A New Love Affair!

I have had a very open love affair with Hero Arts for many years now.  It began when I went to a CKU (Creating Keepsakes University) Convention many years ago...like 10? I had signed up for a class taught by Jennifer McGuire...had no idea who she was...and she used Hero Arts stamps and we learned kiss stamping.  It was so much fun and I began a wild affair with HA!

It's been a great 10 plus years and although I have an new love...I will remain loyal to HA, as well.  There is plenty of room in my heart for HA and my new love.

What or who is my new love?  Mama Elephant!  Oh my gosh...how I love those stamps and dies!  So darned cute and it is taking great restraint to NOT buy out the whole store! 
Check out a card I made with Mama Elephant's Tiny Heroes Set:

Is this not the cutest little card?  I just love that tiny super hero...and the super hero doggie!
Here is the stamp set:

and the coordinating dies:

and lastly, a set of some miscellaneous dies called Sew Fancy that can be used for matting or borders, etc.:

The little x's on the card base above are actually little debossed x's from the die.  Too cute!

I am away from home right now so my supplies here are limited...I used Salty Ocean Distress Ink to make my background and ink up a messy sky and clouds.  I colored the little girl and the dog in with my Copics. I had no foam tape on hand so I used a couple of stacked glue dots.  They didn't work great but did add a tad of dimension.

I'm in love...I think Mama Elephant has a winner on her hands!

Happy Crafting!

Lists! Lists! Lists!

We all have our ways of keeping up with our ever growing supplies. It wasn't difficult when my papercrafting supplies all fit into a small box but now...?  Well, let's just say there have been too many times I've bought something I already had! My friend, Cyndi, and I are always giving things to each other that we've bought only to realize we already had!

I have previously mentioned how I use Evernote to keep up with some of my supplies...obviously I don't keep lists of paper or "consumables"...but inks, dies, stamp sets...well, I'd prefer not to buy those again and again!  I thought I had blogged here somewhere how I had mine set up but I cannot find a post so I probably did not! I did see where some bloggers were using Evernote so if you're interested you can Google it.  I believe I had read this post first...which got me interested.  You can see it HERE.

I won't go into my whole set up on Evernote but here is a screenshot from my phone of my Stamps Notebook. I can search by manufacturer and also by tagged words such as "thank you", "happy birthday", etc. It does take a while to set up but is very helpful once you get started.

 

If you click on an individual stamp set you would see something like this:

 I also have a notebook for dies:

I have Evernote set up and linked on my laptop too which makes the entry of new items very easy.  And then it all syncs up nicely.

Like I said...it is time consuming at first...but now when I add to my collection I just include the new item and it's easy peasy and pretty fast.

Anyway...yesterday I wanted to take advantage of the Michaels Buy One get One Half Off on their Copic pens.  I have the Copic color charts and lists but dang...I still occasionally buy one I already have.  So, I was looking in the app store (I have an iPhone) for a Copic app and sure enough or as we say in the south "Sho'nuff!" there was one.  After downloading it I was able to easily input the markers I have.
Here are a few screenshots of the app:

Since I collect Sketch pens I have that checked so that I don't pull up the other pen types.
After you click "Done" above it will take you to this screen which shows all of the color families:

You can see the total number of pens in that color family (far right) and how many pens you own.  As you can see I like Blue and have 11 blue pens.
Then if you touch one of the color families it will take you to this:

You simply tap on the color you have and it pops up and gets "colorized".
Or you can click on "Stock" and it shows only those you have like here:

Slick, huh?

And lastly if you click on Browse you can look at the colors...although I'm not sure how true the colors are.

I'll have to check that out...

There is also a store locator to find Copics.

This app is free for iPhone users...just go to your app store and search for Copic if you're interested.
For those with Droids there is good news as the app is available for you, too HERE.

And the good news?  Yesterday I only bought one Copic I already had! Cyndi...do you need B00? ;)

Happy Crafting!

And a Very Belated Happy Valentine's Day to You!

Oh my....I so meant to post yesterday to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day but the day got past me.  My Valentine was here with me and we were able to spend a nice day together doing a hike and going out for a nice meal.

A friend of mine got a Tiffany necklace.  I as jealous of that.  No jewels for me.  LOL! 

But I did make a few exploding box cards for my kids from a file by Lori Whitlock which I found in the Silhouette store.  I think they are so cute and were so much fun to make.  I think Lori does and amazing job on her files...they always go together perfectly!

Here is the first one:

I used BoBunny papers....love the frogs and ladybugs and other little critters!  Isn't it adorable?  Look at that folded envelope.  So sweet!

My friend and fellow creative person (she is über creative...amazing what she does!), Debbie, was here with me for a few days and she enjoyed making one, too.

Here are two other versions...the one Debbie did is on the right:

So much fun!  On to the Silhouette Store to see if they have one for St. Patrick's Day! ;)

Happy Crafting!

MIA!

Well...my goodness...I've been MIA.  Missing. In. Action.
Like many of you I've had lots of things going on! All good...all good but they've kept me away from posting.
I am at the beach for my "annual winter sabbatical".  This is the third year I've headed south to be near the water during the month of February...I love being here this time of year.

I love a winter sunset....and one over the water is just spectacular to me.

I've been here two weeks but just a couple of days after getting here my daughter and grandkids came down for a nice long stay.  It was so much fun (and so busy and noisy) having them here and we enjoyed some nice days with moderate temperatures and some fun on the beach.  You can see 2 of the kids in the photo above.

I did bring a few cardmaking things to work on and managed to get a few cards done.  Before coming here I went through my old Simon Says Stamp cardkits and picked a few to "finish out".  What I mean by "finish out" is that I try to use up as many supplies as I can that were included in the kits.

 The cards above were inspired by a card from Kathy Racoosin.  I love the fun shelves and books on them.  And I love the little parts like the file boxes and alarm clock and apple that can be used to build the scene.  I used Ranger distress inks and Hero Arts inks for my cards.
Here is another card with the same set:

Again, it is was great fun to build my little scene!  This card was inspired by one created by Nichol Maguourk.

Fun set!

Happy Crafting!

Let's Celebrate!

Today is my son's 28th birthday.  I am happy for him that he is having a birthday...but I'm sad for me because it just means one thing.  I'm old! HaHa!  And Lord knows...through his teenage years he aged me prematurely! ;)

I do love that "kid", though. We met him and his bride of nearly 9 months on Saturday for a lovely dinner at a fabulous Atlanta restaurant called Ray's on the River. It is a wonderful location with fabulous food and great service and lots of $$$$.  You think a kid who survived on McDonalds for about 10 years of his life so that he could get the danged Happy Meal toy would be happy to eat at McDonald's now.  Nope...his tastes have changed! LOL! Just kidding...I actually picked the restaurant...he had never been there but really enjoyed it.

Here is my son with his wife:

 

 And I made this card for him which was mailed so he'd get a little surprise in the mail, too...since I won't see him today. 

 

It was inspired by copied from Lucy Abrams and you can see her card HERE if you want to see how closely I copied it.  Oh, c'mon...you went and peeked, didn't you?  LOL! Actually I did change mine a (teensy) bit...I used a postage stamp mat cut with a Simon Says Stamp die and also used twine on my card.  I used that wonderful Ranger Ink Platinum embossing powder that I ooohed and ahhhed over in an earlier post.  Cool stuff.

Anyway, my son won't know that I copied shamelessly.  He won't even much notice the card...he will mostly just look to see if there is money in it! Ha!

Happy Birthday, Jeremy!!!

Happy Crafting!

I don't know what got into me but I was on a card making frenzy today! I made over a dozen cards.  Yep, they were all pretty simple...but that is probably a world's record for me!!! It was so fun and I had a great time playing in my happy space.

The two cards I'm sharing today were made with the December card kit from Simon Says Stamp.  How much I loved these colors and the fun paper patterns and die cuts that were included!

Here was a snowman popped up on some foam tape.

Kind of a whacky looking snowman but I loved him! and the Geotag was just a fun touch, you know?

And here is another one:

 I thought the "slides" were so cute!.  I took a few patterned papers and made a few banners and embossed thanks on one of them

Lots of layers but easy to do!

Happy Crafting!

It's Your Day!

This card was inspired by a card made by Kathy Racoosin with the December, 2014 card kit from Simon Says Stamp.
Here is the kit with the items it came with:

Oh, how I loved this kit.  It came with two really fabulous embossing powders....my favorite is the Ranger Liquid Platinum.  What a great embossing powder this is! And my friends know that I LOVE to fire (heheheheh) up that heat gun and EMBOSS! My nickname with some of my friends is "Crispy Chick" because I have been know to crisp (read: burn) some things up in the past with said heat gun! :)
I figured this kit was a great deal...the embossing powders retail for $4.99 a piece and the Distress Embossing Ink retails for $2.99.  that's nearly $13 right there....but with the stamp set and the papers and sequins I only paid $19.99.  Such a great value, I think!
The bad news is that this kit is no longer in stock and kits beginning in January saw a price increase.  I think they are still a great value, though and I am one happy customer!  And my grandkids like the lollipops they always include! 
LOL!
Anyway, the Liquid Platinum embossing powder is very fine and goes on beautifully...and has just the right amount of sheen to it.
Here is my card:

I used my Silhouette to cut the 1 1/2-ish inch circle in the navy cardstock after I'd embossed it with those messy and stitched circles.  None of the assorted punch circles I had were the right size or went in deep enough into my paper...I didn't want the circle right on the edge. 
Here is a closer-up look:

I made this for my son (I always talk about how difficult man-ish cards are for me but I thought this fit the bill!).  His birthday is in the next few days.

I also made another gift box with some papers I had on hand.  Same box as in yesterday's post but instead of cutting out some flower petals which would have been decidedly NON-Man-ish I opted for some other embellishments I had on hand.

I just love these little gift card boxes.   Here it is opened with a gift card...or two.

And that's it for today...I do hope you all are finding a little time for some creativity of your own!

Happy Crafting!