It's a Good Day

The weather was beautiful today and so were the leaves. :) It's a good day to share something pretty and even better when the pretty has the perfect sentiment!

It was a good day for more than the weather for me.  I had a meeting at work that went way better than I thought.  I'm a terrible worrier and can't eat when I am stressed, so this meeting called for a run to Subway for a 6" and a soda!  I don't know the last time I had soda and it tasted WONDERFUL.  Of course I crashed after eating everything, but I had my faithful-ish pup Cida to cuddle with on the sofa for a bit. :)

Now the "crash" meant I didn't get anything I planned to do actually done.  Except for laundry, but let's face it, laundry does itself once you add water & soap.  LOL!  Oh, you mean it doesn't fold itself too???  Darn, I guess I didn't get anything done!!!!

Well, hope you enjoyed this day and you got more done than moi!

Jar of Happy

Thought I would share an anniversary card today. :) I've had this image colored for a long time, but could never get it to work on anything!  This is such a fun color combo that I couldn't bear to throw away the image and thank goodness for that!

Pretty much everything here is rescued from the scrap pile.  The circles are leftover from when I was making Easter cards last year.  The banner is from a miscut piece on a custom order in my Etsy shop and the white sprayed with Amuse inks was an experiment to see how the sprays looked. :)

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope your Wednesday treated you kindly.

My Beacon

Happy Birthday America!  Happy Anniversary to my DH!  Yup, 13 years today, married anyway.  We were together for ages before we got married, so it is probably something like our 20th anniversary today. 

Since we spent the last week near the beach in LA and we will be headed back to ME this weekend, I thought a nautical theme in red/white/blue was so perfect for today!  This stamp is a favorite of mine.  I'm sure I have mentioned it before, but this was used for save-the-date cards for a friends wedding.  Hey that's another reason this card is great for today!  It's my wedding anniversary and we used this stamp for her wedding.  There are so many levels of awesomeness to this card. LOL!

The goods are all scraps from the scrap pile so, sadly, I am at a loss to tell you anything about who made what.  I looked back at my other nautical posts to see if I could find who made the stamp (I'm still poolside in LA so I can't peek at this stamp) & it appears that I have shafted y'all multiple times with regard to this fabulous stamp!  UGH!  I will add it to my Summer Resolutions list to get y'all the name.

Brace yourselves.  I have many more posts of nautical goodness in the works!  I was inspired by Jessica over at The Paper Parade.  She is part of the coolest group of gals that take turns making kits for each other.  Check out the master blog that explains it all--12 Kits of Occasions.  Their May kit was all nautical.  I'm still drooling- and inspired!

Don't forget to swing by tomorrow for my news.  I'll give you a hint.  Think furry. :)

One Trick Pony

One trick pony here. LOL!  I'm trying to clean my way out of my studio for the big yard sale in a couple weeks.  I'm also trying to be good about sending cards to family & friends on their special days.  3 weeks into my self imposed card sending challenge and I'm already running low!!!

I used up some scraps to bang out these 2 cards.  I figure later I'll add a banner/sentiment to the front when I get closer to needing either a birthday or anniversary card.  Seems like I can get away with saying "zooming by to say" on the cover and then add a celebratory greeting on the inside. :)

The bling for the lights was a last minute inspiration (read I didn't want to get out of my chair to put away the rhinestones. Laziness pays off sometimes! hee-hee)

Have a fun evening everyone!

Autumn Sunset for a Birthday

My mojo has gone AWOL of late. :(  I decided the lift a couple of my previous creations that I really enjoyed. :)

The image is a favorite of mine from Memory Box and I decided to use a favorite technique to go with it.  I used a variety of Copics and blended them together after stamping the image with Tuxedo Black Memento ink.  This was so easy to make that I made something like more versions, but since I didn't have anymore of the orange ribbon or navy paper they each have different bottoms.  With 8 birthdays and 4 anniversaries coming up in the next 6 weeks these will be great to have in the stash!!

I'm in the process of cleaning out my studio for a garage sale happening at the end of the month at Ink About It in Westford MA.  Stop by for AMAZING deals- I'll be practically giving stamps and paper away.  Fingers crossed that the clean sweep of my space will help me find my inspiration again. :)

For a tutorial on this technique, pop over here.

My birdies and I have flown here to tweet greetings:
Moxie Fab Challenge: Tuesday Trigger Apache Tears in Shades of Autumn (I saw the image and thought of this card's colors)

Walden Pond circa 2004

Oh my goodness where have the last 2 weeks gone?!?  I was all set to share this layout with y'all last week, but life totally got in the way.  Sorry about that! 

Today is an awesome day to share this layout.  It is a magically perfect summer day.  70's with a light breeze and fantastically low humidity.  The kinda day where you can wear whatever you like and not be too hot or too cold. :)  Kinda like the autumn day when this pictures were taken by our friend Jeff.  He took the pictures at our wedding and each year since he has taken pictures of us. :)  His photography skills are spectacular and can be seen in their glory on his wife's blog Olives for Dinner.

When I saw the background paper it made me think of this photo shoot.  I knew I was going to have to actually put together a 12x12 layout- and for a change I didn't take forever to do it!!! :D  I'm also crushing on all things nautical, so I was thrilled to finally use the dies I got from MFT (an embarrassingly long time ago!)

What have you gotten accomplished lately that make you proud of yourself?  Don't say nothing!  I know you have done something fabulous big, or small, that made you happy with yourself.  Share it below.  I love inspiration!!!

Happy Anniversary (& Happy Birthday America!)

Today is not only the birthday of America, it is also my 12th Anniversary of being married to the greatest guy ever!  I'm so happy to say I would say yes all over again without hesitation.  Thanks for asking me T!!!

If you have ever read my Christmas Day posts, you know how much I love the games my husband puts together for me.  Presents are nice, but I LOVE the puzzle!!!!  He likes to use the numbers as symbols.  So for our fourth we went to the driving range and he call it "Fore on the Forth, Fourth".  My 33rd birthday he made a card that looked like Larry Bird's jersey.  My 38th he drew a 38 Special on the card.

Since today is our 12th Anniversary, the game was "12 Travel Adventures".  I had 60 second to say the adventure based on the clue.  As it turned out I need 120 seconds (which I have to say numbers-wise goes better with the theme).  He told me after that he thought it might be tough to come up with 12 and then by the time he was done he realized we had way more than 12.

This is the card I made for him to see when he woke up.  He gets up earlier than I do, so I had to put it out when I woke up in the middle of the night.  I wake up a ton during the night, so I knew I would be able to be sneaky then.  I didn't think about that trying to do this in the dark, without waking up the dog would be so nerve-raking!!!

Off to run errands and then hit the beach here in Maine & then fireworks tonight.  It's so nice that America shoots off fireworks on our anniversary each year. *wink wink*

While you are here, don't forget to stop by my Hen's Den Blog Hop post and enter to win!!!

I'm off to share my special day here:
Simon Says Stamp- Patriotic

A Great Pear?

Just a quick post today.  I wanted to make sure to give y'all a little something though!  LOL!  Here are the next entries in the May 2013 Kit Club challenge I imposed on myself. :)  I finally used the pear stamp that I "had to have" 2 years ago and never used.  I have the die.  I've played with the die.  I've never made any complete project using any of it until now.  Yay me!  I thought these would make nice anniversary cards, engagement cards, or even a congrats for some accomplishment like getting a new house or something.

Punny Pear Deets:
Paper- MME Kate & Co Oxford line
Stamps- PTI
Ribbon- May Arts
Bling- Bo Bunny & Teresa Collins
Copics- E33, YG17, YG13

This Happened!

Hey there Peeps!  Don't you just LOVE all the new CHA goodies?!?!?  Charlie sent me a box-o-fun full of fabulous treats from the new Teresa Collins Memories line.  EEEEEEKKKKKK!

This month we are all sharing our take on  New Chich sketch from The Hens' Den, created by Design Team Member Lori McClellan!  Combining this sketch with my Teresa Collins stash and you have...

Lori McClellan is uber talented and she came up with a 2 page sketch.  For this card, I used the left side, but my DH wants me to try the right side too.  He had an idea for how he thought a card using the right side might look. :)  Maybe I should have him make that card and share it with all of you! :)

Rather than photos, I used the stamped calendar & layered flower with chipboard wording.  Instead of layering paper pieces on the background, I used Teresa Collins stamps and then added a ribbon bow in lieu of flowers in the middle.  Trying to think a little outside the box and still respecting the Chic Sketch at the same time.  That's the great thing about using a sketch as a jumping off point.  It really makes you stretch yourself to, as Tim Gunn says, "make it work".

It's easy to look at a sketch for a layout and think "layouts only".  I'm here to challenge you to apply Lori McClellan's sketch to a card, or even a tag!  One of the coolest projects I made was a set of mini tags using a layout designed for a A2 card.  It might not turn out exactly as you expect, but we always learn something for trying, right?

The part I most love about this card is how you can use this stamp set to personalize the date.  It makes it awesome for scrapbooking memories, but also for creating a super special birthday or anniversary card.

So, waddya say?  You in for giving Lori's Chic Sketch a try?  Post your creation to our FB page so we can see your fab work!  Need more inspiration to take the leap?  Stop by tomorrow to see my Teamie Carolyn Lontin's take on the  New Chick sketch from The Hens' Den, created by Design Team Member Lori McClellan. :)






The goodies that made this card happen:

May Arts- Ruffle Ribbon- Black
Teresa Collins- Memories- Die Cut Flowers
Teresa Collins- Memories- Die Cut Accessories
Teresa Collins- Memories- Stamps
Teresa Collins- Memories- Chipboard & Buttons
Teresa Collins- Memories- 6x6 Pad

Happy, Happy, Happy

Quick post today!  I was going to post a tut today, but I figure I'll post it next week.  Give everyone a chance to catch their breath after this mid-week holiday here in The States.

First- Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband!!!!!  Even though neither of us has as much hair as we used to, I'm still glad/lucky/proud to be married to you. ;)

Second- I'm one of the newest members of The Hen's Den Design Team!!!!!  Be sure to check out the uber talented ladies on the team.  I can't wait for you to see all their inspiring creations- and to share a few of my own!

Third- This was going to be where I'd put the tutorial for making this wreath, but I know so many of you are trying to get your grilling/pool party/beach going/fireworks loving selves ready for our USA's birthday.  I'll post this next week and hopefully you won't have a sunburn while you are reading it. LOL!

image credit

Have a Happy July 4th Everyone!!!

You Lean & I'll Lean

Quick little post today, as I should be packing for our Anniversary trip! :D  We're headed to Quebec City tomorow for our first visit to New Paris.  Maybe we'll get to see Wills and Kate too. :)  Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends!!!

My DH and I are celebrating 10 married years together this July 4th (17 if you count the dating years)!  This sentiment seems apropos of our observance. :)

The black 'n white striped paper was an old one I had that I stamped some orange butterflies and green leafy vines to spice it up and make my own DP.  I got the idea from my uber creative friend Angela.  She taught a bunch of us how to make better use of all our paper that we're "just not that into" anymore a wee bit ago.  The striped-with-more paper is my creative version from when I experimented at home. :)

I've planted the seeds for this card here:
Shabby Tea Room- My Favorite Things (my version of the DP)
My Mum's Craft Shop- Something Old, Something New (the paper was old, but I made it new)
Stampin' for the Weekend- My Favorite Things (my version of the DP)
Truly Scrumptious- Things with wings (the butterfly stick pin)

Happy Anniversary

Today is my 9th (married) Anniversary.  Tom and I have known each other since high school, but didn't start dating until college.  We got married on the 4th of July because I am awful at remembering dates (other than MY birthday) and we'd always considered July 4th our "couple" anniversary.

Tom had locked himself out of his car at a July 4th party and I drove him to his parents house to get his spare key.  We got to talking and he was (and still is) so sweet and LOVED reading!!!  (OMG we look 12 years old in these pics!)

We got to be good friends and the poor guy had to talk me into dating him.  I was so afraid that we'd end up breaking-up and then not be friends!  I finally agreed and it was the best decision I have ever made.  Hands down.  My husband is the perfect balance of calm to my whirling dervishness.

So here's to My Sweetheart.  You help me to be a better person (even when I don't wanna!), you support and encourage me, and you are my sanctuary of warmth and peace.  I know how blessed I am to have you as my partner and I hope that I am as good to you as you are to me.  Thanks for asking me and here's to many more moons together! :)