Daddy and Us

I came across a very cute little file in the Silhouette online store.  It is actually a card designed by Suzanne Cannon and looked like this:

I thought it was really cute...with the cutout shoes and decided to personalize it for my son in law from his 3 little ones.  I changed the orientation of the card and added in two more pairs of shoes sized to represent my grandchildren.  I backed with blue and pink paper (2 boys, 1 girl, of course!).
After it was done I decided it was just too "meh" for me so cut the panel and used it as a card front on a mat and base.  It just needed a little more pizzazz for me.  Instead of cutting out Daddy and Me...or Daddy and Us in this case I stamped with some Paper Smooches stamps I had on hand.

The card is approximately 6.5 by 5 (or something like that) so when done I made an envelope with the We R Memory Makers Envelope Punch Board.
My daughter will get her three to "sign" their names....and will give it to him for Father's Day which is coming soon. 
That's it for today.
Happy Crafting!

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!

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!

Gifting Cards

I recently was asked to address some envelopes for a friend's daughter's wedding invitations. I enjoyed doing it so much...I dabble in calligraphy and decorative writing so it was so much fun to do it. I was really happy with the results...I handed the finished envelopes off to the bride's mother the other day and she said she loved them and thought they looked fantastic. I was proud. LOL!

I decided it would be fun to make the bride a set of thank you note cards that she could send out.  I had asked her mother what the bride's wedding colors were and she said "cream, blush, and celadon green".  What the heck??!  LOL!!! I'd never heard of celadon green but apparently it's a grayish green. Anyway, I figured the chance of getting an exact match with that green would be difficult so decided to just use some paper from an "old" paper stack I had on hand.  I used Neenah off white cardstock for my base.  I decided to make the cards mostly flat for easy mailing for her.  I initially put ribbon on but decided to minimize it and simplify it and took the ribbon off.

I used my new BFF MISTI to stamp the sentiment and am always amazed how quick and fast it is to use when you are doing multiple cards AND most importantly for me...how easy it is to align to get the perfectly straight look.

Here are the cards and I used the Paper Smooches Roses die set and the sentiment is Paper Smooches Lovely Thoughts:

 I love that die set....

 I also used the stitched rectangle set for my mat from Simon Says Stamp. The mat was popped up on some Stampin' Up foam dimensionals.

 I added a few gold pearls for a little more interest and they were done pretty quickly.

Fun and easy...and I think she will enjoy using them for some "special" thank yous!

I also made a little box to hold the cards in from a file by Lori Whitlock purchased from the Silhouette Online store and cut on my Cameo.  I've said it before...Lori Whitlock's are always so perfect and cut so well!  She must have been an engineer in a previous life!

Here is the box...using the same papers from the roses and leaves:

The bride's initials were also cut on the Cameo using a font I have installed on my computer that I love...Lavenderia.

Here is another look...a little creamy organza bow finished it off:

And that's it for today...Happy Crafting and Happy Sunday!

First Cards of the Year!

I finally made myself a bit of time to go in my craft room to work on a few cards last night.  I had such a good time and cranked out a half dozen in NO time at all.

I skipped over the December, 2014 Simon Says Stamp Card Kit which still sits in its box downstairs...love that kit but wanted to make some thank you cards and the January Card kit for 2015 has a very nice little thank you theme going.

Here is the kit:

Now, 100 lucky subscribers were randomly selected to receive this in lieu of the little stamps above:

Well, guess who was lucky enough to get this? Moi, of course!
So, I got to work making some fun and simple cards with this fun stamp set and the pretty Bo Bunny papers and dies included.
Here is the first one I made:

 Very simple with a little embossing of the "winter wishes" sentiment.  I also used a Paper Smooches shadow stamp at the bottom just to give the cups a little "grounding".

I stamped a simple thank you sentiment for the inside.

I am entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge (Something New) HERE.  The Bo Bunny papers, dies and the new SSS stamp set were new to me!

Happy Crafting!

Coffee Chick!

I love coffee.  Just gotta have one, two, three four cups each morning.  OK, so I drink lite coffee so really it's just like drinking 2 cups. Just explaining myself!

For my card today I used the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit for October which included a really cute coffee/tea themed stamp set which is called "Friendship Has Its Perks". 

I got inspiration from Stephanie Klauck's card HERE.  I made a few changes to make it my own, of course, although I am not above totally copying people either! LOL!

Here is my version:

I made this card with my friend, Cyndi, in mind.  She loves coffee and  lattes from Starbucks even more than I! She is the original Coffee Chick! 
I colored the coffee mug with Copics.  And see that little shadow below the mug?  Well, that's from a stamp set which is über cool from Paper Smooches called "Shadows" which you can see below:

I think it is a very cool set!
Here is a little closer up of the cute mug:

Time to finish that second cup of coffee...or is it my third???!

Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!

Sympathy card

I seem to be in need of so many sympathy cards these days.  So very sad to lose loved ones, isn't it?  I always hope that my cards bring some comfort during times of loss.

This seems to be my sort of "go to" card for condolence sending...with a few variations along the way.  I love this daisy memory box die and it always works up so beautifully. 

The dotted line is from the Paper Smooches Dots and Dash dies.  A cool set to have on hand.
The cardstock is Papertrey Ink cardstock....a nice thick cardstock.

And the sympathy sentiment is one I got at a stamp show many years ago.  It stamps a nice clean image every time.


Well, today it is a "Rainy Day in Georgia"...a great day to craft or clean out closets.  Which should I do? I've already cleaned out a closet this morning so maybe I will treat myself with a little crafting time!

Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!

More Birthday Fun!

I am in need of a few more birthday cards for October.  Lots of people getting older.  Not me.  HAHA!

Here is another card made with the Paper Smooches Birthday Posse set.  I colored the turtle with a few Copic Markers and then put some glitter sheen over him and, lastly, added a googly eye.

I used some embossed paper from We R Memory Keepers.  It reminded me of the turtle shell. 
Here's a closeup of the little cute guy:

And that's it for today...I'm on the run!  Hoping to get some crafting in later!

Happy Sunday, Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!

Happy Baath-day!

Well, hello, blogland!

Hope things are well with all of you!  I had a great day today...my tennis team took 5 out of 5 points and we played the second place team.  So woohoo!  Yay, us!  I did play with a new partner today which can always be a bit "iffy" but we played great together and prevailed against some very able opponents.  OK, Atlanta has a huge tennis league...tennis is big here and probably 90% of the people you play are nice and considerate opponents.  But every now and then you run into someone who is rude and obviously thinks this "social" tennis is way more than it is.  It's not like we win prize money or anything like that.  If you make it through your regular season in first place you get a freakin' plastic tag to put on your bag that says you are a division winner.  Probably a nickel's worth goes into that plastic.  I mean, c'mon!

Anyway, today we played a woman who was just so rude to us as well as her own partner.  Terrible.  Too bad for her...SHE LOST! LOL!!!  HAHA! She thought she was "all that" but SHE LOST!

OK, enough of my rantings but she was just such a good example of very poor sportsmanship!

On to birthdays.  Someone special to me is having a birthday later in the week and I made this cute little Paper Smooches card with a window for her:

 I used some My Mind's Eye papers.  The circle dies were cut from My Favorite Things Blueprint 16 as was the little mat for the sentiment.

I colored the little lamb with some Copic markers after stamping it with black Versafine ink and throwing some clear embossing powder on it and heat embossing it with my new Stampin' Up Heat tool.  Love that tool...paper warp is less than my old one, I think.  I added some googly eyes and some sheen with my Wink of Stella clear pen and slapped some foam tape on it to give it some dimension.

Here you can see the inside of the card:

And that's it for today!

Happy Crafting!!!

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!

Happy Birthday, Amanda!

We had a week of birthdays....my granddaughter, Taylor's, was on Monday and her mother...my wonderful daughter, Amanda's was on Tuesday.
She turned 29+.  LOL!

Here we are 34 years ago:

We didn't realize it at the time but the film in my 35mm camera was not loaded properly...and in those days we didn't take many photos anyway because processing was so expensive!  Anyway, we only got a few polaroids at the hospital.  Here we are on our way home.  I look dazed.  I was.  Amanda weighed 9 1/2 lbs.  She was 3 days early.  I am short...5 feet tall.  Yep, there were 30 babies in the nursery at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital in Tallahasee, FL on June 3 and she was the biggest of 'em all.  Back 34 years ago a 9 1/2 lb baby was considered a very large baby.  Nowadays those big 'uns are more the norm, I guess.
Anyway, since I am in my watercolor mode I made her this card:

 I used distress inks on water color paper and made a gradient type thing...the colors here are not "true" as there really was a little more color variation in the actual paper card.  I added a little wooden heart I also used distress ink on...and here is another disclaimer....it matched the paper better than it looks here in the photo.  I promise!

I

Oh, and after I posted my card that I made for Taylor's birthday I thought it looked so plain online so I went back and added some sequins to spiff it up a bit.  Here's the card I posted the other day:

 And here it is with a bit more flash!

What a fun week with lots of birthdays and birthday cake! Yum!

Happy Crafting!

Happy Birthday with a Touch of Acetate

I love Shari Carroll.  She used to work for Hero Arts and you know how I love Hero Arts.  Her design style has always been so appealing to me and I have never ONE time seen a card she made and said "Ewwwwww!".  She recently went to work for Simon Says Stamp which is way cool...because not only can she work with Hero Arts things, I assume,  but also with all the great products Simon Says Stamp has to offer.  A win-win situation for me!

She recently posted a card on the Simon Says Stamp Blog which you can see HERE.  I love this card with the die cut sentiment and the touch of acetate.  I thought...well, I can do this. Sort of....when I made mine I was out of town and only had some supplies with me.  But the good news is that I used up some more paper scraps I had from some old Simon Says Stamp card kits.

Yay me.   I used what I had on hand.

Yay me.

Here is my card:

 I was most happy to use up that flair I had....it had been sitting around and I was wondering what I'd ever do with it!  Yay me.
The top layer with the acetate is adhere with some foam tape to give a bit more dimension and lift it off the patterned paper behind it.
I love the look of white on white...and I love that wood grained paper from Simon Says Stamp.  The "happy birthday" sentiment is also cut with exclusive Simon Says Stamp dies.  I do love the die cuts that Shari used but again I used what I had on hand.  And my hand does not own those.  Poor me.

The word "celebrate" was stamped with a Paper Smooches stamp.

It was fun to do...and a big thanks to Shari Carroll for always wonderful inspiration!

Happy Crafting!

More Halloweenies!

Halloween is such a fun time each year.  I love the costumes and as I mentioned the other day... I LOVE THE CANDY!

I know there are people who don't celebrate Halloween thinking it's evil or something...I respect that BUT I love it and there is nothing evil about Flash Gordon and Minnie Mouse!

We went to an annual Trunk and Treat the other day.  I hadn't heard of that until last year....the church where the little ones go to preschool/mother's morning out has one each year.  People decorate the trunks or the back parts of their vehicles, dress up and give candy out to the little kids.  My grandkids love it!

Of course, Thursday is the big night, isn't it?

Here is another card I made with one of the Halloween sets from Paper Smooches.  I've had so much fun working with these sets....those little images are adorable!

I used Doodlebug papers and a Tim Holtz embossing folder (for the spider web).  I used white core paper so that when I sanded it the white showed through.  Whomever dreamed that one up was brilliant!

The little vampire was paper pieced and I added some goldish Stickles around his eyes.

And that would be it.  Simple, simple, bo-bimple, fanana fanna fo fimple.  There you have it.

I'm entering this in the Simon Says Challenge Halloween or Halloween Colors HERE.

Happy Crafting!

More Halloween Fun

I just spent about 7 hours and 43 minutes working on photos...I backed them all up (yay, me!), I went through hundreds to find some for Project Life, I formatted them to the correct size, edited them as needed, uploaded them to Costco and clicked SUBMIT!

About an hour later I got a call from Costco that their printer is down!  GREAT!!!  I had two orders uploaded!  Arrrggghhhhhhh!  Not a huge problem because I just went ahead and had them sent to another Costco but it all did set me back time wise so lo and behold...no housecleaning today either! LOL! *any excuse works for me!

But onto Halloween.  Here is another card made with the Paper Smooches set I used in the cards I posted yesterday.  In fact, I used the same little Frankenstein who is just too cute.   I colored him with some Copics and added some googly eyes.  Cut him out and popped him up.

Fun and simple to create.

I've entered this in the Simon Says Stamp Halloween or Halloween Colors Challenge HERE.

Off to pick up those pictures and head to a Trunk and Treat with the kids!

Happy Crafting!

Happy Halloween!

Boo!  Eeek! Shriek!!!  Halloween is just around the corner, isn't it? I have always loved Halloween...I don't remember too many costumes that I dressed up in when I was a kid but I do recall those horrid masks that you wore and could not breathe in or see out of! LOL!  Those of you more than 29 years old will surely remember those.

I do recall that when I was in the second grade I dressed up as Jackie Kennedy.  I don't recall what my mother put me in but I did have an authentic Jackie Kennedy mask.  I thought she was so pretty!  Of course, JFK was president then so you can probably figure out that I am Waaay more than 29!  HAHA!

I made several costumes for my own kids and that was always fun.

My grandkids are going as Flash Gordon and Minnie Mouse this year.  I can't wait to see them.  Wade, the new baby, will probably go as a cow which will have been recycled from the other kids.  ;)

Anyway, onto cardmaking.  I have a few Paper Smooches stamp sets and I just love them.  I like the cute side of Halloween.  I know some love the spooky, creepy stuff but I like cute.  Don't hate.

So, I've made several cards and will share over the next few days.  Gotta get these babies in the mail today, don't I?

I made two variations but here is the first one.  I love the little Frankenstein dude....I colored him with Copics and added some googly eyes.  I love the little beakers which I put some Stickles over.  I hate spiders which totally ick me out but can tolerate the 2 dimensional non-moving kind....  I think he's kind of cute, by the way....

Here is a closeup of Mr. Frank N. Stein.  (Oh, old favorite movie....Young Frankenstein with Gene Wilder.  "It's not Frankenstein...it's Frah ken steen!"  HAHA!)

And here is a photo of the two versions:

 

Fun, fun, fun!

Oh, and another thing I like about Halloween is CANDY!  I love candy.  Yep...I do!  I like just about everything except for Jujubes...and Milk Duds sort of get on my nerves.  But Snickers, M and M's, Twix, Starburst, etc....well, keep them out of my reach!

Happy Crafting!  It's a beautiful day here...a bit cool.  I think I'll take a walk at the park and do some crafting, too! 

Oh, and I entered this in the Simon Says Stamp Halloween or Halloween Colors Challenge HERE.

Happy Birthday, David!

Today is my grandson's 4th birthday!  I can't believe he is 4 today but he is always reminding me that he is a "big boy" now.  And yes he is!

This was after hard tough soccer session! :)  Had to have a snack after all that effort!

I decided to make him a big boy card.  No cute teddy bears or babies for him.  *sigh*....

Instead I cut an image with my Silhouette Cameo that was a 3x3 numbers card that I adapted for my standard sized card here:

The numbers design is by Lori Whitlock and then I used a little flame from Samantha Walker.
The sentiment is from Paper Smooches which I inked with Versafine Ink and then threw some clear embossing powder over.  That gives it a nice little sheen and lift, methinks.

I gooped a bunch of Stickles on the 4 and the flame to make it stand out a bit more. Who doesn't like sparkle, right?

Oh and I used some foam tape on some of the layers to give it a bit more dimension because we just can't have a totally flat card now, can we?  HAHA!  I can make a flat card....just more fun to stick that foam tape under! LOL!

That's it for today, my friends!

Happy Crafting!