Seems I Am On A Roll....

Three days in a row of posting, sure hope the computer doesn't blow up. These are a couple of cards I made in December. This one is actually a birthday invitation for a winter themed birthday party. I'm not too sure how it shows up, but the card base was misted with the SU! Shimmer Paint mixed with alcohol to make my own "shimmer mist" So glad SU! carried these paints in the Holiday Mini and hopefully they will continue to do so. I'm sure others have tried, but I have not yet seen any posts about it, I wonder if it would work to add a drop of reinker to change the color...just think of the possibilities!
The card base was also embossed with a snowflake embossing plate that I had in my stash of craft supplies. Again, I am not sure if the photo really picks up on this. I do know one thing...I really need to order the SU! Snowflake punch because the Sizzix Sizzlets Snowflake dies are a real pain to pop out of the card stock. I think I will try shim or 2 the next time to see if it will help.

This is the thank you card I made to coordinate with the invitation. I must say I really like this and wished I had used the faux window technique to make the invitation as well. The striped awning flips up and the card panel with the faux window folds down to reveal the Simple Birthday Thanks stamped image. This was so much fun to make!

Don't Pass Out!

Whoo hoo! Posting 2 days in a row...hope no one fell off their chairs by the shock! Last night I got a wild hair and decided I wanted to make a portfolio to hold the set of variety cards I made for my friend. I tend to do a lot of CASEing, but this one is all mine. The only problem I have with not casing is that it takes me F-O-R-E-V-E-R to come up with a design and then bring it to life. I delivered the completed portfolio with cards to my friend this morning at church and she really liked them, hurrah! I also received an order for another set from a dear lady that saw what I gave Betty and decided she had to have some too, yippee! Now if I could only keep the orders coming perhaps I can make that move from hobby demo to business demo like I have wanted to do for a while.

The base of the portfolio is Whisper White matted with a texture plate embossed piece of Soft Suede. The Kraft card stock layer is stamped with Always Artichoke and the retired Cranberry Crisp. The next layer is more Cranberry Crisp punched with the new Scallop Border punch. The top layer is Confetti White with Vintage Vogue vine image stamped off in Always Artichoke and finished with the greeting in Cranberry Crisp ink. I have said it before and I'll say it again.... I LOVE this Vintage Vogue stamp set!

A Little Variety

Well, I have been absent for a while...again! I did not make a New Year's resolution to be a better blogger, since I never keep my resolutions anyway, but let's hope for more consistency in 2010.

A friend from church asked if I could put together a simple variety of cards for her to give to a special friend. These are definitely simple and some simply elegant. I hope she likes what I have created.

This card was done with the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder with the petals slightly tinted with the Crushed Curry. I felt the polka dots on the Crushed Curry ribbon would have been too whimsical for the elegance of the embossing so I just flipped it over and I do like that the few dots on the knot show .

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Ah, Rich Razzleberry, how I love this color! This was sort of CASEd from a card I saw on SCS. The ribbon and pearls came into play when I needed to cover an ink smudge...or two :-) I am also really loving the Vintage Vogue set!



I wanted to use the Very Vintage wheel between my embossed lines, but I did not leave enough room to accommodate the width of the wheel. Not wanted to waste a piece of card stock I decided to use my very lonely Baroque Border wheel with some Mellow Moss ink, a touch of MM ribbon and a Vintage Label and voila, a card was born!



Another partial CASE from SCS with that gorgeous Vintage Vogue stamp set. I used Dusty Durango and Blush Blossom papers and inks along with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. The new punches, Scallop Trim Corner and Border are so pretty, but do take a bit of getting used to. I think they add an elegant touch to any card.



Okay, this card truly is mine unless I saw it somewhere and have subliminally created it without realizing it. I really, really like the embossing folders and am so glad SU! has started to carry them. I was using some from that "other" manufacturer...if you know what I mean, ha! ha! Here goes that Very Vintage wheel again in Brocade Blue. I never thought I would really use or like, that much, the butterfly thing that seems to be the craze now, but I do so like how they look here.

Last, but not least, an old stand by. I have been doing this one for about a year and I know it is a case, but not sure from where. So if this is your original creation, I thank you. Nothing says elegant like simple black and white.

I have a few more creations that I have done, but have been too lazy to upload. If I can get my self in gear, hopefully I will post again...soon :-) I have enjoyed sharing these with you and hope you have enjoyed looking. Take care my friends until next time!

Build A Bear

A friend called the other day and wanted to know if I could work up a design for her daughter's birthday invitations. The party theme was candy and I thought what could I do? Luckily she was having a party at a place called The Lollipop Shop (completely new to me!) and at their parties you can choose a stuffed toy/animal, actually unstudied, and then stuff it with candy! Can you say sugar buzz for a lifetime...unless they are the size of a Beanie Baby :-) Well when I heard stuffed animal I immediately thought of the SU! Build A Bear dies and stamp set then became quite disappointed as I have not yet ordered any BAB items. Got on the phone to my friend and rescuer Rita. She saved the day by letting me borrow her dies and her brand new unused stamp set. I felt rather guilty by breaking in her new stamp set first. As it turned out, I only used the dies and get to return her stamp set new as the day she received it. I made the lollipop from WW card stock and the shaving cream technique aiming for the swirly effect of those gigantic lollipops kids are always attracted to and then added a touch of Stickles for some sparkle. Yes, I know the greeting is not SU!, but it was all I had. My friend picked up the invites today and seemed pleased with the result. Now to work up a design for her other daughter's birthday in December...party theme=winter so I'm thinking snow flakes or maybe the snowmen from the More The Merrier set. The most awesome thing about this invite is that the birthday girl has chosen NOT to ask for presents, but ask her guests to bring items for Project Night Night. This organization puts together small totes with a blanket, book, and stuffed toy for children at homeless shelters. This young lady truly has a heart of gold. If you get a chance go check out the website www.projectnightnight.org. Once again, thanks for taking the time to share my blog.

Holiday Gift Market

Every November our church holds a gift market for missions. The past 2 years all of the items were fair trade products ranging from food, jewelry, and home decor from places like Vietnam, India, and other countries. This year, "crafty" church members were encouraged to donate some their art works so I pulled out my stamps to do my part.

Even though there are only 7 tags showing here, I made 8 different gift tags packaged in cute 2-4-6-8 boxes, that I neglected to take a photo of :-(
I made my own shimmer mist using SU!'s shimmer paint and rubbing alcohol in a mini mister and it added just a hint of sparkle to my tags and boxes. I also used some of the SU! silver elastic cording on each tag.

I just love this Snow Swirled set, it is so elegant! I have also found a new love....Spellbinders Nestabilities. I decided I really wanted to design this card with ovals and have not purchased the oval Bigz die yet so off I went with a coupon to one of those big box store and got my first Nestie. Sorry this picture and the next are a bit on the dark side.

I have loved this Cardinal since I purchased him last year and finally got around to using him. This frame was actually the remaining piece after cutting out the oval for the above card. I just had to use it for something so I ran it through my Big Shot using the Petals A Plenty Embossing folder and then layering over WW cardstock. Then using my Stamp-a-ma-jig and Staz On stamped Mr. Birdie and watercolored with reinkers and a blender pen.

My third card was the Holy Family stamp set on the shimmer cardstock using Night of Navy. I embossed the star and Baby Jesus' halo in gold and layered the trimmed Top Note on a gold Top Note.

I ended up with 6 boxes of cards, packaged 6 to a box, 2 of each design, in a clear acetate gift box (yes, I made those too) and was very happy to find out that all six sold!! I really liked the gift box that I stumbled upon and it held 6 cards and envelopes perfectly. Check out Tracy Schultz's blog at www.whoistracy.com

Well, thanks for looking and hopefully I will be back in the next day or so to post pictures of a birthday inivitation I made with the Build A Bear die cuts.

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone is getting ready for a spooktacular halloween! I am still waiting for my 7 year old to decide on a costume, can we say wait til the last minute? My 4 year old dressed as a "struschion worker" (yes, that is construction worker for you & me) for the preschool party yesterday; don't you just love the way the little ones pronounce words?! I usually try to give something other than candy at school so I altered the size of Angie Kennedy Juda's (http://www.mychicnscratch.com/) Halloween treat holder to fit a mini bag of pretzels.

I also changed up the scallop edge a bit by cutting out tiny little triangle pieces from the scallops to make some a little more boyish and used the Eyelet Border punch for the girls. My other change was to use a 5 1/2" x 1/4" piece of cardstock for the handle rather than ribbon. I figured that was a good economic move as we all know the kids care about what is inside and not the packaging.

Thanks for looking and Happy Haunting on Saturday night!

For My Wonderful Mom-in-law....A Brag Book

My mother-in-law's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and my husband and I struggled for ideas for a gift. We finally decided a copy of all the preschool/school pictures we have would be perfect. I put together this little brag book showing our 2 boys chronologically since my oldest started preschool.

This is the first picture of the boys while both were attending the same preschool. My oldest was 4 and my youngest 13 months. When my husband looked at this picture the other day he said "hey, look at chubby". Just makes you want to go pinch a fat little baby roll!

This was last Spring's photo op. Oh, how grown my boys look!! Jack was in kindergarten and this was shortly before his 7th birthday. Ethan, in his very cool pose...and how they got him to do that I would like to know, was 3.

My little man's first grade picture with a spot holding for Ethan's fall photo. They were taken last week and I just got my information to go in and look at the proofs online today. The book is made from my enormous stash of chipboard coasters (I think I have a lifetime supply) and the retired SU! Primary Colors scrapbook kit. I removed the rhinestones from the brad base to add a little pop to the cover. I had so much fun creating this and it went really fast, but I almost feel that it is under embellished...but a 4x4 coaster does not leave a lot of room for additions :-( Now we can't wait to get together to give Mom her gift! Thanks for looking!!