Two more for the 4th!

 I'm taking a little break from my If you give a girl a lighthouse series. Have no fear! There are at least 2 more offerings coming next week. :) In the meantime, I have a couple more July 4th concoctions...

After finishing this duo, I had one more Liberty Girl was sitting on my table begging for a card of her own!  I used the Sweet Sunday Sketch from Karen Giron.  She's got a DT Call running using this sketch.  Time is almost up so you should head over and join in the fun!  I tweaked my take on the embellies by making the "flower" part my ruffled ribbon and the "banner" part the embellies.  The papers are Pink Paislee-Declaration & Authentique-Glory.  The Copics used are Y15, YR07, R29, BG10, B99, E17, E18, E19, E00, E000, E000, R20, and T1.

I was trying to clean up some of the July 4th inspired scraps and this card came together!  Love when papers put themselves together for you. :)  Once I saw the papers I immediately thought of using this wicked old SU hydrangea that I got as a hand-me-down recently.  It had never been inked!!!!  I used Tim Holtz peeled paint, worn lipstick, and fired brick.  The sentiment is from PTI summer jar fillers and is die cut with a Spellbinders die that I also used on the whole If you give a girl a lighthouse series this week. ;)

Well, I guess I'll actually be sending out July 4th cards this year!  Are you going to be stateside this July?  What are y'all doing this for the 4th?

The torch is lit and the hydrangeas are blooming as I head here:

The Sweetest Thing- Sweet Sunday Sketch 161 and DT call

Then she'll want some flowers

Well my goodness, the day certainly got away from me!  I meant to post this first thing, but Cad did so well at his water therapy session today that we stopped by one of the locally owned pet supply stores and got him a bone (lots of customer love and some free treats from the staff).  They are collecting supplies for the GI dogs.  I can't believe I never thought about the military canines before!  There was a big list of needs so I bought some eye cleaner to donate.  Not as fun as a toy, but probably way more needed with all that dry desert sand and grit.  Now that I'm finally home and settled here's the next installment!

So these were the frames originally I thought I was going to use on the Mad Men in the Summer inspired and Mid Century meets Asian inspired cards.  I had each card with the daisy mae  paper at the same time 'cause the dies can go through multiple layers.  It was AFTER I cut that I realized that the frame wasn't going to frame anything because they were the same size.  Back to the drawing board...

I went back and cut these 4 Memory Box cards and this time I made the card window ONE SIZE SMALLER.  Ya know, so this frame could be glued AROUND the hole.  LOL!  Of course then there is the leftover set of shapes had after cutting the card window and the hole in daisy mae paper, but I'll show y'all that next week. :)

The envies got some pretty dressing too!  The mum I used on the insides of these cards was still out, sooo, I got out 4 different inks.  Each card has a different sentiment and it seemed like a fun idea to make each envie different.

Bless your hearts if you could follow all that!  Hope you have a great evening.  I'll be posting something July 4thish tomorrow! :)
 

She'll have to get out wicked old stamps

And so the If you give a girl a lighthouse series continues!  Today I have the other four cards that had windows cut into them.  Totally CAS style- so now I have CAS and mid-century going on here.  Soooo outside my box!

The stamps are from SU and must be at least 12 years old, probably older since I was living in SC when I got them and I've been in New England for 11 years.  This set makes me think of white wrought iron lawn furniture with over sized bright floral fabric cushions.  Alas, I wax nostalgic.  They were a little too simple initially so I added the three lines of embossing on the bottom to anchor card.  The left side inside is lined with paper that matches the stamp on the envie (you can see it in the first pic).

So when I was cutting the mat/windows I thought "hey I'll cut some of the uber gorgeous flower paper at the same time and use it to frame the window".  The thought that failed to occur to me was that I was cutting the mat/window with the largest die.  That meant that the frame I was going to use was NEVER GOING TO FIT.  Ugh.  So tomorrow's post will be how I used my mistake to create another set of cards. LOL!

You'll need to give her a die

Here are 4 of the cards that I cut windows into to have the lighthouse mats for these cards I posted yesterday.  The BG pb&j line makes me think of the late 50's early 60's a kind of Mad Men on summer vacation vibe.

I was going for urban/kitschy/classic with this quad.  I jazzed up the chipboard flowers and twig with Stickles.  Everything is better with glitter, right? They each got a bow or knot in a red/white ribbon.  Except the twigs.  That one got a red twine bow.  It just begged for a red twine bow.  Eeek!  I just love how these turned out.  Who would think from these cards that mid-century usually gets a Snoopy style blechk from me!

So since I cut the hole for the window I had to fill it, but I didn't have enough paper to make it look pretty.  Then I got the idea to use a different pattern for the inside of each card.  Then I cut another cream paper to use as the liner for writing the message.

Not one for leaving paper white, I just had to stamp this mum on two corners of each liner before I adhered them to the inside.  The stamp is from PTI's year in flowers mini set.  This is about as clean lines as I can get...until you see tomorrow's post!!!!

If I'm going to go nuts with all the inside details I couldn't leave the envies naked.  There's nothing sadder than a NAKED ENVELOPE.  This stamp ended up getting used for the envies because it was still sitting on my table from when I made this boxed set.  I don't get it.  Where are the cleaning fairies I ordered years ago?  Did they get lost in the mail?  I keep making messes and I end up being the one to clean those messes up.  Well I guess being messy has paid off this time. LOL!

I plan on putting on my pearls and heels to wander blogland and spread love to y'all today.  I can't wait to see what inspiring creations you've posted today!!

If you give a girl a lighthouse

 I have been a crazy woman in my studio these last 24 hours!  I've had today's post in parts for a lil' bit now and DH reminded me that he needed the cards for Monday.  So I finally got to work. :)

These are for Administrative Assistant Day.  Yeah I know it was a LONG time ago, but it isn't my fault.  DH has had to travel so much that he had to postpone their luncheon somehting like twice already!  It worked out well for me though. :)  These are stamps from JustRite and are band spankin' new to me as of last week.  Couldn't get the stamps and not get the coordinating dies now could I?  It would be breaking up a family- and I'm not about to break up a crafty family. LOL!

I tried to make them the "same but different" so it dodn't look like he was playing favorites with anyone.  Also we bought treats for everyone that were "same but different" and I was trying to coordinate with the treats.

Have you ever read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie?  Well the title of this post comes from the fact that I decided I had my own little mouse experience.  It started when I decided that I HAD to frame the lighthouse with the same color as each card base.  That meant die cutting into card bases.  And that meant I should make window cards.  And that meant I would want to frame the windows.  And then I forgot that the window I cut couldn't be framed with the frames I made because the hole was too big.  And that meant I had to figure out new ways to use the shapes I cut.  So I have something like 5 other projects that came out of this one.  Some are photographed already and you will be seeing a bunch of them this week. :)

There are 7 Administrative Assistants in his group, but I made 8 because I forgot that when we bought treats we got an extra in case he forgot someone by accident.  Each box of candy has a chocolate seashell, seastar, or lightouse, and a bunch of  candy coated chocolate "beach rocks".  Believe-it-or-not I made each card to match the colors of the "beach rocks" in each box.  I know, I know, OCD table for one right this way! 

 Hope this made you smile today!  See y'all tomorrow with the next installment of If you give a girl a lighthouse.  'Til then happy sails to you!

Lil' Liberty Lady

 It's a little early to be getting ready for July 4th, but I feel a little behind since Flag Day is HUGE at my school and these weren't done in time for that celebration! To be fair to myself, I only just got these supplies on Tuesday night. So really I am getting ready for next year. Right? :)

July 4th is also my wedding anniversary, so of course I love that holiday.  Nothing can beat a big celebration and fireworks all across the country.  On that note- you must see the fireworks from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in D.C.  Breathtaking!!!!

Poor DH had to sit through "this version or this version" questions last night as I fussed around making a couple of these girls.  He's a good sport though and has a nice eye for color.

Switching it up a bit, I made a non-Christmas tag.  Haven't made a big layered tag in a bit and I'm a little tickled with how this one looks. :)

The Lady Liberty image is from MFT.  The papers are Pink Paislee-Declaration & Authentique-Glory with some Bazzill style solids.  The Copics used both projects Y15, YR07, R29, BG10, B99, E17, E18, E19, E00, E000, E000, R20, T1 and the blender.  The tag was freehand cut, but the Lady Liberty and mat used Spellbinders die made for JustRite (JB-10025).

I'm playing some Souza and marching here with this patriotic combo:
Paper Issues- Picnics and Patriots

Winner, Winner, Cherry Dinner :)

I know y'all thought I forgot all about announcing a winner didn't ya!  My goodness, for a first day of vacation it was busy!  I left my house before 8 and didn't get home until well after the next 8!  But enough about me, we need a winner!

The lucky number is 9-
Mapowska!!!

Email me so I can send you your goodies. :)

It's been almost 1 year since Cad's disc injury.  The hard work the corgi is doing in therapy continues to pay off.  To celebrate, he will be hosting his own giveaway next month.  There will also be a new video showing his progress at the end of this month.   :)

Mom & Me

I have a surprise for you today.  I actually used a picture in one of my projects!!!  If you have been hanging out here in the fuzzy slipper zone for long, you'll have noticed I tend to make things for others to adorn with their photos.  This time one of mine made it. :)

Before you get to see the project, I wanted to show you the kit.  This one is the April Kit Club kit.  Most of the May kit has been used, but fear not more bit 'n pieces will make an appearance soon.  I know y'all are just on pins and needles. LOL!  In this kit, Mary gave us goodies from the Basic Grey pb&j line.  The cards weren't part of the kit, but they are there to inspire me to get my thank you cards made so I'm ready for the last day of school.  Only 6 more wake-ups left in this school year.  It's panic time!!!!  I'm not ready!!!!!

So I procrastinated tried to inspire myself this past Friday and joined some gals at the Craft In at my LSS.  Here is the first creation I completed and I ran around the store showing anyone who would look because I made something for me.  With a picture.  That I'm keeping.  LOL!  The shadowbox is from 7 gypsies and I'm hooked on how easy/quick/fun this is to embellish.  This picture has been on my "must use" list for about a year.  I found it in one of the copy paper boxes that are holding all the pictures from when we cleaned out Mom's house.

I adore this shot of us.  Mom read to me all the time as a kid, but not stories.  She read me poems from Ideals, nursery rhymes, and song lyrics.  She was so ahead of her time.  More and more research is showing how those types of text are crucial for early literacy development.  That was my mom- a trendsetter. :)  You may have noticed that I didn't crop the picture.  I couldn't.  Mom wrote the date of this picture on the back way at the top.  The picture is foam taped in different spots so you can still peek at her handwriting.  She had gorgeous handwriting, like a movie star or something.

Enjoy your Monday and enjoy reading with someone special this week!

More Calorie Free Goodies

 Another goodie that's even better 'cause there are no calories and it is so yummy to look at!!!!

I've seen these before and probably pinned this idea on one of my boards, but recently the gals at Paper Made Bakery did a tut on making these paper fortune cookies.  There were still scraps left from the May Kit I got at my LSS.  Ya know the one I have been boring y'all with all week. ;)

Patience is not one of my best used virtues- despite any rumors to the contrary. LOL!  So instead of printing the sayings, I went old school and wrote them.  By hand.  With a regular pen.  I know, I know, so sad.  No fancy font, no fancy ink.

But then I was thinking that these are better with handwritten notes.  More of a personal touch- well that's the story I'm sticking with now. LOL!  Wouldn't these be great for a teacher to get from a student?   A friend is going to try this for her dad's 70th and have everyone write a note to put into a "cookie".  So sweet!

Still have a bit left from the kit, but I may move on to the April Kit.  Got a couple ideas poking at me and I gotta get to getting before I forget what the great ideas are!!! :)