A Purrfect Pair

I had a nice surprise in this afternoon's mail when my Spellbinders Nestabilities circle diecuts arrived. I wasn't expecting them quite yet because I knew they'd been backordered. YIPPEE!!

Of course I dropped everything to give them a try. I'm not doing something quite right with the sandwiching of the pads because the embossing doesn't show up like it does on other people's that I've seen. But I'll figure that out with more practice. I am very pleased with how clean they cut and that I can use them with my cuttlebug.

This was a very quick card just for practice. The sentiment and kitty stamps are from justjohanna. I stamped with black versafine ink on watercolor paper and embossed with clear embossing powder. Next I watercolored the kitties with Tombow markers and added Christmas Red stickles glitter glue to their collars. The background paper has been in my stash for years and I am not sure who makes it. I punched various sizes of hearts and filled the centers of the smaller hearts with Fruit Punch Stickles.

If anyone has suggestions for more clarity of the embossed circles please feel free to leave me suggestions.

Bucket of Tulips

Yes, you guessed it! I'm still dreaming of spring. I'm afraid for all of the wishing I'm doing, it isn't changing the weather any. Today we've had freezing rain and snow on top of our already deep snowbase. It will be many months before I can pick a bucket of tulips like these.

But I won't let the outdoor weather stop my indoor dreaming. This is an old PSX stamp that I just never get tired of. I stamped with versamark on watercolor paper and embossed with silver detail embossing powder. Next I watercolored the image with Tombow markers. The "grateful" stamp is from Stampin' Up!. I matted and mounted the tulips on some bright and sunny BoBunny designer paper, added a couple of ribbons and red crystals.

Oatmeal's album

Oatmeal's album

Oatmeal is an Italian Greyhound and he belongs to my son Matthew, who is currently serving in Iraq. I know Matt misses having Oatmeal around and so I scrounged around to see how many photos I could find of Oatmeal and Matt so that I could make this little album as a surprise to send to Matt for Valentine's Day.

This is also the first time I've used my new bind-it-all machine and it was really easy to use. I know I'll have a lot of fun making projects using it.

I'm not a good photographer at all so please know that the album looks a lot better in real life than it shows here on this slide show.

I hope Matt will be happily surprised when he sees this little album of Oatmeal.

Haute couture?

I don't think this is really haute couture, but it is my version of HAT COUTURE. I wear hats all the time. I made this one yesterday afternoon in my effort to think spring. I think I will be wearing this as my gardening hat next summer.

Every seamstress has a stash of fabric that we say is aging to perfection. I was digging around in my "stash" of fabrics and I found several large pieces of polished cotton which works great for these simple hats. I think I may make a small tote to match.

Hats can be fast projects. This particular pattern also has some large billed baseball cap styles with a bow in the back to make them a bit more feminine.

Sewing fun!

I've been having "sew" much fun lately. I've always liked aprons. This particular half apron is indeed very simple but I was playing around with my machine and tuning it up again after long time of neglect and only using it for papercrafts.

I am working on a lot more styles of aprons and some other fun sewing projects. I'll introduce my latest adventures in sewing with this simple apron. Besides, this cheerful floral fabric helps me to continue my dreams for spring to arrive!

Enjoy your day!

Instant SPRING!

I'm looking out my window and see mountains of fresh snow on the ground. I know it is January and this is supposed to be what our weather is like, but I'm ready for spring. How about I create some "instant Spring" for myself?



These cards are very fast, simple stamping. Hey! That is what I'm going for...instant spring so they must be fast. The tulip stamp is from a Stampin' Up! retired set called Terrific Tulips. I like this set a lot. It is very versatile and with the two step stamping, color upon color, it makes for fun color combinations.

I decided that nothing makes you think warm sunshine than to see butterflies fluttering around the tulips so I used one of my new Tonic punches and added a border of butterflies.















Ahhhh...I feel a bit warmer now. But, it is time to go out and shovel the driveway, AGAIN! So much for "instant spring." :-)

What is the weather like where you are?

I'm passing the "You make my day award" to....

I received this wonderful award from Nancy. Thank you so much, Nancy! You must visit Nancy's blog. It is wonderful! So it is quite an honor and thrill for me that you passed this award on to me.

How do I choose who I will share this award with? Especially since I know so many of you have received it multiple times already. I would like to pass this along to I am sending it to:

DEBBIE S.
JAN
JACQUELINE
MICHELLE
STACY

These ladies have been such an inspiration to me and you can view their beautiful work on their blogs by clicking their names.

I'm back from my station identification break!

Things have really been hopping around my home. Lots of fun things going on and over the next few weeks I'm sure I'll be posting photos and stories about some of my recent activities, classes and projects. I've got a lot of news to share, but I'll tell you bits at a time.

First though, I want to thank you for leaving such lovely comments on my last post. I truly value the feedback everyone gives to me. And because you were so generous with your visits to my blog in this past year, as I promised I have THREE BLOG BLING WINNERS to award some new stamps from INKSPIRATIONS. I placed all 15 numbers (the number of comments left) in a basket and had a non-biased person draw three numbers.

MY BLOG BLING WINNERS ARE:

Heather (#3)
Nise (#6)
Lesa (#7)

I hope you will enjoy your INKSPIRATIONS stamps and most importantly, continue to stop by.

I've not been idle by any means but I thought I'd share some Valentines that I made last year, but hadn't posted on my blog yet. The stamps for these two Vintage Valentine's Day cards use stamps from Stampin' Up! They are pretty simple valentines but I think these two make particularly fun cards for boys, don't you?

I'm so glad you stopped by. I have a lot of surprises and news in store but for now, let me just say that life is good, busy and never a dull moment.

Cheers!

We pause now to take a break for Station Identification

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with too many things pressing and nothing gets accomplished properly. My Grandma would refer to this as doing the tasks you do manage to get to "with a lick and a promise," meaning that you gloss over the surface and intend to do a better job later.

Thus, the title of today's post. Back in the day, the television announcers would periodically say, "we pause now to take a break for STATION IDENTIFICATION." That is what I'm going to do and will probably not be posting on my blog for a couple weeks as I pause for a personal Station Identification.

I've been doing the lick and a promise style of living too much lately and I need to take a blog break. I'm going to get my ducks in a row and then come back fresh and renewed after I tend to things.

In the meantime, to keep you interested, I would like to present a little BLOG CANDY to THREE of my loyal readers in honor of my having over 15,000 hits on my blog. I never expected for anyone to look at my blog when I started it last summer. Now, I have had over 15,000 hits from all around the globe! I hope you've enjoyed it and will in the future too, so here is all you have to do. Go back through my posts (be sure to hit the previous (earlier) posts button at the bottom of the page to continue to go backward) and tell me in the comments on this post which card or post was your favorite and why. That is all you have to do. I'll use a random choice mechanism to pick the numbers of three winners.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back in a couple of weeks. Stay warm and safe and be sure to laugh a little each day. It's so good for the soul.

Stolen post too !

Isn't this the most hysterical poster you've ever seen? If you aren't an addicted crafter then perhaps you don't get it. I stole this post from Paper, Ink, Scissors and Stamps blog. Deb posted to feel free to pass this on on one's blog and I couldn't resist. This is the poster that must go up in every committed craft-o-holic's studio!

You have me in stitches

These criss-cross cards are a ball to make. There are 101 other things I should be doing this afternoon but I just couldn't resist making one more today.

For this card I've used stamps by CTMH. I added a little embossing and punching with my new Martha Stewart border/embossing punch on the green panel across the front. The rest is fairly straight forward with machine stitching, ric-rac and little scraps of ribbon I'd saved. YES! It is true. I actually saved these two 3-inch pieces of ribbon in my ribbon box just in case I'd ever need them. Today I did!

You've got to try these fun criss cross cards. The possibilities are endless.

Guess I had better start supper for my husband now. I know he's going to wonder what I've been up to today if he doesn't smell something cooking when he comes in the door.

Until later.......

Criss-cross card

This was so MUCH fun and quick to make and very simple to do too. Granted, this is the first criss-cross card I've made so I kept the details very simple. I'm all ready to make some more with a little more detail and embellishments but I just had to post what I made this morning.

Above is how it looks when the insert is pulled from the card. Here is how it will arrive to the recipient in the criss-cross envelope -->

I used Anna Griffin designer paper and Stampin' Up cardstock. The ink color is elegant eggplant. I just added some ribbon, prima flowers and a bit of stickles. The stamps I used are also Anna Griffin Sentiments and the tiny flower is CTMH. The flourish was given to me unmounted and I'm not sure who makes it.

You can find directions to make the card check HERE.

A couple of other criss cross cards on blogs that you must see are Michelle's on her blog STAMPER'S DREAM and Debbie's at THINKIN' INKIN'. Aren't they darling?

I'm off to make another now. Different theme, colors and...well you'll just have to be surprised!

Memories are Stitched with Love

I just love this stamp! It is so sweet. I got it last summer at Heather's Stamping Haven in Ottawa. Heather has some of the most delightful stamps. Check out her site (click above on the name of her shop).

I stamped the image on watercolor paper and then watercolored it with Tombow markers. I mounted the matted image on some beautiful Anna Griffin designer paper. Purple and green is one of my all time favorite color combinations so I decided to make this Valentine card in these non-traditional colors. Valentine's Day doesn't necessarily have to be red and white!

Now what I really want you to notice is the punched hearts and X line below the image. I bought this and several other punches at Heather's Stamping Haven. The punches are by Tonic Studios and there is actually a Tonic Border Punch system for these punches. I love them! You'll surely be seeing a lot of my cards using my new Tonic punches, as well as a couple new Martha Stewart punches I've recently acquired...but those will be later.

Inside the card I stamped the sentiment, "Memories are stitched with love." Around the sentiment I glued the cut out hearts from the front.

The ribbon was in a sale bin at Michaels. I LOVE this ribbon. It is called Bohemian Manor. I found another color combination of the same pattern. Isn't it pretty ribbon? I didn't need more ribbon but I couldn't resist when I saw it in their clearance bin.

The little heart button was the only button in my stash that matched the paper and was heart shaped. I wanted a cluster of buttons, but NOPE! There was only one single matching button so I hope this will do. I threaded some DMC embroidery floss through it.

I am making a series of Valentines using this stamped image so you'll be seeing more over the next few days. Let me know in your comments which is your favorite.

As always, I appreciate your stopping by and love reading your comments.

Garden Collage - Part II

The other day I decided to make a concerted effort to use some of the beautiful stamp sets that I've purchased and for whatever the reason, have not yet put ink to rubber.

This bird and the sentiment, Gentle thoughts of you, are the other two stamps in the Garden Collage stamp set.

This is a really simple card. Nothing magnanimous about it but sometimes a simple card fits the need of the moment. I watercolored the image with Tombow markers and mounted on Wild Asparagus designer papers. The tiny flowers are Prima flowers.

I think this stamp has a lot greater possibilities than what I've done with it for today so we'll see what the future holds for this stamp set. I think I've rediscovered why I wanted to buy it in the first place. Now to make it work.

Until next time.......

Happy 29th Birthday Jonathan!

It is a mystery to me how it could possibly have been 29 years ago today that my first born entered the world. I'm sure Jonathan would cringe to know I'm posting this but I think birthday's of our children are just as much a celebrated day for themselves as it is for their momma! Of course I get all misty eyed thinking about that day 29 years ago. My beautiful 9 pound 10 ounce blond, blue eyed baby boy entered the world. All of his "firsts" run through my mind's video eye like a movie.

But 29 years old! Whew...how can I be old enough to have a child who is 29?! Aren't I just barely that age myself? ha ha ha ha - rolling on the floor laughing at that. Oh wait...I can't get up off the floor if I roll there. TOO OLD! LOL

Anyway, today in honor of my son Jonathan's 29th birthday my card is dedicated to him. He always loved cake too.

All stamps are by justjohanna rubber stamps.

Happy Birthday to you dear Jonathan!

Love ya bunches!

Now THIS is what I call a non-traditional Valentine card. Hee hee hee. I don't think there is much else I can say than it is a Valentine for someone special and certainly isn't your traditional hearts and flowers. I think he'll appreciate it though. Nuff said.

This is made from Stampin' Up! "Monkey Business" stamp set. The patterned paper is my favorite from My Mind's eye. I used my new Martha Stewart border punch/embossing tool on the bottome of the image to carry out the vine theme in the image. Then added a bit of machine stitching to the mats of the main image and sentiment. Finally I stamped and embossed the bunches of bananas and cut them out and mounted them on pop dots.

And there, my friends, is a very non-traditional Valentine card.

Garden Collage

Continuing on the same thoughts with regard to New Year's Resolutions, do you make them? I don't. I never keep them so why set myself up for a fall if I firmly resolve to do something like lose 50 pounds on January 1st and by January 3rd I'm eating an entire bag of M&M's?

But lest you think I'm a person without goals, that isn't true either. Have you heard about the new Morgan Freeman / Jack Nicholson movie called "The Bucket List"? That is what I prefer to do...make a list of things I want to do before I kick the bucket. Hopefully I'll have plenty of time to achieve my bucket list but then, that is part of the fun.

So, you ask, what does a bucket list, hollywood movies and cardmaking have to do with today's card? Well, one of my things on my bucket list is to use all of my stamps. WHAT? I have stamps I've not used? You betcha I do! Hopefully I will remedy that though. So this year I'm going through all of my Stampin' UP! stamp sets that I just HAD TO buy and then never used.

This stamp is from a set called "Garden Collage." I have another card in the making that I'll post later from this stamp set too.

To make this card I stamped the image on watercolor paper with versafine sepia ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I emboss only to keep the ink from running when I'm watercoloring. I tend to use a lot of water on my brush and work and rework colors so the embossed image is important. I used Tombow markers direct to paper, layering colors and then blend with brush and water.

To the butterfly I added Waterfall Stickles and then once they were dry I put clear dimensional glaze on top of the wings to give them not only a 3-D effect, but also it makes them look more translucent like an actual butterfly.

The background paper is Bo Bunny. I stamped over the subtle daisy pattern on the paper with the Stampin' UP French Script stamp. I punched photo corners and then stitched away on my sewing machine: first the mats to the designer paper and then the photo corners. I wanted a leather bound feel to this so I put some burnished brass eyelets on the photo corners.

Now I love using ribbon but even though I have plenty of ribbon in my stash to match this image, ribbon just didn't seem right. I started to add jute, but wasn't satisfied with the look. Then my big bag of raffia called me. VOILA! My card was complete.

There, not in a nutshell but rather a long epic description is the creative process for making a simple card. Hmmmm...perhaps I should make a resolution...I should resolve to simplify. Oh well, despite the time it took to make the card I thoroughly enjoyed each step. Isn't that the important thing? I think so.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy 2008!

A new day! A new year! New beginnings. There always seems to be anticipation and excitement surrounding celebrating the first day of a new year. I suppose I feel that too. But, I'm a sentimental soul and I tend to play the past in my mental video screen. Joys. Sorrows. Successes. Failures. Happiness. Disappointment. Perhaps that is what goes into deciding whether to make New Year's resolutions or just look forward to living your life one day at a time, hopefully learning from the past.

Whew...heavy topic today. Just some random thoughts...

On a stamping site a discussion is taking place to pick your favorite card you've ever made and tell why you consider it either your best work or why it is your favorite that you've made. Well, as I posted yesterday, I've been cleaning, organizing and preparing to make lots and lots of new cards in the new year. But as I clean and organize I come upon stamps I haven't used in a long time and cards I've made that I was really proud of.

FINALLY, I'll get to the point of this card today and the topic of this post. I think out of all of the cards I've made I'm particularly drawn to this particular one. I don't know what there is about this stamp but I find it interesting, artistic, and in a strange way, sort of romantic from an historic sense. It makes me think of Italy. I don't know why...it just does.

So for my first card to post on my blog for this new year is a stamp I've had forever, made by Sunsine Designs. I've painted it with twinkling H20's and added some machine stitching using both a feather stitch as well as a zig-zag stitch.

New cards to come but today is sort of a reflective day for me.