Floral Thanks

My DH has been traveling a lot for business lately, and on this last trip he got to visit with his aunt in Chicago. She is a great fun lady and he enjoyed hanging out with her and hearing the stories of all the cousins. (Oh, that sentence makes her sound old. She's really not!) We keep saying that we'll make a family trip out there and never seem to do it. We're coming soon, Aunt Patty! Promise!

This card is to thank her for her hospitality. As a 5x7 card, I wasn't happy with this design, so it is a mini 3x5 card instead. I mounted a textured mustard panel for the base and scalloped the edge of this pretty Sketchy Daisies by Stemma pp. The scallops are made with a rounded corner punch. On the light blue panel I stamped this Thanks sentiment from Lexicon of Love in Bravo Burgundy ink. Because the panel is lightly textured, it didn't stamp as clearly as I would have liked. I tied a mustard and rust ribbon (SU grosgrain) around the light blue panel and then attached it to the mustard base.

thanks for looking!

ps - why is it that you can see all the flaws in a creation when you view a photo? I always think my cards look finished and then I see the pictures and think "oh, i should have done this or that." Am I the only one?

Beep! Beep!

My younger brother is getting his driver's license this Fall, providing he pass the test, of course! (Yes, there is a BIG age gap between us). This card is for his birthday, the date on which I 'm sure he'll try to schedule his driving test. Wish him luck!






By Land has proven to be a very well-used set from my collection of stamps. I stamped the car on pale gray cs with Handsome Hunter ink and cut it out. Then I stamped it again in Basic Black and cut out the wheels. The car is popped up on pop-dots and the wheels are attached with gold eyelets. Beep is stamped three times in Basic Black on white scraps and cut and mounted with glue dots. The stoplight is stamped in Basic Black onto the white panel and the lights colored in with pencils blended with mineral spirits. Across the bottom is Close to Cocoa sponging and across the top is Bliss Blue sponging to make earth and sky. The bottom half of the card is a page from a DCWV mat pack and the border of the two halves has a piece of SU vanilla grosgrain ribbon.



Thanks for looking!

A HUGE Thanks...

To Cindy over at Creating with the Heart!!



Because after a comment I made about not having any Bellas, Cindy sent me this terrific bunch of goodies.

Here's the back story. I met Cindy when we were both attending graduate school at the University of Arizona. I won't say how many years ago ;) I moved back east and she stayed west after completing our degrees. We lost touch over the years except for the annual Christmas cards. Then, while cruising around on stamping blogs, lo and behold I stumbled upon Creating with the Heart! After an initial message, we have been in touch via email again.

Check it out - Bella images, acrylic stamps, a great pile of papers, etc. Enough to keep me happy and avoiding housework for days!

This blog community of stampers continues to amaze me with the kindness and generosity of it's members. It's so heartwarming to see the amount of sharing and encouragement that passes between fellow bloggers, many of whom have never met in person!

So if you have not already been to Creating with the Heart, stop by and see the great cards Cindy creates. And she gives away awesome blog candy, too! Tell her I sent you with a big THANKS.

Thanks for looking!

Miss You

My best friend lives 5 states away. Ok, they are smallish New England States. The point is, she's far away and we don't see each other nearly enough!

I made this card for her in the spring. It is much brighter than any card I usually make, but something about the color combination seemed nice. I used In the Sky and Year Round Cheer and stamped the images in Elegant Eggplant ink. The papers are dark purple and dark yellow card stock from a pack I picked up at Target on clearance. The ribbon is SU grosgrain. The sun moon and stars images are edged using pinking scissors and the strip and Miss You panels are hand torn.

Another simple card, but I think it works. Please tell me if you disagree. I like constructive criticism! I promise I won't cry :)

So, today was a crazy day at work - 3 of 5 of my employees were out. Who would think that vacations, funerals and Jury Duty would all happen on the same day? Of course all the students are waiting until the last minute to get their summer reading books and I was running around all afternoon helping them find things. Phew! I'm beat. Time to go relax on the couch with the new issue of Take Ten. Hooray!

Thanks for looking.

Blog Candy Alert

Check out Alexandra's (California Stampin) blog for a chance at some great candy! She has it open until Wednesday 29th August. Good luck!
http://californiastampin.blogspot.com/2007/08/bit-o-blog-candy-because-you-all-rock.html

Monday again already?

Where oh where has the weekend gone? Granted I worked Saturday, but yesterday went by much too quickly!

My DS is sick with cold/allergies and asthma flare-up, so we had a quiet day at home yesterday. Well, quiet if you blocked out all the whining! That means I got to play for a bit in my stamping space. He likes to "be busy" with me and will color while I stamp for short amounts of time...

This card is actually from a couple months ago. Here are the details: black background, pale blue patterned paper (not sure from which company - can update when I get home and look). Black torn panel tied over with pale blue organdy ribbon from Michael's. The stamp is Anita's and has been in my collection forever, but I love the simple flower. It is stamped on 3 white panels and colored in with chalks. I hope you can click on the photo to get a closer image, because it really is a pretty card. I haven't given it away yet because I'm waiting for just the right occasion...

This week, my plan is to spend a little time each evening in my stamping space. This will have to be after I deal with the bounty of our garden, though! Tomatoes and zucchini and eggplant have taken over the kitchen counters and must be cooked, canned and frozen as we can't possibly eat them all. It's that time of year when our neighbors see us coming with zucchini and run inside and lock their doors!

Have a Happy Monday and thanks for looking :)

My Current Favorite

What a week! My DH was traveling for most of it, so I barely had time for myself after taking care of DS and the housework. Yesterday after work I finally sat down and puttered around with some stuff.


I just recently purchased the Delight In Life stamp set. I was eyeing it on Ebay for a while, then finally pounced and got it, with no regrets. Now the goal is to NOT reach for it since it's been used so many times since I got it...

However, my good friend's birthday was last week and I wanted to give her a really pretty card. A girly-girl card if you will (though I think I need to get some Bellas for true girly-girl stamping!). This was also an opportunity to use this Chatterbox Ribbon Stripe pp.

The background is half the Chatterbox paper, half plain pink paper. The DIL flowers are stamped in Pretty in Pink on white cs. I masked the flowers to give them more dimension. The swirls are stamped in Old Olive, stamped off one time to soften the color. The sentiment is also stamped off once in Old Olive. This white panel is mounted on pink, then brown. Ribbons are white 5/8" and pink 3/8" grosgrain. The pink is SU, the white is from a craft store.

Across the bottom, I stamped the small flower from DIL onto pink scraps, using Close to Cocoa ink. The flowers were then cut out and mounted with foam dots to give them more pop. Let me know what you think - I love to hear other opinions and see through other people's eyes!

This card just makes me smile and I hope it did the same for my friend on her birthday. My neighbor will be getting a card using this set in a few weeks and I will post that another time. Meanwhile, thanks for looking!