May All Your Dreams....

I have finally created a card that would be appropriate for the male species! Well, I've done masculine cards before but went "meh" when I finished them. This one I actually love.  I was at my local stamp store recently...the store features fabulous sample cards throughout and I came across one that incorporated wire and just loved it.  So  bought the stamp set...Rising Stars by Paper Smooches along with the matching dies and set to work creating my own version.

Funny story about wire...for the scrapbookers out there...remember when it was so popular to put it on scrapbook pages?  Yep, I had all the tools and all the wire and it was a lot of fun.  That box of wire supplies has sat unused for many years!  Ok, now to the funny story.  Over 12 years ago (I was living in another house) I was working on a scrapbook page in my little scrapbook nook in my bedroom.  I was using said wire.  I looked down and wondered where some red ink came from as I was not using pens or anything that had red ink.  Well, lo and behold...I realized I was BLEEDING on my scrapbook page! I had apparently pricked myself with the wire and was dripping blood on my page.  Well, I had put a lot of time into that page and was NOT going to redo it.  So I wiped off what I could and then told my husband that if he ever needed a DNA sample to go to the scrapbook from 2002 that had the fall trip to Las Vegas in it!  LOL!

Anyway, on to my wire card and thankfully, I did NOT bleed on these creations!

I made this one with Stampin' Up papers and inks, a My Finest Thing border die and some LifeCrafts circle dies:

I also used a Recollections punch I had.  Love, love, love how this turned out.  Here's a closeup of the stars and wire works:

I made this for a friend's son who is graduating from high school but once I finished it I thought...now why didn't I do it in his school colors???
So I decided to make another one in his school colors of red, white and blue....I added a little yellow because it just needed something else:

I used different Fiskars border punches but the card design is the same.  I had such fun doing this!

I love this stamp set.

And the dies:

And, of course, these cards would be perfectly lovely for the feminine species too! :)  No gender specificity here!

Well, that's it for today...off to do other wild and exciting things!

Happy Crafting!

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!

There's a Baby on the Way!

Sometimes you make a card and you just love it, right?

Most of the time I go...'eh...' after I make a card but the one I am sharing here for my daughter who is expecting babynumberthree in less than 3 weeks I JUST LOVE!  We had a little get together with some family and a few of her friends last night and I made the card for that occasion.

I made it with the Lawn Fawn set Plus One. It's just such a cute set!

I used some older KI papers I had.  Some of the clouds were punched out with a Fiskars punch and some were cut out with my Silhouette Cameo.
I used Copics and Wink of Stella pens to color the beak on the stork and the little bag the stork is holding.  I added a bit of yellow rickrack for an extra burst of color.

I loved my little clouds.

And I loved my little sparkly bird. ;)

Below is the sentiment I put on the inside of the card:

I made an envelope with my We R Memory Keepers Envelope board and then stamped it to jazz it up a bit.

And lastly, when I was in New York recently I went to this great paper shop and bought these really small envelopes that are great for gift cards.  I stamped and colored the outside of the envelope for just a little bit more fun and just paper pieced the little "bun"!

And that's it.  I think it was perfect for the occasion and she loved it so that's a bonus!

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!

Bundle of Joy

Linda, one of my besties, favorite people in the whole world and tennis partner of more than 10 years, is going to be a grandmother next month.  Her son and daughter in law are expecting their first baby.  They are going to let the gender be a surprise....so we all have bets going.  Linda has 4 boys so I see them having a little girl to start balancing things out! LOL!

I crocheted a baby blanket for her that I'm going to go ahead and give and wanted to make a card to go with it.  I used Lawn Fawn's "Plus One"....a really cute set with a ton of stamps on it.  The papers are K & Company's Life's Little Occasions.

 I cut the large star and the moon out twice and then mounted them with foam tape.  I also used a Fiskars scallop punch for a little more fun!  We gotta use our toys, right?

 I also decided to make another Pisanki inspired card with the first image I had made the other day and MESSED UP.  I salvaged it by trimming it a bit more and placing some ribbon over a booboo.  I love when I can save things, don't you?!  The sentiment is a Hero Arts sentiment.

 Success!  Saved!

It's cloudy here today....rain is in our forecast.  I have a tennis  match this afternoon....hoping we get it in before the rain comes!

Happy Crafting!!!

So Proud of You!

Disclaimer:  This does not have the same meaning as "You must be so proud" which we southerners say and is not necessarily the most sincere thing and is basically used to shut you up.
As in:
Conversant #1: My daughter, who graduated from high school at 12 and went to Harvard and graduated from law school at 16, just married the brilliant brain surgeon/bank vice president and pro golfer and moved into a million dollar mansion on the beach in Tahiti which they now own.
Southern Belle Coversant #2:  You must be so proud.  (Which really means, "shut up, I'm sick of hearing your mouth".)


I'm so mean.  Crafters are generally nice people....but we southerners can have a little streak hidden behind sweetness! Beware of the southerner!  LOL!


Now...onto my card.  "So Proud of You".  Not the same...trust me.


I just placed an order to There She Goes Stamps...placed the order on Saturday (a week ago) and received it on Wednesday!  Wow...fast shipping.  The stamps are just awesome quality...they stamp beautifully!


I used the World's Best set to make this card:

 I used Cosmo Cricket papers "Joy Ride" which is an older line but I still have some scraps from a 6x6 pad...I think this works so well for another hard for me to do masculine card!  
This stamp set also has coordinating dies.  The ribbon was embossed with some black embossing powder...the banner was cut with the die. and I just looped the ends over the Papertrey Ink twine and used my little Tiny Attacher by Tim Holtz to secure the little flags.  A small Fiskars thumb punch was used for the little stars.

The center of the ribbon was punched out with a Martha Stewart punch.

 And below you can see the little pinking shear look which was done with a Papertrey Ink die.

And what am I proud of??? My son found a full time job and started work last Monday!  Yay!


Today I am off to crop with some friends.  I went down to my craftroom last night to pack up for my day with the ladies and ended up getting distracted and made this card instead.  LOL! So now I am unprepared and disorganized!  Definitely not proud of that!

I entered this in the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge.


Happy Crafting!

Cricut Challenge: #1 3 Birds on Parade

If you look at my post for yesterday you will see a herkin' (thanks, Donna!) big box of Cricut cartridges.  I have gotten obsessed with collecting them!  But many of them I have never really used nor could I even tell you what is on the cartridge.  So, I'm ready for a CHALLENGE!

I have decided to work my way through my cartridges and make at least one thing with each cartridge.  It may be a card, a scrapbooking layout, a vinyl project, a title for a layout...I'm not going to limit myself in that way but I will use each cartridge at some point.  That's my challenge.  I may not do it every day but I think this will be good for me because it will make me look at the books or overlays and see what all is on each cartridge!

For Challenge #1 I pulled out my never used 3 Birds on Parade.
 
I looked through the boook and saw some wonderful word art and a great looking font.  There are several creative keys...layers, shadows and more.  This cartridge could be used for many occasions...there are cute little layered birds for special events and holidays.  They are adorable.

I made this little princess card to announce the arrival of my soon to be born granddaughter ( we are about 2 weeks from the due date!). 



This cute little card was made with Paper Trey Ink papers, a Nestabilities Die (Labels Eleven), some grosgrain ribbon, and a Fiskars scalloped border punch.  I added a few gems so that our little princess would have some needed bling! The sentiment is from a set by 3 Bugs in a Rug.

One cartridge down...over 90 to go! :)