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!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Today was the 3rd gray and rainy day around here, and I can't wait for the sun to shine again! Maybe tomorrow? Meanwhile, here's a bright birthday card that will be given to my best friend's son. His birthday is in October, but I was inspired to create his card, so it is completed early. If only they could all be done this far in advance :)

For the background, the "4" stamp from Bold Numbers is done randomly in Real Red on red card stock. The airplane (By Air) is stamped in Glorious Green on pale gray cs and cut out. The banner (By Air) is also stamped on pale gray cs, using Brilliant Blue, and cut out. The name is done using Classic Alphabet. The banner is attached along with the airplane to a piece of corrugated yellow paper. I overlapped the banner and tried to add an eyelet, but there wasn't enough room.

The blue panel is stamped randomly with the cloud from By Air, using white pigment ink. The sentiment is stamped in Brilliant Blue and is from All Year Cheer II. Oh, and I added the boy in the airplane window from the Loads of Love Accessories. I think it's so cute how the little characters from that set fit into the windows of the cars and planes from By Air and By Land as well as Loads of Love!

Now that the card is completed in advance, I hope I don't forget to mail it on time!

I have a question for all the fellow bloggers out there - What program do you use to add the watermark to the photos you post on your blogs?

Thanks for looking!

It's Your Day! masculine card

Here's another masculine card. I've been trying to increase my stock of these, and my neighbor has a birthday next week. He's an older gentleman, and I thought this would be a nice card for him.

I used (again!) a cream base. The images are stamped in Chocolate Chip on cream squares that were then sponged with Really Rust. I had never tried that technique, but I really like how it turned out. The cream was just too stark with the Choc Chip, and this blended nicely. The squares were mounted as a diamond onto textured blue cs. These were then attached to three wide panels of KI Memories patterned paper, Alpine Socks. Its very nice paper with a tiny bit of shimmer in the base color. After attaching all this to the brown panel, I tied dark brown ribbon (from a party favor!) around the left side, tying in a simple knot. The images are from SU! Year Round Cheer, which is an older set that I find to be really versatile.

Again tonight, I didn't have much time to stamp, but I did play around with a few techniques. The mineral spirits also work to blend my budget Crayola colored pencils and the resulting smooth color is wonderful. I don't quite have the budget to justify Copic markers or even Prismacolor pencils, and this will be a nice fill in until I can make the splurges! There is too much to explore and not enough hours in the day to try everything. I keep a list of things I would like to try and then when I sit down to stamp, it's there to prompt me. Do you do the same, or does inspiration strike when you sit down at your stamping space?

Thanks for looking! Have a good night.

Happy Monday!

Mom came to visit this weekend and we got to scoot away for a girl's day of shopping and lunch out (only had to order for myself and not worry about ingredients for my food-allergic DS!). It was much needed.

Since I have to work Saturday, I have today off and to myself. DH is at work, DS is at day care. The plan after visiting AC Moore and Michael's this morning was to stamp the day away. However, I crashed on the couch after lunch and now it's close to time to pick up DS. Ah, the best laid plans...

Maybe I'll get some time to stamp after little one goes to bed. I got my new order from Hambo Stamps on Saturday and want to ink them up! There are bunches of birthdays coming up next month, and of course there are Christmas cards to think about.

Meanwhile, here's a birthday card I did a while ago. The colors are much bolder than I usually use and it pushed my comfort zone. I'm still torn about my feelings for it. Let me know what you think and how you might modify it. Is the background too dark? Base card too light? I'm not sure...

Cream base stamped with candles from Tags & More in red (I always love birthday candle stamps and forget I have these!). A centered blue panel is layered with an tilted red panel and topped with a white panel stamped with the candles. The white panel is also dry embossed with confetti streamers. Candles are colored with pencils but maybe not brightly enough. I used the Happy Birthday greeting from Greetings 4 You on a white strip mounted on a blue strip and attached with red eyelets.

Thanks for looking!

Happy Anniversary Card

My brother and SIL just celebrated 15 years, so I sent this off to them! It's really simple, but I love the clean design of it.

I used the Happy Together chair stamp from A Little Love (SU!) in brown on cream scraps. I mounted these onto polka dot paper squares and attached them to the blue background with matching eyelets. (I told you you'd be seeing lots of eyelets!)

Across the bottom, I affixed a coordinating satin ribbon, and voila! Simple card to celebrate a milestone in their marriage. Oh, and I stamped "Happy Anniversary" inside as well.

This week has been crazy and I have not been home during daylight hours to photograph my latest creations. My mother will arrive tomorrow for a visit, though, and I hope to sneak away to do some stamping while she plays with her grandson. Maybe my Hambo Stamps order will arrive and I'll have new toys to play with!!

Have a great weekend! Thanks for looking :)

Blog Candy Alert!

Check out the celebration candy Kim is giving away here!

Congrats to Kim and good luck!

A Masculine Card! With Budget Supplies!

These are really tough for me, so I like to make a masculine card every week or so. This one was done for Father's Day and given to my Stepfather. It uses one of my favorite stamp sets, Loads of Love...

Please forgive the not-so-great photo. Starting with a plain cream-colored card, I attached a blue panel across the bottom half, and topped the "seam" with this plaid strip. The paper is Chatterbox Scrapbook Walls in Olive Den Plaid.

The truck and the sentiment are stamped with navy ink onto kraft-colored cardstock (not SU Kraft) and the corners are punched using my star punch. I put the corner of the paper in so that only 1/2 of the star punched and made this cool effect. Images are colored in using colored pencils (basic Crayola if I dare admit that). To embellish the tag, I attached a strip of plaid paper folded into a "ribbon" with a coordinating navy eyelet.

This card was lots of fun to make and I hope it helps you when you need a card for a guy in your life! Thanks for looking!

A Second Glance...

Here's a birthday card I made for my MIL. I also made up a set of assorted cards for her as a gift. I hope she likes them!

Again I used a cream base for this card. The bottom layer is mustard textured card stock from my random stash. The sage cs layer is un-textured and is topped with a cream cs layer. I used Fun with Shapes (SU) and an unknown sentiment set for the HB greeting. The ink is Elegant Eggplant. For the center present, I used the convex square punch and stamped a flower from the Border Builders set. The layers are tied with this cute purple/white grosgrain from the Michael's $1 bin. Love those bins!

Yesterday at Target, I found their Making Memories eyelets on clearance. I snagged the brights and the metallics and returned home to find that I have TONS of the same colors already here. SO, you may be seeing lots of cards with eyelet embellishment from me soon :)

Well, I have time to complete a card I began this weekend for a good friend's upcoming birthday. I will share tomorrow if it turns out as I hope it will. Till then, thanks for looking!

A First Glimpse...

I'm so excited to share my first card with you!

I needed a quick Thank You for my in-laws, and came up with this sunny design. The dragonflies (SU) are stamped with Chocolate Chip ink (SU) and arranged on top of a cream cs strip. This strip is attached with the two small gold brads to a textured robin's egg blue square. The ribbon is SU yellow grosgrain, tied off simply. For the sentiment, I used the same yellow and chocolate chip combination as the dragonfly images. This time, I stamped the center sentiment and then stamped off the greeting again on either side. The yellow was then mounted on blue and then the cream cs again.

A mention of my supplies - I have mostly SU stamps, and inks. The papers and ribbons are a hodgepodge and I will credit appropriately when I can. My stamping is evolving as I spend more time at it, and my recipes are getting better. As is my photography.

Thanks for looking!

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting my blog! I have been debating starting this blog for some time now and decided finally that I was ready. You'll see that I don't yet have a fancy layout and header, but that will come...

I hope to have some photos up over the weekend of some of my creations. My stamping time is limited, as I'm a mom who works full time. Creating is part of what makes me happy and as I'm a Librarian by trade, sharing information is second nature. So that's what you'll find on this blog - creations and information. I do read a ton of blogs and if I see something worthwhile, it will be posted here.

Enjoy and tell me what you (th)ink!