Simple, Simple Bo Bimple!

Well, today is the LAST day of November....I really think we should have 31 days in each month.  I just don't like when we get ripped off a day, you know?  Less time to do the things we need to do!  Anyway, tomorrow we begin December and in just a few short weeks we will be celebrating Christmas and then the New Year! YIKES!

Things seem to go by in a whirlwind at this time of the year and sometimes you need to just step back and take a breath and slow things down so as to enjoy the moments.  Between decorating, baking, attending parties and events....well, it is so easy to get caught up and feel stressed and rushed.  Ain't gonna do it!!!

So to get myself into a calm and peaceful crafting mood (?) I made this very simple but oh so pretty (at least it's my calm and peaceful taste!) card.  I used a Memory Box die called Country Landscape, a Cuttlebug embossing folder and paper.  The sentiment is Hero Arts and was stamped with some Jenni Bowlin ink. The white paper is from Simon Says Stamps and the blue paper is Papertrey Ink.  That was about it except for some simple penwork.  It's mostly flat and unadorned....just a little foam tape behind the diecut....but that is it....SIMPLE!

But I like....

Well, off to event number one tonight!

Happy Crafting!

A Thankful Heart is a Happy Heart

We had our big Thanksgiving meal as a family on Sunday.  As I mentioned before when your kids start having families of their own you just have to adapt to their schedules. I don't mind that at all as long as we can all be together at some point.
I made the meal but my son hosted the dinner in his new house.  I think he was quite proud of that...had done a wonderful job getting his house in order and it looked great.
We worked on our "Thankful Tree"....if you don't know what I'm talking about you can see my original post HERE.
Here is the result...a tree full of thankful leaves:

I don't think the participants minded the "job" at all! I didn't see any rolled eyes! LOL!
I made a companion page for my scrapbook with a couple of group photos we took.

The papers are from the same DCWV stack as the tree above so they coordinate nicely.

The Thanksgiving corner in the top right and the sentiment "A thankful heart is a happy heart" were cut with the Cameo and were designs in the Silhouette Store.  I think the "thankful heart" sentiment is one of the greatest phrases or sentences ever and I wholeheartedly (is that a pun? ;)) agree with it.  Even in difficult times...if we can find things to be thankful for or grateful for we can find some happiness.  It's when we dwell on the negative that our hearts fill up with sadness and anger.  Not good.
Don't worry, Dr. Phil...I'm not vying for your job....

Happy Heart and Happy Crafting!

Flat is Phat!

OK, I am way cool...admit it.  Here I am...a grandmother of two....using the word PHAT like I know what it means.  Well, I do....do you?  Of course I had to GOOGLE it but it means Pretty Hot and Tempting.  HAHA!

So my card today is quite flat....a great one for mailing....but it is also pretty PHAT if you want my oh so honest opinion.  BTW, my husband's pet peeve is when people say "Well, to be honest with you...".  He always wants to say..."what the heck?!  Are you usually NOT honest?"  LOL...

Ok, I digress....back to my perfectly Phat and Flat card.
Here it is:

 I did some non traditional colors for Christmas starting with a blue background.  I used some blue distress ink (Salty Ocean) to color a piece of plain ol' white cardstock.  Then I stamped it with a Hero Arts background stamp (with the dots...can't recall the name of it right now)....and then stamped it again with some white Close to My Heart white pigment ink.  Don't touch it, Susan!  It take s awhile to dry!
Then I stamped with the fabulous Tim Holtz blueprint toy soldier stamp from his new Christmas set and some Ranger ink onto the background.  Stamped him again to color with some Distress markers Used my aqua pen to give the watercolor look...cut him out and smacked him down on the background.  I added some gold stickles and there ya go...Phat and Flat!
Oh, and the other thing I did before I commenced stamping was to spritz the paper with some Pearl Glimmer Mist to give it a little sheen.  You can see said sheen in the photo below.

I stamped the bottom with a Hero Arts sentiment stamp and viola....done!  I really love how different a look this is for me....and it was very fun to do!

Happy Crafting!!!

Thanksgiving Today...Christmas Tomorrow!

I hope all my followers in the US enjoy a wonderful day of thankfulness today!  We are having our big meal on Sunday (you know how it is when your kids grow up...traditions often have to change and new ones created!).  I'm going to a friend's today to enjoy their hospitality.  And I'm thankful for that!

I used to make 50-75 cards for Christmas but a few years ago I started sending photo cards.  I do love receiving photo cards at Christmas...especially from those I don't see often.  It's fun to see children and grandchildren grow up....

But I do enjoy making paper cards, too, so this year so I decided to make a few to send out, as well.

Here are a few I made last night with a Hero Arts set that comes with a coordinating die.
I used Jenni Bowlin inks for stamping and Zing Gold Glitter embossing powder for the tree that's popped up on some dimensionals.  The snowflake was made with a Fiskars punch and I just added a  gem to the centers.
The sentiment is from another Hero Arts set.

 And here is another version:

And this is one done at an Archiver's Make and Take where the trees were stamped with some Peeled Paint Distress Ink.

 Best wishes from our household to yours for a wonderful Thanksgiving!  And take some time to reflect on all your blessings...even in difficult times there is always something to be thankful for!

and Happy Crafting!

A Time of Thanks

So much to be thankful for and I'm happy for a day of thanks.  I'm looking forward to seeing how my Tree of Thanks which can be seen HERE will be received by my family.  My daughter saw it the other day and she liked the idea....no rolling of the eyes!  So there is promise here... :)

I made another Thanksgiving card to send to someone dear to me and for whom I'm grateful each day.

I used the acorn from the Tim Holtz Autumn Blueprint set. Once again I used BoBunny Apple Cider papers.  A little Distress Ink and tearing to scuff up the edges and a good layer of Rock Candy Stickles on the acorn top with some twine tied around the acorn and that was basically it.  

I'm happy.

I'm off to a craft show today and then to a tennis match.  The weather looks great!

Happy Crafting!

A Day of Thanks

I whipped up this little card to send to a friend.  I love the way it turned out!  Lots of fun making this one and, for me, it came together fairly quickly (READ: not many mess ups along the way!).

I used the BoBunny paper as the background and then I used the Hero Arts newspaper stamp to create the torn vintage looking mat to the leaf.  I had fun inking, tearing, and generally messing it up!  The leaf stamp is from one of the blueprint stamps that Tim Holtz has designed.  I love these stamps and the quality is so good...they just stamp perfectly each time.  I stamped on my mat with some Distress Ink and then stamped it again on some ivory Neenah cardstock and cut out the leaf after going to town with some distress inks to color it.
The "ribbon" is some seam binding that I inked up.
And then I used a little wax seal to finish it off.

Inside I stamped the sentiment which is "A dat of thanks" which was from a Close to My Heart set.
This was a wonderfully fun card to make....I loved dabbling in all the inks!

Happy Crafting!

Thankful Tree

This is totally NOT MY IDEA!  But wow....I love being inspired by the things I see around the web, don't you?  I saw where Darlene of Darlene Designs did a gorgeous one on canvas HERE and then I saw the one featured on the Silhouette blog HERE.  I thought it was a great idea....basically I will have my family members take the leaves and indicate what they are thankful or grateful for and then I'll ink the edges of the leaves and adhere them to the tree and use this as a scrapbook page.  And maybe this will be the start of a new tradition....my family is very blessed and we certainly have a LOT to be grateful for!
I used DCWV papers which cut beautifully on my Cameo.  The tree, leaf pattern and banner all came from the Silhouette store.  It was all very simple and quick to make.

 Here are the cute little leaves....

 Here is my pile of leaves...makes you just want to jump right in, right?  I just did a Fill Page and that made the hole replicate process fast and easy!

 The banner is also from the Silhouette store as I said and I just inked it and popped it up on some foam tape in the middle.  The font is Aharoni.

As my kids have gotten older we have had to adapt or change family traditions.  They both seem to like tradition though....and my daughter is having fun starting her own traditions with her children.  I'm hoping they don't roll their eyes at this one...and simply embrace it.  I think as the grandchildren grow they might be interested to see what we have all been grateful for....

Happy Crafting!

Precious Baby

One of my very closest friends became a first time grandmother to a precious little baby girl about 2 1/2 weeks ago.  I went over yesterday to meet her for the first time and I also grabbed my camera and took a few pictures of her.  We didn't get the greatest pictures because she was a'wigglin'!  She never would shut her eyes and go to sleep.  I don't think she wanted to miss a thing! LOL!
Here she is...her name is Reese Elisabeth and she came into this world weighing 5lbs 3ozs...a teensy little girl. 

I used my Silhouette to decorate a plain white gift bag...I love doing names for the intended on my baby bags and the mothers seem to love seeing their newborn baby's name on the bags.

The font is Lauren Script (a TTF) and can be downloaded for free HERE. It welds nicely on the Silhouette as you can see.  The ballet slippers are a freebie file from SVGCuts. com. 

That's it for today!

Hope everyone has a great day and maybe a little time for crafting! :)

Fun with Gelatos

I have been watching a few "how to use Gelatos" videos out there in cyberspace and I thought they looked like fun.  Gelatos, if you aren't familiar with them, are made by Faber-Castell, they are pigment sticks of bright, vivid color.  They can be used for making your own backgrounds and for stamping....I guess there are lots of ways they can be used....and I'm having a great time learning and playing around with them!
Here is my first attempt (well, my only attempt!).  I used the blue set of Gelatos (Joann's and Michael's both carry them in sets for about $9.99 a set....of course I would NEVER pay full price and picked up a couple of sets with some heavily discounted coupons! :)) and SCHMEARED (my word) on some white cardstock after running it through the Big Shot with a Quikutz embossing folder (used the debossed side) and then used my finger to blend them.  I sprayed with some Pearl Glimmer Mist for a little sheen.

Unfortunately you can't see the effects of the Glimmer Mist but it sure is pretty in real life! the wonderful die is one of the new Spellbinder dies....look at how intricate it is....and it has little windows you can open! Too pretty!  I also used a Memory Box die for the tulips and put a little Glossy Accents on them.

A tip I learned with intricate dies is to use wax paper between your paper and the die....it helps to get good cuts and to remove the little pieces from the die without tearing.

I'm entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Simon Says....Thinking of You/Sympathy.

Happy Crafting!!!

Just Buzzing By to Say...

I made another card with the cute Bees4Me set which is the stamp of the month set at The Stamps of Life.  It's just such a cute set to me....and I just love the sentiments included.

I even decorated the envelope!
The background clouds are a Unity Stamp.  I did the background with Distress Ink and then stamped it with Versamark and embossed it with white embossing powder.

 I put some fun sparkle on the wings with some Stickles.

And here's the sentiment on the inside.  I just love those little bees!

Another beautiful fall day here in Georgia...a great day for some tennis!

See you on the court!

or...

Happy Crafting!

Hap-Bee Birthday!

The stamp of the month from The Stamps of Life is a cute little busy bee set called bees4me.  I think it is a just so darned cute set.  I've already made a couple of cards with it and it is such a fun set to use.
I make a lot of cards but why is it I have NO birthday cards?!  I have Thinking of You cards, Thank You cards, a few sympathy cards, etc. but not one birthday card!  So I decided to make a stash of those and this was the first one.

 I also used the Agapanthus flower from the thanks2you stamp set.  I love that!  I used black pigment ink and some clear embossing powder on all the black you see above to give it a little raised image since it is mostly a FLAT card! I added a little Diamond Stickles to the wings and used a little foam tape behind the black mat.  The corners were cut with the Scallop edge of the Corner Chomper. The papers are JilliBean. Anyway, this was a pretty fast card and that is always a good thing for me!

On to project number two.  I have a few inks...but never seem to have the color I  need! LOL!!! And let's face it....the colors on the lids of some of the manufacturers are not TRUE to how they really look on white paper when stamped.  So, following my Distress Ink Swatch book that I made and can be seen HERE I decided to do something similar with my inks.  What I did was stamped an image (this happens to be from an old Stampin' Up set) on a piece of white cardstock with each color and then wrote the name of the color on the back.  Instead of organizing the swatches by manufacturer I have them organized by color....so I can pick up my swatch booklet and find the color I want and more easily find it.  In the past I would think...ok, I need my Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip and would stamp but then it might not be deep enough...so I'd rummage around and find another ink and try it...and so on....lots of wasted time on that.  Now I can pick up my book and find the perfect color!

Plus I have been looking for a gray ink....and found I have 2!  LOL!  So now I can delete that from my shopping cart at Simon Says Stamp!

 And I even made a little "key" card for my abbreviations! LOL!!!

I'm so organized now!  NOT!....but at least I'll know what inks I have!

I entered my Bee card in the V's Sweet Ideas Blog: "Anything Goes".

Happy Crafting!

Second Batch of Christmas Tags

In my post yesterday I showed 5 of the 10 Christmas tags we made at Archiver's during the class I took Monday night.  They were such fun to make...all worked up pretty quickly. 
I generally put my handmade tags on gifts to my family and then I grab them back before they get tossed for recycling! LOL! 
Anyway, here is the second group of tags....

I loved this little snowman which we stamped twice and layers.  I also loved the little banner we made with the toothpick.  Too cute!

The round tag below was actually also dry embossed with an embossing folder and then highlighted with a Stardust Gel Roller pen. 

 OK, the one below was one of my personal favorites because I just loved that punched shape (an EK Success punch) on top of a square piece of card stock that was "Corner Chomped".  I just love the white paper against the red cardstock.  Besides just stamping the "to" and "from" we also just stuck a little gingerbread man on top. Too easy and too cute!

They were all fun to make....I'll look forward to attending again next year!

Happy Crafting!

'Tis the Season...

.....ok, not really the SEASON yet but it's getting close and for the crafters "time is a'wastin'"!

I took a class at Archiver's last night where we created 10 Christmas tags.  I love this class and try to take it each year.  The tags are all so doable and most I think are just so cute.  We did 10 tags in 2 hours so it was a quick class but fun, fun, fun!

We used Hero Arts stamps, sizzix dies, stickers, washi tape....all kinds of fun stuff!

Here are the 5 of those we made and I'll put the other 5 up tomorrow:

 The one below was done with a sticker, a stamp and a couple of piece of washi tape.  So easy!

Fun, fun, fun!!!

Happy Crafting and for those of you in the U.S. I hope you get out and vote if you haven't already!!! I did advance voting and waited in line an hour.  My kids went this morning and were in and out in 15 minutes.  Aaarghhhhh.... At least when I waited in line it was really pretty out and today it is rainy in Atlanta.  I think I will get an absentee ballot next time! :)