Beyond the Sea....

I have been oh-so-lucky to spend part of my winter at the beach for the last three years.  I have a wonderful friend who has a house in Laguna Beach, FL just west of Panama City Beach. Oh, how I love the white sands and emerald green water of the Gulf. It is truly a happy place for me and I love being down there in the winter. It's not tropical in the Florida Panhandle in the winter...it's not sunning yourself on the beach kind of weather but I love the cool crisp air and the sound of the waves. And the winter sunsets are so spectacular! Happy. Place.

Anyway, I always make a few cards for my friend as a little additional thank you and they are done with a beachy or ocean theme.  This is what I came up with for this year:

I made several different versions before setting on this one....I tried different backgrounds...different ways to do the little sea turtle...etc.  But was pretty happy with this fun and cheerful card when it all came together.
I used Lawn Fawn's Critters Under the Sea for the turtle and coral. They were colored with Copics and cut out to adhere to the little water scene which was done with Ranger Distress Inks and blending tools.  I used a die from Paper Smooches called Stitched Flourishes to do the little flourish behind the turtle...I thought it made it look like there was movement and of course, there is...the turtle is swimming! LOL! And the little turtle was popped up on some foam tape to give a tad of dimension.  Since these will be mailed, I presume, I didn't want too much bulk.
I used some circle dies from Lifestyle Crafts and cut the scalloped circle from a Spellbinder die onto some orange paper which I embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder called "Tiny Bubbles".
I used a sentiment from an old stamp set that a friend gave me.  There is no name on the set so I don't know who the manufacturer is and Google did not help me! I set the stamp up on my friend, MISTI which made stamping the image in the very same place (since I made multiple cards!) very easy!

I brushed some clear Wink of Stella glitter shimmer over the turtle and the coral and added some glossy accents for "bubbles".
I think my friend will like them.  I would love to receive one of these! :)
They make me want to head south and back to the beach!

And that is it for today...it is wet and gloomy here in Atlanta. We have had so much rain recently but it certainly has helped with all of the pollen!

Happy Crafting!

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!

We're More Than Friends

And Happy Monday to all of you!  

It looks gray and overcast here today so I think this afternoon will give way to some scrapbooking or card making!  I wonder where the mojo (if I can find it) will take me!

This was a fun card to make using a circle stamp from a Simon Says Stamp kit to make the background.  I inked it with some different Hero Arts ink and it was quick and simple and fun to do!

I used some Glossy Accents on the hearts to just give it a little extra shine.  Very quick and pretty easy....the hardest part, of course, was for me to give the Glossy Accents time enough to dry!  I just HAVE TO TOUCH!!!  It's part of my DNA...what can I say?!

And today I am giving Inlinkz.com a whirl.  Vicky from Clips-n-Cuts (one of my very favorite bloggers) is the owner of Inklinz and she is having a giveaway to those who use it.   I love the blogs that use that feature so why not?!

Vicky is also having a fantastic giveaway if you use the Inlinkz tool on your blog and you can find out about that HERE!

Happy Crafting!

Pale Tomato Mid-Tone Shadow Ink	Soft Pool Ink Pad	Cup O' Joe Shadow Ink Mid-Tone	Field Greens Shadow Ink Mid-Tone
*Simon Says Clear Stamps CARD EXCHANGING FRIENDS SSS130801	*Ranger Inkssentials MINI GLOSSY ACCENTS Glue Dimensional Adhesive .5oz	*3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent	*Neenah Classic Crest **110 LB** SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE Paper Pack 25 Sheets

InLinkz.com

The Excitement Begins

My little grandkids are so excited that Santa will be visiting soon.  One wants a "Teenage Mutant ENGINE Turtle Secret Sewer Lair" (LOL!) and another wants "Minnie Mouth Toyth".  Too cute.  I love those kids.

I spend some time playing around with my toys and made a few more cards to get out.
Here is one I did which is a very proud, albeit shameless, CASE-ing of a Darlene DeVries card.  I did change out the printed paper but it is definitely her design.  I used the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit of the Month for December which you can see here:

I love the Doodlebug papers...so happy and festive.  Sadly the kit is sold out! 

Here is my card:

 I stamped the sentiment with Versafine Ink and then embossed it with clear embossing powder.  The little mittens were stamped with Stampin' Up ink and then I used a green Wink of Stella pen to give it a bit of shimmer.  And I used Glossy Accents on the little hearts.

It was a fun card to make....sometimes you just find a design you like and it is so much fun to duplicate and to also put your own touches on it.

Happy Crafting and Happy Holidays!

Hello Friend!

This will be a busy week with little time for crafting.  No complaints here, though...my best friend of all time is here to spend some time with me!

Here is another card made with the same Tim Holtz blueprint set I used the other day although this time I used the camera.  So cute and I think I will just have to find a way to include that in some Project Life pages.  I think it's a great little stamped image!  I used BoBunny Mama-razzi papers again.  They are so much fun!

Here you go....
A little inking...a little stamping...a little cutting....

 I did use a few rounds of some cording I have and tied a few random knots in it. 

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

Hope you all have a great day and rest of the week!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Insert Page

We had a big event last week....with an announcement of a sort.  My daughter called me to tell me she was sending Valentine's out this year and that she wanted me to go to her Costco photo site to look at it and then tell her what I thought about it. 

I did as told.

and I saw this:

That is a picture of my grandson, David, with a 1 on his shirt....a photo of Taylor with a 2 on her shirt and a photo of my daughter's middle with a 3 on it!  Yep....she's expecting my 3rd grandchild!  I loved the way she decided to announce this.  She mailed them out and pretty much everyone "got" it right away although her own brother did not and it had to be explained to him.  Men! LOL!

Anyway, since it was such a big event and I wanted to incorporate the actual Valentine and use it as an insert page for my Project Life. 

So I used some Echo Park papers and did a very simple treatment of the Valentine.  A Martha Stewart border punch and a Hero Arts stamp and die for the arrow. 

I love that arrow.

On the reverse side I journaled how I found out about this big news:

 I designed the Wonderful News frame in my Silhouette Studio software and cut it out with my Cameo.  The frame is one from the Silhouette Online store.  I used the hearts from the punched border from the reverse side and used a little Glossy Accents to give them a little more shine.  And I journaled.  Yay, me!

 Happy Crafting!

Simply Valentines

Here is a simple Valentine's Day card for you!
White on white which I always love with a hint of color.  I used the Cuttlebug hearts embossing folder and then a tiny heart stamp from the Hearts2DieFor stamp set from the Stamps of Life.  I embossed the little stamp with some white embossing powder and then I used Glossy Accents over the top.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

I keep meaning to tell you my tip about Glossy Accents which I just happened upon by accident.  My tip would always clog up and I would use a straight pin or needle to unplug it.  Well, one time I accidentally left the straight pin in it.  And it wasn't clogged.  And since there is some gooey Glossy Accents in the top when I unscrew the cap the straight pin usually stays with the top.  I have used over a half a bottle of Glossy Accents and it still is flowing freely and I've never had to unplug it!  So keep a straight pin in your bottle.  It works!

Most inventions were probably by accident.  I wonder if I could patent this! LOL!

Anyway, here is my card:

Oh, the Things You Can Find!

I was looking through a little file I had the other day and came across some Christmas dies that I had cut out from some sheet a loooong time ago.  Probably had planned to use them but ended up not....they got filed away never to be seen again....until Christmas 2012!  I saw them and thought...well, these are still pretty darned cute and I think I'll use them on a layout.

I have no idea where they came from so can't help you there but they are at least 5 or more years old so probably not available.  Probably not the most trendy scrapbooking stuff on the market now but I liked them then and I still like the folksy little look now.

Here is the two page spread:

And of course I added some Glossy Accents because we cannot leave things the way they are, can we?

And here is a border done with a Martha Stewart punch that I also used a Hero Arts stamp on with some Versamark and embossing powder to give a little more dimension and glittery look.

Trust me...the glittery look is there.
And here's the right side of the layout:

The little cut out pieces were popped up on some dimensionals.  The journaling block was made with a Martha Stewart punch set, too.

And I just thought Mr. Santa was so darned cute.

 And to give you some idea of what they look like side by side:

That's it for today, my friends!

Happy Crafting!

Splish-Splash!

Hello All!  As I mentioned in yesterday's post I cropped the weekend away with some of my friends.  We had a great time and I got a lot done....for me....World's Slowest Scrapper!
I am using the We R Memory Keepers slotted page protectors for many of my pages.  I thought it would make it so much simpler to scrap but it still takes some planning and you still have to embellish...you just use smaller sheets of paper! LOL!  Anyway, I had this photo of the Splash Fountain at the pool my kids go to and found a cute one in the Silhouette Store to cut.

Here it is outside the page protector so you can see it without glare:

 I thought I was so smart cutting this and it was so cute....and then I saw the 30 or so water drops that would have to be hand adhered!  What I did was put the cut out piece over the fountain which was already adhered and then I could more easily position the tiny pieces.  I'm so smart! HAHA!
I used a little Glossy Accents on the drops and the puddle and it just turned out so cute!  Papers are from a collection by Close to My Heart.

And here is the reverse side:

Simple and fun but for me NOT fAsT!  HAHA!

Happy Crafting!

And Yet Another Thank You Card...

Here is another card I made with my Silhouette.  The image is an iris and is a cut file by Hero Arts and purchased in the Silhouette store.  I thought it looked pretty against some purple Bazzill cardstock. I added some pearls and a little Stampin' Up ribbon and la dee da......a card!  The little sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Mixed Messages set and I cut the label out with an EK Success punch and then just added some Glossy Accents to make it stand out a bit more.
And that was it.  La Dee Da!  (Disclaimer: the ribbon looks bluish here but it really is more purple than blue or else I have a serious case of color blindness! :))

Wow...Friday already!  Where does the time go?  Hoping to get a little crafting in today.

And a Happy Crafting and Happy Friday to you!

Oooo la la!

I spent a little (well, a lot) of time yesterday playing with my Copics.  It was a lot of fun and without further ado here is the card I made using Penny Black's Mimi in Paris set.

I used some My Mind's Eye printed paper for the mat.  I cut the frame out with a Spellbinder's die and inked it with some Distress Ink and cut the little banner with a Die-Namics die.  The little butterflies were done with a Martha Stewart punch.

I added a little glossy accents here and there.  And my favorite thing other than my very impressive coloring (LOL!) is that I used some Liquid Applique for the little poodle's fur!  I've had that bottle for probably 7 or 8 years and it still worked and flowed!

 I pieced little Mimi together and just glued her flat to the frame but then decided to cut another frame and mount use some foam tape to lift it off the page a bit.

And that is it.  I think Mimi turned out so cute and I love this cheerful card.  But my blending has a long way to go! :)  Off to buy more markers!!!

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Digi Doodles: Challenge 120 Things with Wings 

Simple Salutations Challenge 6 Butterfly

Crafting for all Seasons Challenge #33: Bright Colours 

Simon Says Stamp and Show: Challenge: Favorite Technique (my new favorite technique for the moment is coloring and shading with Copics)  

That Craft Place Challenge Blog: Things With Wings

Happy Crafting!

Cricut Challenge 31: A Day at the Gardens

I'm not much of a work in the yard person but I sure do enjoy walking through beautiful gardens.  The Atlanta Botanical Gardens are lovely....any time of the year.  In the fall there is always an exhibition of scarecrows that are made by local schools and vendors, etc. and they are such fun to see.

Here is a 2 page layout I did of a day at the gardens with some friends.  The title was cut with my Cricut Expression with the Mini Monograms cartridge and the papers and embellishments are all Close to My Heart.  I haven't used my Cricut in a while since I got my Cameo but it was fun using it and yes, I still love my Cricut, too!  Anyway, this also meets my personal challenge of using the cartridges I have for a project.

Left side:

The journaling was printed on clear acrylic and is secured with some cute little pins.

It looks crooked here because it slid a bit (I know....I should have repositioned it and taken another picture...but...) but it is fine once it is in my page protector.

Right side:

I added a few little flowers and some little flower brads as well as a bit of Glossy Accents on some of the cute little figures on the papers:

And here is a picture of how the layouts look side by side.

I loved this happy paper!

Happy Crafting!

A Day at the Lake

I love the summer.  I rarely complain about the heat. I don't like the cold.  I think my grandkids like the summer, too....they are both little waterbugs!
They recently spent a few days in southern Indiana visiting extended family and had a wonderful time playing in the lake.  I love the photo of Taylor on the left...I would have preferred to have it printed in my favorite larger sizes but it was a cell phone photo and the resolution was not high enough. But it still turned out cute the way it is and I thought I would just use the photos of the two kids playing in the water and make a full 2 page spread.
I used Echo Park Hello Summer papers and embellishments as well as some Core'dinations cardstock as the base.  The "To the Lake" sign is the free shape for the week in the Silhouette Store and I saw it yesterday and thought it would be perfect!  And look how well the words and letters were cut! The little border at the bottom is also an Echo Park digital file I cut on my Silhouette Cameo.
Here is the left side:

And the right:

And how the two pages look side by side:

Don't you just love those bright happy papers?!
I used a little Glossy Accents on some of the embellishments:

 And that's it for today!

Happy Crafting!