Thinking of You

You can never have too many "Thinking of You" cards.  I mean, who doesn't like getting a card that lets you know someone has had you on her mind?  Seriously...

I used some items from the July Simon Says Stamp kit which I may have mentioned once or a thousand times how wonderful that month's kit has been.  I loved everything that came in it...particularly the stamp set which you can see here:

 

I just love it...will use it again and again (if I remember!)...

So here's a card I made with some of the stuff that came in the kit.  I wanted to use up some of the printed papers and some of the little puffy stickers that came with it.

Here is a bit of a closeup:

 The matts/cards were die cut with the Lawn Fawn 3x4 die I have that puts a really cool little "stitched" edge around it.  It's hard to see here but it's there, I promise.  I heat embossed the sentiment with some Zing embossing powder.  I love the way it embossed...such a great stamp.  I used the EK Success little punches for the banner.  I cut out the little typewriter at the bottom from some of the printed paper and put it on some foam tape.  The BFF and Miss You stickers are part of the Pink Paislee puffy stickers pack.  Too cute.  Simple...and I used up some scraps!  Yay!

Hope you all have a fabulously creative day!

Hello...Thinking of You...Best Weekend Ever!

I just got back from central Florida where I had the BEST WEEKEND EVER!  I met up with some ladies I went through the fabulous Florida State University Speech Pathology program with a few (ok, more than a few) years ago.  We all started the undergraduate speech path program together and went straight through and got our master's degrees.  3 of the ladies still work in the schools doing speech pathology/therapy, one works in the business world...and one plays semi professional tennis (me)...well, at least semi professional in my wildest dreams!  One will be retiring after the upcoming school year and the others are also looking at retirement in the not too distant future.
Anyway, we had not seen each other in 7 years and we met up at a friend's condo on Lake Weir near Ocala.  We had the BEST time.  Lots of reminiscing, sharing...lots of laughing, teasing...eating, drinking, boating, and just hanging around with the best group of ladies.  We have known each other for 39 years and when we get together you wouldn't think we'd ever missed a day of seeing each other.
Great friends are like that.  I. AM. LUCKY.
Here we are all together (standing...Linda and Jan and sitting from left to right...me, Teri and Margaret).

Here we are being a bit silly because that is always important, too....

Here are 4 of the ladies when we went out to dinner one night:

We seriously love each other so much.  I know I {heart} them...

So fun...I had to come home and rest.  Fun wears me out!!!

Anyway, I thought I'd share where I'd been.  :)

Back to card making...another card idea I was inspired by stole from Laura Bassen...love her style of cards and if you are interested in checking out her blog it's Doublestick Heaven.  I learn so much from her and get so inspired by her beautiful creations.  And let's face it...why reinvent the wheel when you can borrow steal such wonderful ideas???

Here is the card I made....I used 6 different Distress Inks with my blending tool to make the rainbow colored effect that was adhered below the cut out "hello".

So simple...and I love the way it looked!

I did a card like this with watercolors a few years back which my daughter kept and has hanging in her guest room.  Love that idea....  OK, well, let me explain that...her card does not have a big whopping "hello" on it....it was a die cut flower and I did watercolor behind it.  OK?  And it looks pretty hanging in her guest room (well, in the bathroom).  :)

Here it is:

The puffy little sticker on the bottom is from Pink Paislee.

Here is a bit of a closeup:

The hello die which many of you probably are familiar with is a Simon Says Stamp exclusive die and is one "toy" I have played with again and again!

Well, I think my 'studio' may be calling me today....
My SSS August kit came in.  Yay!...time to get creative!

Sending Happy Mail

Happy Sunday, y'all!

Here is another card I made with the papers and stamps from the Simon Says July 2014 card kit.  I do believe this is one of my favorite kits ever....I do adore navy, red, and white together.  Such a great collection of stuff to play with!

Again, since the stamp set, which is so wonderful, retails for $14.99 so the kit which includes all the papers, the cute little stars, the washi tape, the stickers and the stamp pad at a subscription price of $19.99 means everything is practically free! LOL! That's my justification and I'm sticking to it! HAHA!

On a side note...I was telling my daughter about my shopping splurge at Scrapbook Expo and she said "Did you have to sneak the stuff in?"...meaning did I have to get it past my husband without him seeing it.  I laughed and told her "NO!"....I laid all of those goodies smack dab out on the kitchen table so they he could admire them, too.  LOL!  He walked by and looked at them and said "Oh, you got some new toys to play with!".  Love that man!

I made several more cards with this set last night and have depleted my paper for the most part.  I'll be sharing them over the next several days but here is one from that group:

I love the navy background with those teensy hearts on it.  I used a Fiskars punch for the clouds.  I used Memento Luxe inks to stamp the cute little envelopes on some craft paper and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  The sentiment is made up of two stamps from the set and I embossed them with Versamark ink and white Zing embossing powder.  That stuff stinks to me, by the way.
I used some white crochet cotton and twisted it around add a bit of something else and that was it for the card!
Here is a closeup so you can see the dimension:

Hope you all have a Happy Sunday....Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!

Scrapbook Expo!

Scrapbook Expo is in the Atlanta area.  Lucky for me it's in my county and I don't have to travel far to get to it!

I went yesterday with my friend, Debbie.  We don't take the classes offered because we think we already know everything but we do love shopping in the exhibition hall.  The hall is filled with vendors...  Shopping.  Shopping. Shopping!

I think it was the BEST SCRAPBOOK EXPO ever....maybe it's my emphasis on scrapbooking has changed with the creation of the Project Life style but I found LOTS of things that would be perfect for my scrapbooking as well as cardmaking habits! 

I am hesitant to put my haul up here because it looks so extravagant...but really most of these things were at bargain prices.  Not all...but most things were.  I know we all love a good bargain....especially when it comes to papercrafting which we know can run into some $$$!

So here's what I bought.  I did reduce the resolution on all these photos so hopefully if you are interested they will load quickly.

Here we go...

First up...some packets of pretty sequins.  Love 'em!

Next up some pretty dimensional butterflies by Jenni Bowlin.  Bargain?  Yep...they were $1.00

 Some stencils...can't wait to try these out!

Some really cool Die-namics dies from My Favorite Things....I love the punched alpha and numbers. 

I've had my eye on this Blueprint die for a long time.  Lots of stuff in this packet for card making! This is Die-namics Blueprint 16.

Some washi tape for $1 a roll.

I have seen some fabulous cards made with this MFT set called "Bokeh Builder".  I love the unfocused look of Bokeh in photography and think it's way cool the way it has been adapted for paper crafting.  And I just love these sentiments!

Here we have a 3x4 Polaroid die which will be perfect for Project Life stuff (and card making, as well).  It's from Taylored Expressions which has a great line of dies, too.

I love this label banner die set, too...from Taylored Expressions.

 

 And I adored this little cling stamp set by Taylored Expressions which also included the way cute die of a cutesy camera!

I love Technique Tuesday stamps but they can run into a lot of $$$...but I thought this little set would work so well with my scrapbooking!

Some little stick pins which were $1 that will go in my grandson's album.  :)

Bargain stamps....hope they work!  But for a buck they were worth it, I think....and would also work well for making my own PL cards.  These are manufactured by Autumn Leaves.

Some brads for baby boy stuff.

8 1/2 by 11 inch We R Memory Keepers slotted page protectors.  These both have slots for 4x4 pictures or cards and I do have "need" for those.  (heh heh...)

I LOVED this little boy monster set!  Good for my little monster boys! 

A bargain 6x6 paper pad because "I might make a card".

The Authentique booth had 6x6 paper pads at a show special of $1 a piece...great buy and there are some pretty solids and prints that coordinate in here.  A great buy.  I couldn't stop at one and had to have 2 of these.  Oh yay...$2!

 

Another cute 6x6 pad which coordinates with some paper I bought at another booth.

More cutesy baby boy stuff from Carta Bella:

And more project lifey stuff...can't have too much.  There was one booth that had 25 cent paper...it was double sided textured cardstock...that was a great buy!

 

Cool Halloween paper...only $.25 a sheet and it is double sided!

Valentine paper...also $.25 a sheet.

Cardstock stickers at $.75...I love these for PL, too!

Christmas paper....so pretty and double sided, of course.

I thought this was fun and hadn't seen it before....it's a piece of printed cardstock that is about Georgia.  I thought I could include it in Wade's album as he was born in the great state I live in...Georgia.  My friend, Debbie, is going on a road trip to California next month and will be traveling through lots of states....she picked up sheets for each state she is traveling through and has the great start for a scrapbook!  It will be so easy and fast for her to put together.

I did also get another clear Wink of Stella pen....I have used my other one so much and it's a year old...I wonder when it will dry out or get used up...thought it would be a good idea to have another on hand!

Well, that's my haul...hope you don't think badly of me for amassing even great amounts of supplies! LOL!  But I am going to my craft studio/heaven in a few minutes to find places for my new stuff....and get going on some C-R-E-A-T-I-N-G!!!

Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!

Sending Prayers and Love

I look forward to this day every year...Scrapbook Expo is here in the metro Atlanta area and it is time for an annual shopping spree!  I need this.  Since Archiver's closed in the area there just aren't many opportunities for shopping of the latest and greatest paper crafting schtuff.  I love ordering online but let's face it...you can't touch or feel it!

If I find any great things I'll let you all know!

In the meantime here is a card made with the Simon Says Stamp Kit for July.

 I loved this kit.  I absolutely adored the stamp set that was included and think it will be a keeper and one I'll use many times.
What I love about the card kits is that you are given a sheet for inspiration...and a host of bloggers usually do a blog train sort of thing and share projects made with the kit but it's not a kit where you are instructed to take paper A and glue it to paper B and stick embellishment C on.  Basically you get a packet of embellishments, some 6 by 6 printed or specialty papers, some 8 1/2 by 11 cardstock that matches, and generally other little treats which might include a marker, an ink pad, some paint...sequins, etc.  My husband says that when my box comes I look like a little kid on Christmas day!  LOL!  Anyway, the kit gives you some supplies but it's up to you to do the magic.

So here is my magic...

 I used a Simon Says Stamp postage stamp die to cut out the window.  I stamped the little envelopes with Memento Luxe ink which I embossed with clear embossing powder.  I love the little envelopes and the stamp kit comes with several of them...so cute!
Here's a closeup of the little envelopes:

Well, that's it for today...time to get my shopping shoes on and get outta here!

Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!

Happy Birthday to You!

I mentioned the other day I needed a few birthday cards (July seems to be a busy birthday month for me) so I sequestered myself in my room and made a few.  I still need more...

I made a card similar to this a few months back which was a CASE from a card by the fantastic Shari Carroll but loved it so much I couldn't part with it.  I have kept it in my stash and like great artwork (HAHA!) I enjoyed pulling it out and looking at it from time to time.  Well, I decided to make a couple more.  :) I'm so smart.

Here are two versions of the same card.  The circle was cut out and acetate put behind it...gives different look and I love it!

Here is a different view of the window.  Not sure why I didn't get reflection to show the acetate but of course, if I didn't WANT reflection and glare it would be there! LOL!  I used papers from My Mind's Eye Lime Twist and a piece of flair I had sitting around.  The 'happy birthday' die cut was made with  dies from Simon Says stamp.  The "Celebrate" sentiment is from a set by Paper Smooches.

And here is a second version of the same card with the sentiment done with heat embossing:

I also used an embossing folder to emboss the wood grain look on the white cardstock.  I think the white sentiment on the embossed cardstock looks nice.

That's it for today...the cards have been mailed and hopefully received today!

Happy Crafting, Keep Creating and Happy Birthday to you July babies!

Let's Shell-ebrate!

I was in need of a few Birthday cards so came up with this nifty little one which worked up pretty quickly and easily.
I love turtles.  Always have.  Sadly I don't see them around as much anymore! :(  We live on a small river and used to see more turtles but come to think of it...I don't think I've seen even one this year!  Come back, little turtles!
Anywho....here is my card:

I used the Paper Smooches über-cute set Party Posse for the cutest little turtle.  I colored him in with some Copics for some simple blending and paper pieced his shell from the My Minds Eye Lime Twist pad which also provided the dotted background paper.  I used a postage stamp die from Simon Says Stamp to cut out the middle and used foam tape to adhere the paper to my white card base.  The banner was cut with a Simon Says Stamp die and also adhered with a bit of foam tape.  I used some Wink of Stella clear on the little party hat to give it some extra shine.  I started to color in some of the dots on the background but then I said..."Susan, leave it alone! Enough is enough!"  But after I said "ENOUGH!"...I decided to put some Glossy Accents on his shell.  LOL!

Here is a closeup:

There are coordinating dies that go with the stamp set which makes for care free cutting! I like that! :)

I think little Toby the Turtle is cute...don't you?

Happy Crafting and Happy Sunday!

You Are the Bright Spot

Wimbledon is over for 2014 and we have two repeat champions.  Nowak Djokovich and Petra Kvitova each won the gentlemen and ladies championships, respectively, and interestingly both won it in 2011, as well.  Good for them.  They both deserved to win...played like champions in the finals.

So, now I can stop talking about Wimbledon...although the US Open held in New York is just around the corner!  And, of course, there are tons of tournaments between now and then for the tennis buff! ;)

Tomorrow my friend, Debbie, (who helped me reorganize my room a while back) is coming over to scrapbook with me.  Sometimes having a friend over is all the motivation I need to get going.  Sometimes not.  Probably both of us will just sit and talk about everything in the world and after may hours together we will commiserate how little we got done! LOL!

Such is the life of an "artist".  ;)

Here is another card made recently....

Clean and simple....ain't much to it...and I love it.  I love the combination of the round and star sequins.  Yay me.  I CASED it from someone who did a similar design somewhere...but really...this is not reinventing the wheel...just a coupla rectangles with a stamped sentiment on it surrounded by some stuff.  I bet Michelangelo used a design similar to this to get started on his masterpieces....
So simple even a caveman could do it.  LOL...(so dislike those commercials!)!

Just a happy little card to brighten someone's day!

Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!

Wimbledon Part II

Wimbledon continues and today there was a very exciting match this morning between the number 1 seed, Nowak Djokovich and the new cutie patootie on the scene, Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.  It was a great match but Nowak won it in 4 sets.  So he is on to the finals.  On the other side of the draw Milos Raonic (great retro hair) and Roger Federer will play.  And that match is going on now.  I don't have a clear favorite but it would be nice to see the old gun, Federer win, I suppose.  That is...since my boyfriend, Rafael Nadal got beat out.

So, I had my tennis match last night and this was me on the court:

Ok, so that is not really me, of course.  Thankfully no one had the foresight to whip out a camera as I went down.  But down I did go!  I fell on my "bunky" (as my grandkids call it)...hit my back and hit the back of my head a bit.  HAHA!!!  Thankfully I wasn't hurt (we played on clay) and I was able to brush off and resume the match.  I. Am. A. Trooper!

LOL!  Glad you all didn't see it!  We all had a good laugh there, though.

Good news is we killed our opponents and won 6-0, 6-0.  For you none tennis fans that means they took NOTHING off us.  We won every game.

Game...that brings me to something.  Don't ever ask a tennis player if they won the game.  Or tell them to have a "good game".  It is a "match".  Games make up sets which make up a match.  You don't just play a game.  You play many games....and the games make up a set....and you have to win 2 sets to win the match.  So if you want to sound knowledgeable say "Have a good match!"  or "How was your match?".  If you say "How was your game?" you would sound dopey.  Like you don't know nothin' about tennis.

OK, enough about tennis again.  :)

Here is another card recently made:

(One day I will get my photography skills DOWN and a rectangular card will look like a rectangle and not a trapezoid. HAHA!...and yes, I know that I just need to change the angle of my camera.)
Anyway, this stamp set was from a Simon Says Stamp exclusive set and I just love it.  More cards with it to follow...I did the rays behind the lightbulb with Memento Luxe ink which I embossed with clear embossing powder to give a bit of a sheen.  I stamped the lightbulb and then just cut it out.  I wouldn't call it fussy cutting cuz there wasn't anything fussy about it...pretty straight cutting here.  And the sentiment was done with VersaFine ink with some clear powder on it, too...  It's hard to tell here but the chevron paper at the bottom is a glitter paper...so fun!

And that's it for today...

Hope your game, your match and your crafting is good!

And Happy Independence Day to the Americans!