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My Christmas Card -- A little late!!!

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I hope you all had a marvelous Christmas and Hanukkah!

Well, the good news is that I mailed my cards on time (at least, before Christmas!). The bad news is that I didn't share them here before the holidays. So I am sharing both cards I made here today -- better late than never!

The card on the right is a Herringbone Card, from the December 2009 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter. I made 40 of these cards....paper pieced each one. This was certainly a labor of love!  The paper is from Basic Grey, and the stamps are from Stampin' Up!.

One more thing about Herringbone -- rest assured that all the Herringbone cards posted to the TJ group will be included in the contest. Gorgeous work so far! If you want to enter and have not posted to the egroup, post a card to the group or send it directly to me (no need to do both). 

The card on the left was made using a modified Sepia Technique (October 2009 issue of the TJ Newsletter) plus the Bandanna Technique (August 2008 issue of the newsletter).  I only made 20 of these because I ran out of brown paper! Stamps: The Angel Company

On a personal note:  I had company from December 17th (or was it the 18th? I lost track!) until this morning. I haven't been able to dedicate myself to TJ, my blog, or anything online for 11 days! I had DH's family here over the weekend, and parties, too... not much time for much else.  I am NOT complaining -- my MIL helped me make cookies, Christmas dinner, and she cooked for me (or along side me) the whole 10 days. Plus she did soooo many dishes and shopped with me too. It was almost like having a wife!  I am thankful and grateful to have a loving relationship with her; she helps fill the hole in my heart that was left when my mom passed.

We are going away again New Year's Eve, too -- so if you don't hear from me, you will know why! I will try to post before then, though...the last giveaway of the year!

Take time today to tell the ones you love that you love them.

Wonderful Wintry Giveaway: The Paper Temptress

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Paper, Paper, Paper. No-one does it better or has a more exquisite variety of paper than The Paper Temptress! As our giveaway sponsor this week, The Paper Temptress is offering two sheets of her newest cardstock for one lucky winner! To give you even more variety, and maybe a few ideas, the winner will also receive the 5 ATCs shown at right. Each were made by me this year using a Technique Junkie Technique and Paper Temptress paper!


From Patricia, THE Paper Temptress: "Paper Temptress has been very busy adding 31 new fabulous sheets to an already extensive line of cardstock.  Two fabulous sheets of Kromekote Ultra High Glossy Textured in both Canvas and Silk finishes!  I am very excited about the new colored Brown Bag Kraft which is double sided, fabulous colors on one side and the perfect Brown Bag on the other side!!  Perfect for embellishments, cute little gift bags, the list goes on and on.  Two different weights of Clear Cardstock, the heavy weight would make great album covers, heck you can even use it to store unmounted stamps! I will even punch the holes in it for you.  Two new stunning pearl finish linen sheets in both gold and white pearl, the prettiest texture paper I have ever seen!  Wow, I could go on and on but just follow this link to be awed by all the new cardstock added.  To introduce this cardstock to Technique Junkies I am offering a giveaway of 2 sheets of each of the new cardstock so be sure to enter by following this link and then comment on what technique you would use with this newest cardstock."


To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on this post by end of day Sunday, December 27th. I will use my random number generator to select the winner. Please remember to identify yourself fully -- Blogger does NOT allow access to your name easily.  Anyone can enter, anyone can win.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!

On a personal note: It has been forever and a day since my last post -- I apologize! The holidays have had me spinning, and I have company for two weeks this year -- starting last week Thursday through next week. Although I AM enjoying the company of my in-laws, it does throw stones into the Technique Junkie Machine. I haven't stamped for pleasure for weeks!

I do have some things to share later this week again, so stay tuned. Once again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!



Congratulations to Lori Smanski, the winner of this giveaway!




It's a Treasure Hunt!

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December always brings a bounty of gifts and this season is no different. This week, the Technique Junkie Newsletter designers and writers have come together to give you a bounty of eye candy celebrating the December 2009 Technique Junkie Newsletter issue! If you started here, you may want to stop reading this post for a minute or two, and go to the Technique Junkie Blog, where the festivities start. As you follow along the path of the Treasure Hunt, you will collect clues...which will eventually take you back here.

When you have finished all the clues, simply leave a comment with the word "key" you have discovered -- and you will be entered for this month's hunt.

Hey, I bet you want to know what the treasure is this month!

Well, we start with this gorgeous paper pack from Club Scrap:

And then we have this HUGE 8-1/2 x 11" red rubber stamp sheet - packed with over 35 images and perfect for inchies -- from Innovative Stamp Creations:
Then we have this elegant alphabet set from Clear Artistic Stamps:
And finally, I have this gorgeous Set of 5 stamps from Art Neko:
I hope you love this eclectic collection as much as I do. If you do, and you have followed the clues, you will need this letter to complete your journey: S

Now simply leave a comment by Friday, December 4th at 9am EST. Make sure to leave the "key" to the hunt with your comment -- the letter clues you collected along the way. The winner will be selected on Friday morning. Make sure that you leave enough information so that I can contact you to let you know you won. Note that I have comment moderation on -- so you will not see your comment appear, either. Just a reminder that Blogger does NOT leave me your email address. A great way to do this is to leave your email address in a spelled-out way, such as "p huntoon at optonline dot net." I will use my handy random number generator to pick the winning entry. You do NOT need to be a TJ subscriber to win. Good Luck!

Congratulations to Deb Langdon, the winner of this Treasure Hunt!

Weekly Giveaway: Christmas from Two Nancy's Artstamps

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I love Christmas! This week we are celebrating it early with our giveaway from our friends at Two Nancy's Art Stamps. The giveaway this week is a jammed-packed sheet of Christmas sayings that you will love!

The card I made to celebrate the season today uses the "Ho! Ho! Ho!" saying from the set, along with the Santa from THIS SHEET. I thought that the Santa had a rather retro feel to him, so I used bright colors on my Embossed Crayon Resist background (10-09 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter). And I couldn't help myself -- I HAD to use liquid applique on his hat, beard and cuffs!

The sheet that Two Nancy's has supplied for us is below. These sayings pair perfectly with the sheet above, or with this sheet, too. And all of these stamps are sold individually, too! Honestly, when I was making my card, I had a VERY hard time deciding which of these luscious images I wanted to use...And don't forget that YOU GET 20% OFF any of the Christmas Stamps using the code twonancys1030. That is a good deal!

Okay, time for the giveaway! To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment by Sunday, November 29th at 9am EST. If you are so inclined, tell me which of the Two Nancy's Christmas Images is your favorite! The winner will be selected on Monday morning (11-30). Make sure that you leave enough information so that I can contact you to let you know you won. Just a reminder that Blogger does NOT leave me your email address. A great way to do this is to leave your email address in a spelled-out way, such as "p huntoon at optonline dot net." I will use my handy random number generator to pick the winning entry. You do NOT need to be a TJ subscriber to win. Good Luck!

The winner of this giveaway is Patricia Schwartz!

Scrappin' Saturday: Zoo Layout

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Since I scrapbook as often as I can on Fridays, I am starting a new feature here: Scrappin' Saturdays. I hope to display a new scrapbook page each Saturday from the previous week (or at least, something new to you!). I hope you enjoy this new feature!

This week's layout (you may have to click on it to make it larger and to get more detail) was of Zoo pictures from Cape May this summer. The giraffe is stamped (a close-up is on the right) using Close To My Heart Stamps. I did use the torn frame technique (December 2008 Technique Junkie Newsletter) on one of the mats, too. In addition, the title uses crackle paint from Tim Holtz -- I love this stuff. I especially like that I used my woefully neglected fibers to spruce up the title along the edge of the Z and the two O's! Here is a close-up of that:If you are so inclined, leave a comment and let me know whether you like this new feature!

Well, that's it for today -- thanks for sharing in my scrapbook adventures!

Blogger's Challenge -- Happy Fall!

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Today's Blogger's Challenge was the theme "Happy Fall, Y'all". Not too much of a stretch for me -- It's my favorite time of year! Living in the Northeast, the fall is always a feast for the eyes. Brilliant colors adorn the trees and then there is something we like to call "sweater weather." There is nothing like bright sunshine on a fall day, is there?

My creation today uses the Pendant Park stamp set from Stampin' Up!. I peppered my tree with a bit of Flower Soft (You, know, the flower soft that I bought in JUNE that I haven't opened yet? THAT Flower Soft?). Did you know that you can make your own? You can find a great video on it HERE from Technique Junkie Holly Young. (Note, I fixed the broken link to the video on Sat., 11-14-09)

My card is layered on a Cuttlebug Highlight background from the October 2008 Technique Junkie Newsletter (OF COURSE there is a technique. How could there NOT be?).

Remember that I have a limited time sale on right now -- $19.95 for 7 issues (December 2009 to December 2010) OR one year renewals for $16.50. Details of each offer are on my sidebar. Just thought you might want to know!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Weekly Giveaway: Wellbeing from Club Scrap

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Well being. Ahhhh. I don't know about you, but one of the ways I find well-being is from fondling great paper (really, I do!). That is why this giveaway is so special!

The well-being card above uses the Painted Paneling Technique from the October 2009 Technique Junkie Newsletter as a backdrop to the truly unique stamps from this week's giveaway. We are very lucky to have Club Scrap as our sponsor! Club Scrap has generously supplied an image-packed unmounted rubber stamp sheet along with a fabulous 20 piece luscious 12"x12" paper pack from the Apothecary kit! Just look at the paper and stamps the our lucky winner will receive:

They are just extraordinary! One of the things I love about CS is the amount of detail that goes into every item they produce. Such high quality!

Did you know that YOU will also receive 25% off select unmounted stamps on the Club Scrap site by using the code TJstamp at checkout? I was browsing around today and have my shopping bag full of gorgeous stamps and paper. So many beautiful things!

Okay, time for the giveaway! To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment by Monday, November 16th at 9am EST. If you are so inclined, tell me whether you think I am a bit nutty for fondling my paper! The winner will be selected on Monday morning. Make sure that you leave enough information so that I can contact you to let you know you won. Just a reminder that Blogger does NOT leave me your email address. A great way to do this is to leave your email address in a spelled-out way, such as "p huntoon at optonline dot net." I will use my handy random number generator to pick the winning entry. You do NOT need to be a TJ subscriber to win. Good Luck!

Alluring Gypsy Woman...

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I was just playing around with these cool gypsy images from Alluring Impressions and thought I would share this creation. I used the Out of the Box Technique (October 2004 issue of the TJ Newsletter) for the wagon portion, and the Torn Frames Technique (October 2008 issue) for to highlight my creation with turquoise. Everything was colored with Copic Markers.

Hope you are having a creative day!

Blogger's Challenge -- Painted Pastel Embossing Tutorial

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Today's Blogger's Challenge was to use a technique -- and give the directions for doing it. Rather than using an older technique, I decided to create my own -- and a tutorial for it follows. My technique,is called Painted Pastel Embossing, and the details are below. I used a cuttlebug folder with an Artistic Outpost saying stamp for the card above. The 5 petal punch poinsettia was made using the tutorial HERE.

To achieve the painted look of my holly, this is what I did:

 First, emboss dark cardstock using an embossing folder. I am sure this will work with light cardstock, too, but the dark stuff will give you more drama! Load a wet blender pen with a hefty amount of pastel chalk.






Use the blender pen to color the embossed parts of the images using colors as desired. I painted my holly with a medium green, and used a lighter green to highlight the top of the leaves.






After I finished coloring, I realized that I had gone beyond the lines with my colors, so I used a clean blender pen to push the chalks off the black cardstock and back onto the embossing. It worked like an eraser!






This is so easy it is sinful! It is a great way to make your embossed cards POP. Make sure to check out the creations from the other Blogger's challenge players, too -- the is a link on my sidebar with their addresses. Today is a day to learn new techniques!

Weekly Giveaway: Tim Holtz from Croppinsville!

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Wow, this is some giveaway! The lucky winner of this giveaway, which is being sponsored by Croppinsville, will receive the card above, the items below, AND a $25.00 gift certificate from Croppinsville!

A little about the card...I used the Tim Holtz/Stamper's Anonymous Stamps from Croppinsville to create a Collage card (TJ Newsletter June 2006 issue). I layered the collage over some of the gorgeous double-sided papers from the giveaway, and topped it off with one of the tags from the tag sheet. I colored St. Nick with Copic Markers and added dimension to the tag with Crystal Effects on the holly. You may have to click on the image to see the details!

Okay, here are the items coming to the winner -- along with a $25.00 gift certificate to Croppinsville:

In addition to all of this, if you add THIS ITEM to your cart, you will receive free canvas flowers -- with the directions on how to use them. Croppinsville is a TJ vendor -- and everything is 25% off! Check out the website today!

To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment by Monday, November 9th at 9am EST. The winner will be selected on Monday morning. Make sure that you leave enough information so that I can contact you to let you know you won. Just a reminder that Blogger does NOT leave me your email address. A great way to do this is to leave your email address in a spelled-out way, such as "p huntoon at optonline dot net." I will use my handy random number generator to pick the winning entry. You do NOT need to be a TJ subscriber to win. Good Luck!

Congratulations to Lou Fay, the lucky winner of this giveaway!

October Treasure Hunt - Final Stop!

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Welcome to the October 2009 Technique Junkie Newsletter Treasure Hunt! If this is your first stop, you may want to start on the TJ Design Team Blog HERE to start following the clues to the Treasure Chest below.

If you have followed the hunt -- you are looking for your final clue here -- and that is the letter G. Now you should have a completed word for the Treasure Hunt and can win the drawing prize!

The card on the right features a Rubber Thwamping Background (October 2009 Technique Junkie Newsletter) with a Block Collage Foreground (February 2009 TJ Newsletter). I added some Diamond Glaze (Crystal Effects) over the word "pumpkin" to make it pop, plus a flower, a Cuttlebugged piece covered with fibers, and a button to top it off. All of the fabulous stamps on this piece are from Club Scrap (Use tjstamp on the Club Scrap website for 25% off unmounted rubber, too!).

We have a great "Treasure Chest" of prizes in this hunt. I hope you can see them all in the picture below, but if you can't, I have included links to the actual prizes in the descriptions where I could -- and, of course, it is hard to take a picture of the TJ items I am giving away, too:

About the prizes (in addition to the card):
  • October a special birthday month -- the first issue of the TJ Newsletter was published in October 2002. In celebration, there is a huge set of Birthday Stamps from Inque Boutique.
  • Autumn is the time of harvest, so it was right to include the Happy Harvest stamps from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. (I just noticed that Korin has this on sale now, too!)
  • One of my favorite techniques in the October newsletter is Burnished Backgrounds -- and you will love using the Batik Flower Background from Innovative Stamp Creations to try the technique! (Remember, use TJ10 for 10% off at ISC, too).
  • You will also receive a pack of 25 glorious Salsa papers from Club Scrap. There is a nice mix of 12" x 12" and 8-1/2" x 11" papers there for you to have fun with!
  • And finally -- the winner of the hunt will receive a free year of the newsletter OR any CD from the Technique Junkie Newsletter collection. Woo Hoo!
To enter the hunt, leave me a comment below with the "key" to the treasure box (the word you collected along the way). Note that your comment will NOT show up -- I have comment moderation on because of the "key." Make sure that you leave enough information so that I can contact you to let you know you won. Just a reminder that Blogger does NOT leave me your email address. A great way to do this is to leave your email address in a spelled-out way, such as "p huntoon at optonline dot net." I will use my handy random number generator to pick the winning entry. You do NOT need to be a TJ subscriber to win. Comments must be entered by 9am EST Friday October 30th. Good Luck!

Look, Ma - no layers!

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Today's Blogger's Challenge was to use no layers on our cards.

No layers. Hard for paper fanatics! Luckily for me, I know one or two techniques to pull me through this "crisis." And I love COLOR, so no plain white card for me!

I decided to use the Mono Masking Technique from the February 2009 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter. I am so happy with the results! I love these "From the Crypt" Stampin' Up! stamps, too.

Hmm...who'd ever think that I could use the words "Love" and Crypt" in one sentence?

Weekly Giveaway: Cracker Jack!

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Take me out to the ball game...

As the World Series approaches what could be more appropriate than a baseball-themed giveaway? Our giveaway this week is this wonderful rubber stamp sheet from Artistic Outpost:

In honor of the series, I made the vintage card, at top, using some of the images from the stamp sheet. The background is Embossed Crayon Resist using one of my shimmery copper Moonglow mist sprays (technique from the October 2009 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter). I just love how these stamps look with the background!


Artistic Outpost is now carrying Neenah Solor White, Neenah Ivory and Kromekote Coated Glossy Card Stock - click here for more details.

Stop by our Gallery for Inspiration using our images

Shop today and save 10% on all purchases when you use code TJ-2010-10off


So how do you become the lucky winner of this giveaway? To win this card and the stamps, simply leave a comment by Monday, October 26th at 9am est. If you are so inclined, tell me who your are rootin' for in the series!

The winner will be selected on Monday morning. Make sure that you leave enough information so that I can contact you to let you know you won. Just a reminder that Blogger does NOT leave me your email address. A great way to do this is to leave your email address in a spelled-out way, such as "p huntoon at optonline dot net." I will use my handy random number generator to pick the winning entry. You do NOT need to be a TJ subscriber to win. Good Luck!

Weekly Giveaway: ISC Autumn Leaves

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I am such a sucker for fall. I love the brilliant colors of autumn -- the glorious blaze of the trees really makes my heart full of joy. I consider myself lucky to live in New England! This weekend is "prime time" for the leaf peepers, too...

To celebrate nature's most beautiful painting, this week we are giving away these awesome stamps from Innovative Stamp Creations. They are some of the loveliest leaves in my collection -- and are fabulous to color with Copic Markers, Watercolors, Chalks, Watercolor Crayons, Colored Pencils...you name it!

The example I made with the stamps that will be given away with the stamp set below uses a variation of the Crinkle Technique (October 2009 Technique Junkie Newsletter). I layered a Shape Spotlight (December 2005 issue) of the Copic-colored oak leaf and then cut it out so that it has an Out-of-the Box feel (October 2004 issue). I guess after 7 years and 550 unique techniques, it gets easier to use alot of them on one card!!

Okay, here is the set:
Don't forget that Innovative Stamp Creations is a Featured Vendor -- Technique Junkies receive 10% everything with the code dec09tj. Have you seen the new Christmas sets from Betsy? They are wonderful! Can't you just see that ornament in the middle of the Joyful Christmas set done with Paper Piecing?

In any case, I will stop my rambling now and tell you how you can win the card and stamps...
So how do you become the lucky winner of this giveaway? To win this card and the stamps, simply leave a comment by Monday, October 19th at 9am est. If you are so inclined, tell me how you would use these stamps or the Christmas stamps on the ISC site.

The winner will be selected on Monday morning. Make sure that you leave enough information so that I can contact you to let you know you won. Just a reminder that Blogger does NOT leave me your email address. A great way to do this is to leave your email address in a spelled-out way, such as "p huntoon at optonline dot net." I will use my handy random number generator to pick the winning entry. You do NOT need to be a TJ subscriber to win. Good Luck!

The winner of this set of stamps is Candy Meyers - Congrats, Candy!

Do you live near Stamford?

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On Saturday, 10-17 I am having a tag sale -- and I am selling tons of stamps and scrapbooking supplies, along with other personal items. If you are close to Stamford CT and would like to stop in and say hello, please email me for my address and I will send it to you.

Lots of deals on my stamps -- I really just need to make more room! Hope to see some of you there...

Blogger's Challenge - Sketch

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It's Friday and I am just sliding in with this submission for today's Blogger's Challenge. Today the challenge was to use the sketch below as inspiration for our card.

I chose to use a Decorated Pretty with a Faux Turquoise Stone Center. Both Techniques are from the October 2009 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter. The saying stamp and stamp on the flower are from Stampin' Up!, the stamp on the pink Faux Turquoise is from Stampendous.

One of the things I did with this card that doesn't show in the scan (and that I could not get a good picture of) is that I outlined each of the embossed areas with glitter pen. Holy cow, this is a gorgeous card in person! I did not put the extra brad-like things on the top and bottom of the vertical panel, either -- they just seemed superfluous with my design (although they look great on the cards from the other players!).

I hope you have a great weekend. If you have a few minutes, check out the artwork from the other Blogger's Challenge players -- the link to each of them is on my sidebar.


My Birthday Giveaway!

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It's my birthday, so let's have a giveaway!

Yes, my birthday. Not something I like to talk about normally, but today, since I am giving something away to celebrate it, I don't mind so much!

A little about the card:
The card uses the Angelina Fiber Under Glass Technique - one of the Bonus Techniques on the new CD (7th Edition) from the Technique Junkie Newsletter. In addition, I used a variation of the Gel and Acetate Technique (August 2004 edition) to color my image. The stamps are from Sweet Pea Stamps (more about Sweet Pea below). It is gorgeous in person! It has dimension AND shimmer. If you notice, I did not over-embellish this card, because I used Paper Temptress's Laser Lustre Paper in the background -- believe me, it is so beautiful I didn't need anything else!

Now to the giveaway...

This week I am thrilled to bring a new-to-TJ giveaway sponsor! Today's giveaway is from Sweet Pea Stamps, with this wonderful set of Birthday and Thank You stamps:


To celebrate their debut with us, Sweet Pea Stamps is offering a free mini grab bag of stamps with every purchase. There is also a sale going on right now -- through the end of the week -- and free shipping to the US and Canada. Just make sure to write "TJ Order" In the comments with your order to receive the free stamps.

I have to tell you that I personally just "discovered" Sweet Pea Stamps. I saw Lynette post on some images on another egroup, followed the link, and fell in love! Well it seems that Lynette has been in the stamping world since 1999, took some time off, and opened Sweet Pea Stamps in April. There are some really cool stamps on the Sweet Pea site -- from the "Gum Drop Gang" to the "Sweet Pea Pals" to the elegant stamps above. I love "finding" new providers for my "fix"!

So how do you become the lucky winner of this giveaway? To win this card and the gift certificate, simply leave a comment by Monday, October 12th at 9am est. The winner will be selected on Monday morning. Make sure that you leave enough information so that I can contact you to let you know you won. Just a reminder that Blogger does NOT leave me your email address. A great way to do this is to leave your email address in a spelled-out way, such as "p huntoon at optonline dot net." I will use my handy random number generator to pick the winning entry. You do NOT need to be a TJ subscriber to win. Good Luck!

The winner of this set is Barbara Washington. Congrats, Barbara!

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