Less is More. More or less.

I know less is more. I really do. But when I get going on a card and so many fun papers and ribbons match, I start slapping stuff together and thinking its good. So I go overboard. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Again, queen of cheap is trying to salvage scrap papers from various projects; I just can't throw patterned paper away! And I know less stamp sets are better, I don't really NEED every new stamp set in the SU mini. But I just want it all.... don't we all?

If you can't afford to buy new stamps at the moment, I have a cheater way to freshen up your cards. Buy patterned paper. You can work with OLD images and they'll always look new and fresh if the paper is new and fun. And paper is cheeeeeeeeeep~! The card above was done with an ANCIENT SU set, "Furnished with Love". The paper I worked with is a Making Memories stripe, and the polka dots are Anna Griffin paper. Swirls v.2 by autumn leaves.

So your challenge for today is: work with an old set, paired with NEW paper and see what you can come up with. You might save yourself a couple bucks. Or hundred. :)

Let it snow! But please don't let my flight be cancelled tomorrow!

Ask me what kind of a day I had today, being a travel agent, in MN, in the middle of a snowstorm that stretches out through most of the midwest and east coast? They've cancelled over 400 flights this week, and I have 300 travelers including myself trying to get to Louisville KY for meetings on Saturday. Ask me how crabby I am?! &$*#(*$$!

I made it home alive, slippin' and slidin' down I94. Can you believe they've shut down portions of HWY 35 & 90? SHUT EM DOWN! I'VE NEVER SEEN THAT BEFORE! So I get home and I finally had some good stuff happen to me today. I had some freakin awesome eye candy waiting for me in the mail from 3 WONDERFUL people that I know; Piris, Lanawho and HB. Girlfriends, please know that you were the only bright spot in my day today. My eyes popped out and I swear I made that AAAAAAAAYOOOOOOOOOGA sound like they do in the cartoons when I got your cards. I soooo needed that today!

My girlfriend Janine did finally make me laugh when she called tonite & offered to set me up with yet ANOTHER one of her single guy pals she knows. She always comes up with some 'great' catches...last year she wanted to set me up with a guy that was 'visually impaired', and couldn't see very well. The catch of today, is a guy that has memory problems and forgets what he's saying sometimes. BEAN, THANKS BUT NO THANKS. YOU ARE A FREAK. ;)

Speaking of memory problems......there was a point to the rambling. I will be adding one more post tomorrow before I leave for Louisville, and then will be missing until Tuesday.

I've added feedblitz to my blog, so if you'd like to subscribe to my blog, fill out the feedblitz link to the right, and updates will be e-mailed to your inbox when I'm back in town & bloggin' again.

Happy shoveling, Minnesconsin!

Queen of cheap.

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I am the queen of cheap. When I worked at Archivers, they used to laugh at me because I'd dig through the 'damaged items' junk drawer for stuff to make card samples with. I find inspiration in scraps of paper scattered everywhere. In short, I work better in a mess.

I was digging through my messy patterned paper bin and trying to use up scraps and tidbits of paper, when I happened across some old scraps of K & Company and Wild Asparagus paper. Neither are related or part of the same line, yet somehow, I found inspiration in pairing these two patterns together.

The card above is what resulted. And I'm even cheap enough to stretch a $1.00 Michael's thank you stamp into 2 images. I inked up just the letters of the word "thank you" with my black marker, resulting in a less cutesy/flowery, more 'country' style image.

So hang onto those scraps! You never know when you might 'need' them.

OH BETHIE! YOU ROCK MISS THANG!

CONGRATS ON THE FEATURED STAMPER GIG AND YOUR BLOSSOMING BANNER/WATERMARKING BUSINESS! http://freckledfun.blogspot.com/

Here's my take on a card that was in Bethie's gallery. (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=377777&cat=500&ppuser=1170

Her layout inspired some thank you cards that I made this weekend. It's my first time playing with the 'Val-flower' from Happy Harmony, and man, even *I* can make those flowers look ok!

I love that square floral design from the 'Carte Postale' set. You know how you always gravitate toward 1 certain stamp in a stamp set? Well that's my fave. I use it for subtle backgrounds a lot. I layered that square with the linen stamp set to make it look sorta fabric-ish.

I'm still playing with that fab Daisy-D's for Archivers summer paper. The floral is perfect size for cards, not too big, not too small. And I always have to give it the shab-treatment, creamy caramel distressed around the edges. So there you have it. :)

Desk Picnic.

I had big plans today to update my blog on my lunch hour.... but Northwest Airlines had other plans for me. I spent the morning rebooking 28 people on new flights for this Saturday because they didn't have a crew to fly the plane. So I had a 'desk picnic lunch' at work instead, while I sat on hold with the airline for 2 hours. Apparently the snowstorm that kept us inside yesterday is making waves throughout the airline system. Hopefully everyone out there stuck in an airport gets home safely today!!

Yesterday's stamp-a-thon in my craft room yielded the cards attached! I was completely inspired by an ad for a basic grey "blush" card kit. I loved the quilted look of one of the cards, and decided to adapt it to the 'friends' card in the front of the photo. The papers are by Daisy D's for Archivers (limited edition) and the floral stamp is from "Happy Harmony" by Stampin up. The round sentiment is a Michael's dollar stamp, with the saying "The most cherished posession is a friend". -

If I could adjust that sentiment to fit my day, I'd change it to "The most cherished posession to a travel agent is chocolate'. Is that wrong?

YIPPEE! ANOTHER DAY OF SNOW & GUILT-FREE STAMPING!!!! It just started snowing again here in St. Paul, BIG, FLUFFY BEAUTIFUL FLAKES! Of course, there will be other adjectives to describe it once I'm out there shoveling again. (*#$&*#!!)

I'm off to my stamp room to create more cards. Here are some cards I created this week that are more masculine or elegant. I don't have a lot of 'male' oriented stamps, so I used what I had and tried to have the paper create the mood. All images are Stampin' Up. Paper by Basic Grey and Foo-Fa-La.

I'm baaaaaaaaaa-ack!!!!!!

I promised I'd start blogging again once the snow started flying in MN. Well, its the end of February and its finally just starting to snow around here.

So this weekend I'm cozied up in my stamp room with a new order of Bellas (www.stampingbella.com) and am stamping away and trying to avoid the shovel! I made a last ditch run to Archivers last night for supplies, so I'm good for the weekend. I was talking to one of my travel arrangers last night, she was making a run for food and wine. I left work and ran to Archivers. Priorities. Although I should have made a wine run, I'm officially out!

Here's my first card on my new blog! I'll toast to that!