaning people to vacuum the office, I went home.

But I stopped by Michael's on the way home.  Did you know that my middle name is Michael?

What a good day to stop my Michaels!  Check out what I found in the ONE DOLLAH MAKE YOU HOLLAH aisle:

New stamps!  These are pretty cool.  I love the lion with the crown and the giraffe with the frilly collar and party hat.  Notice my attention to detail with the upside down 'Have Fun' stamp.  These coordinate well with last Spring's vintage circus stamps from the dollar aisle.  And I loved those!

I bought one of each they had in this set- I don't know if there are any others.  Since my nearest Michaels is famous for not having ALL the stamps in the set/collection, I'll hafta check the more reliable/better stocked location on the South-side.  In my dreams, there's one more stamp in the set, an elephant in a tutu or something.

I laid on the couch, watching Kitchen Nightmares for a bit, before getting up for make a couple of cards.  

First up, a very simple card, using one of my favorite stamps.

 

I used my newest set of Spellbinders!  Labels #5, which I found on clearance at JoAnn for 5.97.  That's a bargain, if you didn't know it...  I love the little guy peekin' out of the window.

For my next card, I used my newest Daniel Torrente stamp.  

I did my favorite technique from Mr. Holtz, 'Wrinkle Free Distress.'  How fun is it to do that?!   Then I stamped the little heartbreaker on top, and colored him with more Distress Inks.  I got the, what's it called?     Text bubble?  Chat bubble?  What's it called?!  Anyways, I got the bubble in a set of them, for a dollar, at Michaels, and stamped the HI with my typewriter letter stamps that I seem to want to use on everything lately.  I stamped a houndstooth background with Tea Dye Distress Ink onto a card made from white cardstock and glued the guy on!  I can't wait to write something inside and send him to someone!

Last night, the sky was pink.  Really!  It was purty as can be, and I wanted to see if I could take a picture of it-  I went into the backyard and here it is-  and I still thought it was so purty that I had to show y'all!

There ya go- stamps, two cards, and a picture of a pink sky!

-kory

An Altered Box, A Few Cards, A Rough Day

Alright, I know- last night, I promised I'd show you some cards, today.  Is 8:30pm still *today*?  Technically, yes.  But it doesn't feel like it...

Today was one of the worst and craziest days of my life.  And I've lived a rough life.

Anyways- there will be cards, I know you were all holding your breath for some cards!  Haha.  But first, here's a little box that I made.  Oops, I mean, a box that I ALTERED.  

It was a plain little paperboard box that I pieced up at Michaels for fitty cents.  Yes!  That *IS* one of the new 'Faucet Knobs' from Mr. Holtz, thanks for noticing!   I bought a package of the faucet knobs on Saturday.  As soon as I bought them, I knew exactly what I was gonna do with the first one-  attach it to this little box! 

Here's a a shot of the top, so's that you can fully appreciate the beauty that is Tim Holtz's knob:

Isn't that terrific?!  Only four for eight bucks, though.  Kinda expensive.  If you wanna use lots of these little jewels, you'll definitely hafta turn a couple extra tricks, oops, I mean:  work some overtime.  I covered the top of the box, as you can see above, with a Martha Stewart 'Precious Metals' paint chip from Home Depot.  I picked up lots of them- they're so cool!  A square with no printing, and it LOOKS like metal!  And they're free.  So that kinda helps cover the cost of the faucet knobs.

I rubbed some white acrylic paint on the sides of the box with my finger, then dirtied it up with some Vintage Photo Distress Stain.  I covered the edges of the lid with some Tissue Tape- the new 'Commute' set!  Aaaaand rubbed some more Vintage Photo Distress Ink on it, before stamping my initials with my letter stamps. 

Cute box, huh?  I'm happy with it- and it's the perfect size for a few contraceptives or your 'nighttime pills' if you keep it on your nightstand.  Or keep it on your desk for your 'daytime pills.'

Okay, okay, okay- it's time for cards cards cards!  

Well, time for cards cards.  I only made two.  

First up:

I embossed a piece of Distress Core'dnations (don't know if I'm spelling that right and not in the mood to research) then swiped some white paint over it, before stamping a square of kraft with a cute background stamp.  Love those circles.  The typewriter stamp was found at Basket Market.  I don't know who made it- but it's cute.  The 'paper' with the type on it says 'old school.'  This would be a nice card to send to someone you went to school with, to let them know how terrific your life is going, and that you hope everything's working out well for them and their five kids and dirty house.

Here's something a bit more colorful:

I finally got a piece of Kraftcore paper.  It's every bit as wonderful as you imagined it would be...

I embossed it with the Tim Holtz gears folder, then sanded it up-  ain't that kraft a beautiful thang?  Seriously.  Does anything look better than kraft?

The gears were cut from the Gadget Gears die, from more 'Precious Metals' paint chips from Martha Stewart.  Look!  Looks just like metal!

I love these paint chips!  I've gotta get more!  Home Depot, here I come!

Please, pray that I survive my work tomorrow.  ALSO-  I want to thank all of you that have been reading and leaving such nice comments.  They really make me smile, and when I see how many people are viewing each day, it just makes my head spin.  Thank you so much!

I'll be back tomorrow with my 'first draft' Spring Pennant!  Yeahp, SPRING PENNANT FIRST DRAFT TAKE TWO: POST WINE DISASTER.

-kory

Tuesday With A Vengeance

Yeahp.  Tuesday damn near killed me.  I don't want to complain.  But I will.  I am cursed with a face that looks younger than my age.  It's definitely catching up, the hard life I've lived is starting to show through the cracks- but still, I don't really look my age.  Believe me, it was much worse.  When I was sixteen, I looked maybe ELEVEN.  My younger brother, who had a freakin' BEARD and a foot-tall mohawk when he was FOURTEEN used to have to go up to the box office to buy tickets for rated-R movies because they wouldn't sell them to me.  To ME, the person who DROVE us to the movie theatre.  I had to hid around the corner, behind the bush, while he bought the tickets for The Rocky Horror Picture Show every Saturday night at midnight.  Anybody else remember doing that?  Not hiding behind bushes while your younger brother bought the tickets, but going to Rocky Horror at Midnight?  I digress.  What I was getting to is that because I look/sound younger- it can be a struggle to get people to take me seriously.  I can't tell you how many times I am talked down to at work by people who don't know me/are unaware of my awesome work skills.  As I was TODAY.  Which put me in a bad mood.   DISCLAIMER:  When I say something like 'my awesome work skillz,' or talk about 'how cool I am,'  -trust me, I am just being funny.  I am not some crazed conceited d-bag.  Alright- with that disclaimer out there, let's get down to bidness, before I send more people running for the 'back' button, screaming 'I CAME HERE TO SEE SOME PAPERCRAFTING GENIUS NOT TO BE THIS GUY'S THERAPIST!'

With a tough day at work, what am I to do but use my lunch hour to run up to PAPER CROWN and see what was in the new shipments she mentioned on her blog yesterday?  No new Tim Holtz, but I did find a few things- a set of Prima stamps that I bought because one was a little bug.  A bee, I think.  Or is it a fly?

photo from scrapbook.com - click to buy!

What is THAT?  As soon as I want to say it's a fly, its butt makes me want to say it's a bee.   I think I like every one of these tiny stamps.  Yes, they are tiny.  And perfect for fitting into little spaces that need a little bee.  Or a fly.  And they cost two bucks.  Well, I love all of them except for the the 'love' on the little stamp.  It would've been perfect if it didn't say 'love!'  By the way- have I ever expressed my distaste for those 'Live Laugh Love' signs?  They do to home decor as Thomas Kinkade does to art.  Oh I hate the LIVE LAUGH LOVE signs.  Don't get me started.  And my sincerest apologies to all of you that have a LIVE LAUGH LOVE sign hanging in your living room.  I mean no more offense than that sign.  

;-)

So there I am, staggering around Paper Crown, trying to decide if should hurry back to work or if I should fake a flat tire so I can go home and play, I get distracted by paper.  Being distracted by paper is a wonderful thing, isn't it?  I grabbed some new My Mind's Eye, and some of the 'Boys Life' papers from Echo Park.  Wow, dat's some purty paper.

I also got these nifty stamps from OCTOBER AFTERNOON:

These caught my eye because of the doily shapes.  Ever since watching the great DREW SCOTT's live Prima class last week, I've wanted some doily stamps.  I loved the way they looked, stamped with brown ink, on that layout he did... and now, I've got some doily stamps!  I also love the 'this book belongs to' stamp AND the two silhouettes.  They key isn't bad, but I have more key stamps than I have vintage typewriter stamps.  How about a round of applause for OCTOBER AFTERNOON, ladies and gentlemen?!  I love you, OA.  

I also got these very cool retro travel inspired cards, from GLITZ's 'Happy Travels' collection!  I love anything having to do with travel - did you know that I was a travel agent for a little over six years?  Remember.  There might be a test, one day.

I can't wait to find a way to use these cards!

The rest of the day at work, I was planning on coming home to scrap a layout using my favorite old photo of my parents.  But when I got home, I YET AGAIN felt too lazy/technologically challenged to attempt messing with the printer... so I decided it was time to make another card.  

I forget WHERE I saw (in person) one of the 'Tri-Fold Shutter Cards.'  And that 'A Boy's Life' paper was sitting on table, winkin' at me and showin' a little leg...DAAAAMN!  I had to put that paper to work!  

I used some postage stamp lookin' paper tape from 7 Gypsies and more of my beloved die cuts from K & COMPANY, that I picked up while, um, grocery shopping at Wal-Mart.  It's a big bag of very cool looking vintage cards and bits- I need another bag!  That little 'Howdy' card, with the horse, is almost cooler than I am, for Gawd's sake!

See what I mean about that little 'Howdy' card?!  Coolness.

This is a close up of another one of the K&CO die cut cards- I thought it would be cool to circle the date and write the month and year info when I give this card to someone.  Those are the tiny staples from Mr. Holtz's tiny attacher, there, too.  Any excuse to use that damn treasure!

Well, making cards can wear a fella out.  I'm done for...

I hope everyone had a great creative day!  I'm working on some exciting things for my blog, so I hope y'all keep coming back.  What exciting things?  Some PRIZES and some VIDEO!  Don't get too excited about the prizes- this ain't no big classy blog.  But I can promise it'll be somethin' cool- cuz I'm cool like dat.  And video?  Yeahp.  I've been practicing a big opening number every time I jump into my truck to drive somewhere.  

-kory

The Rosette Bowl!

As much as I like to complain about Mondays, I hate to complain about Sundays- but I will:

I don't like Sundays, either.  Lots of stores are closed and you can feel Monday hovering over the entire day.

My Mom wanted me to come over and help move her new mattress up the stairs and into her bedroom.  Because we're so classy, we didn't have to carry the old mattress down the stairs to get it out of the house. How did we get the old mattress out?  We threw it off the balcony.

Once I got home, I sat down at my worktable and started playing around with stuff.  I didn't know what I wanted to make, I just knew that I wanted to make SOMEthing.

The first thing that caught my eye was my plastic bin of punches.  I dug through the jumbled mess and saw the double-loop border punch.  I wanted to know what it would look like if I folded it into a rosette.  I cut a strip of kraft cardstock, punched it, then scored, folded and glued it into a rosette.  I brushed the edges with some white American Crafts pigment ink.  Pretty cool looking:

I couldn't think of what to do next.  I started sorting through lots of stamps and placing them into plastic binder pockets.  I came across some 'Distressing Stamps' from GLITZ that I had forgotten all about!  I grabbed another sheet of my favorite Kraft cardstock and my Tim Holtz Mini-Rosettes die.  I wanted to see what they'd look like if I stamped the paper before assembling the rosette.

I LOVE these stamps!  I found them on clearance at Hobby Lobby for 7.79.  They're big and have great designs.  I loved the way this strip looked- it reminded me of my current favorite papers- Kraft Funday from My Mind's Eye.  I also stamped a strip of the cardstock with the 'handwriting' stamp, then ran them through my BigKick with the rosette die.  Here's how they turned out:

Don't they look great?!  For some reason, I'd always used a solid colored piece of cardstock when making them- I love how these turned out.

But now I've got a little handful of rosettes with no plan to use them!  I got out some blank cards and more paper and came up with this little 'thank you' card:

The stamp is from American Crafts.  The background paper is from the Tim Holtz Core D'nations Distress Collection stack.  I also used two strips of unassembled rosettes as a kind of border strip.  And used that 'dots' stamp, again, from the pack of Glitz 'distressing stamps,' stamped with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

The string is one of my favorite things to use on my cards- I got a big spool of it from the Dollar Tree!  It's just a plain twine, but looks kinda dingy white, and is very soft.  I need to pick up a few more spools next time I'm there- because, well, it IS just a dollar- but I seem to be using quite a bit of it!

As soon as I finished clearing some space off my table, I noticed that new stamp from yesterday.  He was staring me down.  Begging for me to use him.  And how could I say no?

Again:  I FREAKIN' LOVE THIS STAMP!

The card base is from a pack of tag card bases from the 'dollar bin' at Michaels.  I found the small scrap of light blue Distress Core D'nations in my scraps box- it was just the right size to fit in the Tim Holtz gears Texture Fade embossing folder.  I sanded it a bit and rubbed some Tea Dye ink on it, as well as some Walnut Stain.  I added one of the stamped rosette centers, with the tiny attacher.  The tape is "Tinted Tape: Aged," from Vintage Street Market.  There's also a trinket pin, a chain, and the 'IMAGINE' tag, all from Mr. Holtz, of course.   This is one of my favorite cards, in a long time.

I LOVE THIS STAMP!  I can't wait to find even better ways to showcase it!  What a charmer!

Alright, ladies and gentlemen.  I've taken a Benadryl.  It's time to try to get enough 'Sanity Sleep' before I have to try to face the week.  What is 'Sanity Sleep?'  It's like beauty sleep.  But I need sanity more than beauty, at the moment.  No jokes, please.

-kory

Oh, HI!

Happy Friday Eve, beautiful people!

I almost sat on a cat.

For real.  Thought it was a pillow.

Anyways- I was sitting around, feeling sorry for myself and- oh, who am I kidding?  I was sitting around thinking, WHOOHAWL, tomorrow is Friday!  Not just any Friday, either.  Tomorrow is the annual Friends of the Library SALE!

Once a year, the 'Friends of the Library' have a gigantic book sale at the OKC Fairgrounds.  It's HUGE.  The best part?  Hardcover books are ONE DOLLAR and anything not hardcover is FIFTY CENTS.

The next best part?  If you pay ten bucks a year to be a member of the 'Friends,' you get tickets to the 'Member's Only Pre-sale' the night before the sale opens 'to the public.'  Now, being a member of the Friends of the Library isn't as exclusive as I might've made it sound.  Anybody with ten bucks is good.  And there are LOTS of anybody's with ten bucks.  TONS of people show up for the pre-sale.  The line starts to form very early- just to walk in at 5, when the doors open.  Holly and I show up around 1pm.  And sit on cold concrete for four hours.  Just in the chances that being the first hundred people through the door is the only thing keeping us from finding a real treasure.

Waiting in the line is fun, tho- we see the same people every year.  We catch up.  Holly and the lady who is always there with her Aunt practice their 'pushing people out of the way of a good book moves.'  We make fun of the woman who talks on the microphone the entire three days of the sale.  We make fun of the 'unexperienced book shoppers' that walk in with dreams and a list of brand new bestsellers they'll find...  and then we make fun of each other.  It's all in good fun, we're not cruel.  Not that cruel.  And then the minute the doors open, we all run inside and forget we ever saw each other- until the next year, that is...

What kind of books do I find?  All kinds of things.  Books I never knew I wanted or needed or ones I've known I've wanted to have for a long time- and each one is a surprise!  I look for (and usually find) lots of scripts, published plays, theatre history books, crazy fiction, literature-  very cool stuff.  I do all this while Holly clears out the Home Decorating section.  I usually end up with fifty to sixty books.  Last year, I picked up a few old dictionaries and an atlas, for cool papers to use in crafts.  This year, I think I'll need lots more.  My old dictionaries are lookin' kinda ragged.  Well, the ones that didn't walk away with other people who needed cool old dictionaries.  I might pick up a few extras, for use in me 'n Holly's online shop.  No, it's not live, yet- so don't get too excited.

Wait a minute, where was I?  Oh yeah-  so, I was watching TV and thought, I can't sit still too long.  Project Runway All-Stars isn't entertaining me.  I decided to get up and work on a mini-album that I started a month ago.  I'm blocked.  I decided to try out a new Tim Holtz die that I bought a week or so ago.  That didn't get anything flowing, either.  I know!  I'll make a card!

I'm still slightly in love with that paper I used on the 'wedding' layout that I did a couple of days ago.  The opposite site is a bright yellow color- and, of course, I was dying to spray some Mister Huey's up in hurr!

I'm a bit proud of this photo.  I attached my camera to the super-nice tripod I found for five bucks at a Goodwill last Friday.  Believe it or not, my hands are not as steady as you'd think they would be.


I used a piece of Kraft cardstock that I bought from Jo-Ann.  This is the best kraft cardstock that I've ever got my dirty hands on- seriously.  It's thick and has almost the texture of a grocery store paper bag- you remember those thick brown bags?  It's slightly rough and is just terrific.

The only other things I used on this (surprise) simple card are:

Crate Paper: Brook Collection- 'Ripple'
My tiny attacher
The 'centers' that the Tim Holtz mini rosette die cuts out
and- Dark Calico and White MISTER HUEYS, for the win, as the kids say.

Here's another view:

Well, I don't know about you beauties- but like the card doesn't say, tomorrow is a new day, too- and I need my rest for a big day of half a day of work and THE LIBRARY SALE.  Wish me lots of luck!

-kory

The Weekend Ends...

Wow, what a weekend!

I am exhausted.  And tired.  And worn OUT.

...and I do not want to go to work tomorrow morning.

We closed the new play, FRESH MEET, last night.  After the show, I went out for what was supposed to be one drink, with my best friend, Jason.  We were roommates back 'when we were kids.'  We've known each other a long, long time.  He moves around lots, now, with his job as a very successful TV news producer.  So any time he's in town is an occasion to have a great time!  And as I was saying, 'one drink' after the show turned into a barhopping wild time.  Just like the old days.  I ended up staying up to four in the morning.  No, not out drinking until four- but when we did get back to my place, I got distracted by what I guess was an all night marathon of one of my favorite TV shows-  LOCK UP.  I love it when they show the women's prisons- the two ladies who run the loan shark business FROM THEIR CELLS crack me up...

Anyways, I did finally climb out from under my hangover long enough to make a card.  Yes!  It was time to try out my Mister Huey's Color Mist!  BUT FIRST, I needed some background music!  I went over to my record player and put on one of the new records I found at the thrift store on Friday.  This is the super cool record player that I found in someone's trash, last year.  Can you believe someone would throw this away?  It looks so cool and it WORKS!  The record is a collection of music from the '20s.  So fun.

With the music putting me into a great mood, I stared lovingly at my collection of Mister Huey's Color Mists.  And this was when I got the 'joke' of the name- MISTER Huey's!  Get it?  MISTER?  Clever! 

I've since peeled off the bright pink price stickers.  Hmmm.  Which to use, first?  Yeahp.  Calico White.  The first one I ever saw.  The shade that began a great love affair.

When I use any kind of mist or spray,  I use a big plastic bag.  I put whatever I'm gonna spray in the bottom of the bag and spray away.  

I sometimes see those cardboard 'Color Catchers' at the store, and often think about buying one- but I luckily come to my senses and realize that this works perfectly.  And it's free!

The mist worked perfectly.  A perfectly non-uniform, random mist.  I LOVE these!  I haven't been this excited about a purchase in a long time.  Now, to find the 'Clay' color!  

So- here's my card!

I used:

A Fiskars Triangle punch.  (Found at Big Lots for 3.00)

The 'chain' is a border\edger punch from EK Success

Spellbinders, Labels 1

Distress Inks: Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain and Festive Berries

"Friend" stamp from Magnetic Poetry Word Stamps

The Kraft card stock is Michael's store brand

Colorful paper is from Kaisercraft's 'Surf's Up' collection

and of course, Mister Huey's Calico White!

Happy Sunday evening, everyone.  Have a great week!  Gotta run- THE WALKING DEAD is on!

-kory

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!  I truly hope you get to hear that from someone special, and not a crafty, rambling drunk. 

How did I celebrate Valentine's Eve?  I made cards, that's what!   I made the above card a few weeks ago, actually.   I made it during a fit of craftcitement, when I bought a new set of LABELS dies from SPELLBINDERS.   I think that is a new embossing folder used, up there, too.  It must've been a shopping binge and cardmaking day.  But it's all in blackout, now.  All I can do is make a wild guess that the day involved a binge at the HobLobs and a purging cardmaking session.

Here is a card that I made last night:

The base of the card is from a pack of 1.00 tag cards that I found in the Dollar Bins at MICHAELS.  I've had them for ages, but never used them- but now that I did, it's one of those 'where you been all my life, yo?!' moments.  Aren't they cute?!   I just covered it with a piece of paper from CRATE and a heart with arrow from the TIM HOLTZ Valentine's die.  Mr. Holtz even makes the best shaped hearts.  How's he do that?!

Alright, CoWorker Beverly just handed TWO Valentine's NERDS ROPES.  My favorite candy.  I gotta go, but HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!  I'll be back later in the day with a layout from my SHOW BIDNESS album!

-kory