Happy Birthday

Happy Sunday!  In an effort to find my studio under all the papers, stamps, and ink, I made a couple of birthday cards. :)

I'm also trying to create using all those embellishments that I HAD TO HAVE long enough ago that I can't remember having to have them! LOL!  A couple friends had asked if I would have some birthday cards for sale when we get back from vacation, so the scraps and embellies made their way to birthday cards. 

Well the other reason that I ended up making birthday cards was that I figured that if I were to show any Christmas cards you'd all groan so load I'd here it all the way to my house. :)  Have no fear.  I have begun making Christmas cards for next year.  Yup, you read that right.  This year was such a success in reducing stress and I had such a nice variety of cards that I will again be making a few each month so by November there'll be a nice stash to pull from.  Will they be pulled before Dec 16th (predicted busiest mail day in 2013)? Well, that's another story. ;D

Stop by tomorrow for my "year in review" post reflecting on all the projects that made 2012.  Have you looked back at your successfully creative year yet?

Hugs All!

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

box full of cherries

Oooo a cheery cherry gift set to show off to y'all today!  This was SO much fun to make.  I know I'll be making a few more soon. :)

The box itself (tut here) is made from Bazzill red cardstock and the dp paper is from the uber yummy Konnichiwa line from Basic Grey.  It was hard to think about cutting it up to use 'cause its just sooooo pretty!  Then I realized that having it sit in a box was a complete waste of its lusciousness, so I held my breath and started cutting.

There was still some paper left and the cards were yet to be created to go in the box...so I had to put on my big girl britches and use the rest on the cards.  This is a gift, so its worth it.  I mean when you can enough to send the very best... :)

This whole set is going to a teacher friend from another school who helped out with the set up of a new program.  Sparing y'all with all the boring deets, she saved use HOURS and HOURS of work.  This little set was the least I could do!

The cards that went in the box have to be fairly flat in order to fit them and the envies.  Do you have any idea how hard that is these days?!?!  No foam, no big bows, no nutin'.  Texture made up for some of the flatness and the cheery cherry factor helped me move past the flat flattiness. :)  Hope she likes this.  One of my teacher roommates is giving this box 'o cherries this weekend.  Can't wait to hear what she thinks!

I'm off to get a baked french toast casserole ready for dinner tonight.  We are hosting some of my DH's coworkers and our theme is "Breakfast for Dinner"- french toast, hash brown egg baskets, fruit cup with sherbet, and spiral ham.  They are engineers so this dinner concept may rock their world. LOL!

Any yummy plans in your weekend?


I've got my bowl, -er box, of cherries and wandered over here:
The Spotted Chick- That's Crafty Thursday Challenge
Sarah Hammer Designs- Link Up Tuesday
Joyful Stamper- Inspire Me Fridays
Sweet Stampin' Challenge- Spring or Easter (cherries blossom in spring)
Creative Belli- 3 Shapes (card, kraft tag, white scallop)

Krafty Christmas Trio

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Such a productive week it has been!  I'm giddy with all the things I got accomplished.  It's rewarding to actually be able to cross things off the to-do list.  Even better that some of the things DH and I got done this week are visible accomplishments!  Among the to-do's that are ta-done, DH put up some gorgeous shadow boxes in our bedroom and I got more Christmas cards made. :)  These are a few more from this kit I got at my LSS.

This trio uses MB kraft cards for the base that was stamped with an SU background stamp.  The set is one that came in a goodie bag from one of the awesome secretaries at my school gave me.  She had a whole bag of old SU stuff and wanted to know if I wanted it 'cause she wasn't going to use it.  Does a corgi like food?!?  Of course!  I've got some goodies in the making as a thanks to her. :)  The joy sentiment came from a set of letterpress cards I got at PaperSource.  See all the flowers on the middle card?  I'd love to say I planned this, but I smudged the sentiment and had a "make it work" moment.  Happy accidents are awesome sometimes. :)

I off to get "krafty" with these folks:
Catered Crop- Seeing Red
Stamping for the Weekend- Bingo- Ribbon,Sparkles, Flowers
Moving Along with the Times- Lots of Layers

Imagine my surprise and delight when I stopped by Carol's Ink Spot to discover she was listing lil ole me on her Liebster Blog Award!  *blushing*  Thank you so much and right back at ya Carol!!!

I've copied what she had to say about this award so that I wouldn't mess it up. :)

Liebster is German for 'dearest' and this award is a 'share-the-love' arrangement. It is given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers.

Here's the to-do list of any Liebster award recipient:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Reveal your five blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog. (I got to Carols blog before I saw her comment on on mine. LOL!)

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Hope that those you award forward it to their favorite bloggers.

 So in no particular order, places I stalk...

1.  Lynn at From My Bungalow she has an amazing eye for CAS cards- I struggle so much with those

2.  Isabelle at Inkerbelle's  a friend who pre-dates the existence of blogland, she is the most talented colorist ever!

3.  Lisa at 78 thistles another pre-blogland friend who can make the most amazing creations with punches and various teeny paper scraps- she's been recuperating from a skiing accident, so she hasn't been able to post much but maybe when she is better...

4.  Shilo at Paper Meets Glue such luscious colors and photo vignettes!

5.  Gloria at Paper Blessings she even makes Fimo creations to match her paper creations- awesome :)

So thanks for the inspiration Ladies!  Who inspired you today?

Rolled Rose Tags- Part 1

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As promised- Rolled Roses!  I had so much fun making these last weekend.  I have a ton more that I made, but I'll share these for now. ;)

My friend Angela would be so proud!  All the roses are made with the same BG paper that I altered with paints, dye inks, and stamps.

The kraft tags I used for the base got a little of the same paint & ink treatment- and a little more. :)

A bunch of the embellies are from those Crate Paper chipboard sheets I was trying to use up- Mission Accomplished!!!  The tag edges have Tim Holtz's version of Stickles.  These were such a blast to make I kept going.  More will be posted soon...

Adore You

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I bought this yummy paper and have been staring at it for about two weeks.  Finally I got up the courage to cut it up and I'm so tickled that I did!  Not only can it count towards being a valentine, but I made it using some not-so-traditional colors.  Yeah me for thinking outside the box!

It's BG paper, so I don't want to mess up when I use it 'cause then I feel like I wasted "the good stuff"!  This is even better than the card I had pictured in my head- seriously that NEVER seems to happen.  Gosh if it looks even half as good as what I pictured I'm over the moon most of the time. :)  Even more awesome- this was a 10 minute card- if that!!  From start to finish it was just a matter of cut 'n paste.  A little stamping on the kraft base, glue, die cut, tie a ribbon and D-O-N-E done! 

The card base (kraft), ticket die (index card), and stamped trees (birch trees) on the base are all from Memory Box.  The ribbon is Bo Bunny and the pattern paper is Basic Grey (Piccadilly)- the green it is mounted on is the reverse side.  The orange mat for the ticket is Bazzill (I think) and the glittery sentiment paper is actually already on printed paper from My Minds Eye (lost and found).

I'm playing with all these folks that I adore so much:
The Spotted Chick- Krafty Thursday
Basic Grey Challenges- Favorite Things- (mine are dies)
For Your Inspiration- This pic

Well I hope you enjoyed this folks! I've got some fun valentine projects getting posted this week and some more Christmas cards.  So far, so good on my resolution!  How are all of you doing on your resolutions?

Hiya Rudy

Today the family is coming over to help get the house decorated for Christmas.  No I'm not one of those crazy Christmas-in-your-face folks.  I love Halloween more than Christmas, but since family is in town, we have a wonderful long weekend, and we host DH's work peeps holiday party the first Sunday in December- we could use all the help to decorate we can get. :)

Anywho, I thought I'd share a mini book I made when we lost power a couple weeks ago.  Great thing about crafting, most things can be crafted made without power. :)  I'm on a big red, white, and kraft kick this year.

'Cause this is a mini book (4" X 4"), some of the pages have added pockets for doubled siding pictures or extra space for writing down those memories.  This one already went home with one of my coworkers. :)  She wants to put pictures in of her lil' boy's first Christmas.

I hope she brings it in with pictures so I can see what it looks like filled. :)

Making mini books are relaxing for me, but I don't often get to see what they look like with all the pictures in them. :(

Yup I really have posted shots of all the innards.  Thanks to you for looking/reading this uber long post!  I really should add some kinda "Where's Waldo" prize announcement in one of these. LOL!

Well this is an embarrassing shot.  Paper lint on the velvet paper!  Hopefully I took care of that before my coworker bought this album!!

You'd think with my recent red and white obsession I would be a huge peppermint fan. Nope, not really.  DH and DSIL are big peppermint ice cream fiends though. :)

The very last page has a fun flap.  Again, since this is a mini having flaps and tags give just a little more space for journal writing or pictures.  The "extra" space also adds a fun surprise element too. :)

Hope you enjoyed this little book and stop by tomorrow to see what/where I am guest blogging!!!!! :)

Discoveries

Here's yet another card from the illustrious kit.  :)  The sun has been out for the last 2 days, it's been summer-weather warm, and a 3 day weekend is just what we all needed here in the Northeast!  Yahooey!

We have an amazingly large dragonfly that buzzes us when the sun is out.  Really, I think he could haul off with the corgi or at least the tabby!  Biggest one I have ever seen.  So of course when I die cut the orange shape, and it looked so sunny, the dragonfly stamp had to be added!

A sunny yet "fallish" card perfect for a day like today.  The die is from PTI, the orange paper is BG from the Life of the Party line, and the rest is from the kit.

With the passing of the great American inventor Steve Jobs, this sentiment rings even more true.  Encourage discoveries in your life today!

I've buzzed around and discovered some wonderful challenges here:
DYSU- Brown
Fussy and Fancy- Fall or Halloween (fall colors)
PaperPlay Challenges- Autumnal colors

Hello Friend

Another little gift set here.  Gosh these are fun to make although this one had me on the fence for a bit.  You ever have the idea, but can't quite get the goods on hand to do the trick?

I had these cards in bits and pieces.  The image is from Cat's Pajamas and it stamps like a dream!!!  The scallop die is from PTI.  They are fun anytime cards, I just couldn't decide how to package them...

The memo pad was lying around with just the designer paper and no "fun stuff" to make it shine.  Couldn't figure out what to do with it either.  Then I cleaned my workspace.  I swear little gremlins come in and mess it up at night- 'cause of course I clean it everyday (my DH is laughing hysterically as I type this, I think he is having some sort of attack).

Then I noticed that the colors of the cards and the memo pad actually looked great together.  The miracles that happen when you clean!  I spiffed up the memo pad and whalaa...

I used some PTI and MFT dies along with a sentiment from Memory Box.  A little kraft paper, some fun twill and flowers.  All set!  Makes for a great last minute gift- not that I am ever a last minute gal. LOL! (DH is having another snicker fit after reading that last minute thing).

I've planted this set here:
Ladybug Crafts Ink- Flowers

Die Cut Dreams- Flower Power
Papertake Weekly- Anything Goes


Hope all of you are looking towards a great weekend.  My in-laws are coming for a fun family weekend (they really are wonderful so I'm excited to have them visit!!!!).

Hugs,