Lost Treasures

For this week's EONAC (number 6 already), the task was to use Primas or other flowers. We ALL have buckets of them, don't we? I know I do. Mine are in a pretty square glass bowl that is overflowing! I dug through the bowl for all these white and turquoise ones, and a few browns and assembled them with antique pewter brads. The paper was discovered in my stash as I was cleaning out and filling up my new paper rack. I was able to make this set of 4 note cards using the MFT sentiments. These were super-simple and highlight the pretty primas. I found lots of cool papers in my stash as I was filling the rack, so there are more sets like this to come as I try to USE everything!
That's it for today. I didn't get to stamp this weekend as my brother and family were visiting. My mom came down also, but had to leave earlier than expected because they were getting more snow at home. We had a great time seeing my brother and family and watching the cousins run around together. Makes me wish we lived closer every time we get together!
Hope you are having better weather than is coming our way. Stay warm and Thanks for looking!

Mother's Day Cards

I found a small stash of mulberry paper in my collection, so I've been trying to use it up. I made Mother's Day cards for my MIL and my mom using the same color scheme, although the layouts are different. The first is actually from Technostamper's Sketch 67 last week, but I didn't get it posted in time. The second used the CPS 114 sketch from this week, and also the Use It Challenge #8. For the Use It challenge, we had to use flowers, fibers and metal. I included fibers in the mulberry paper, metal in the flower brads, and Prima flowers. The flower stamp around the scalloped circle and in the background of the sentiment circle are from Verve Floral Whimsy. The centers of the border flowers are dotted with Stickles. The sentiment is CTMH Simple Beauty.

These are both off in the mail today with hopes that they will reach their destinations by Saturday. I hope you are having a good week. Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday to Lexi

Monday is our niece's birthday, and I hope this makes it to her on time. She lives across the country from us and I have not been keeping up with the birthday card creation lately. Inspiration struck this morning, though, as I spied my jar of Prima daisies next to these large alphabet brads from Queen & Co. The sentiment is from Studio G and if you can make out the little bug on the leftmost flower, it is from Studio G also. The dp is from Making Memories, yellow layer from Bazzill and the base card is SU!



I am still getting adjusted to being at home. Finally I am feeling better (should be by now at 17 weeks!) and am developing a routine. Unfortunately, that routine includes at least one load of laundry a day and a couple other household chores. I'd rather do a litte bit each day and keep on top of things than spend a marathon day doing everything. How do you all do it?

Well, off to switch that daily laundry and take a lunch break. Hopefully I can get back to my desk later and create more. Tomorrow we are off for the weekend, so I won't be back to it till Monday night. Happy Easter to everyone and thanks for looking!

Happy Spring!

Can you believe it's finally here? DS has been so excited for the first day of Spring, and we woke up to snow falling. Luckily, it's not sticking and should be stopping soon, but what a sight!



Here's a spring-y card I made for Easter using my new Basic Grey papers. This is from the Sultry pad. Love their papers!! The tree image is from Unity Stamps and the sentiment is Clearly Impressed. The small flowers are from Prima and the rhinestone centers are from my stash, as is the ribbon. This tree has been on my desk since I ordered it months ago, and I finally had the chance to ink it up. I love it! This card will probably go to my grandparents.

Well, I'm off to start laundry and then stamp some. I'm thinking it's a good day for a pajama day and being creative. Since it's so gray and gloomy outside, I'll stay in with my toys and catch up on all the challenges I've missed over the past few months. Thanks for looking!

Can It Really Be the LAST Day of November?

So hard to believe that tomorrow is December 1st! My niece is turning 13, and that hardly seems possible, either. Where DOES the time go?

Today I spent a little time making progress through my Google Reader (trying to get it below 400 items to read!). I copied the CPS #93 sketch and noticed it fit an image I had colored on my desk, so I put it together. The papers are all Basic Grey Perhaps. Tilda is colored with watercolor pencils and my aquapainter. The flowers are Primas and the tiny brad is Queen and Co. The silver ribbon is from Ribbons & Bows, Oh My! and the pink ribbon is from my stash.

I hope you all had a good weekend. We went to the Mall yesterday for a birthday party at Build-a-Bear. What fun the kids had, but I have to say that the parents throwing the party were MUCH too generous to all the kids in attendance. And after building bears, they hosted lunch at a local restaurant. It was fun, but a little over the top for a 5 year old's party...

Thanks for looking!

The Earth Laughs...

...in flowers. Don't you love that sentiment? It's one of my favorites. Ok, I have lots of favorites! This card used the sketch from Day 13 of Angel's birthday celebration. I used K&Co paper and teal from my stash. The sentiment is Prickley Pear and the jeweled flowers are Primas. Liquid Pearls were added to the flower centers.It came together pretty quickly, which means I had time to watch Survivor. Anyone else watching this season? I think it's really good so far - lots of surprises!

I'm keeping this short and sweet tonight. Off to read and get some sleep. Thanks for looking!

Girlfriend's Day Swap Cards

My SBS sisters recently had a swap for Girlfriend's Day, which is this Friday, August 1. Here are the fantastic cards that each participant received:

From Elisabeth:

From Rachel

From Me:

Next, let me say that I love the color combination in Rachel's card. Her main panel has paisley, flowers, swirls and other girly images in the same color combination. Nice job! And the swirl clip detail on the ribbon is a great touch.

First, let me comment on the background paper of Elisabeth's card. I love the sparkly background and the trim that is made of velvety flowers. Very pretty! And the sentiments are perfect ;)

On my card, I used the CHF pretty pattern backgrounder and some dp from the dollar store. The pink tag is from some blog candy I won and I added the sentiment from Verve and some flowers and bling. I also added a Prima to the flower on the main image, which is Sweetybellas. The ribbon is American Crafts.

Is it Friday yet?? Yikes, what a week! I found a job posting today that is a great position, but would require either an hour commute each way or moving house. We've talked about moving house, but like our neighbors. The school district is not the best, but the taxes are lower than surrounding areas. However, the job is the next move on the career ladder if I want to continue on my professional path. So do I throw my resume into the ring anyway? When DH is back in town I guess we'll have lots to talk about!

On another note, anyone have the Carl/Bidex rotary cutter? How long should I expect a blade and cutting strip to last? I've been using mine for almost a year and it feels like the cutting strip is starting to fade in performance. Any opinions are appreciated!

Oh, and one more thing. Saturday I am hosting a Home and Garden Party at my house if any of you happen to be in this neck of the woods! All my hostess benefits will be converted into a cash donation for my Avon Walk. I'm at 65% of my fundraising goal :)

Thanks for looking!

Color Challenge 156

I'm home again today - this dizziness is driving me crazy. Went to the doctor finally and he says it's probably the beginning of an ear infection. What fun. So he gave me antibiotics and medicine to stop the dizziness. Let's hope it works!!

But the silver lining is that I was home to tackle the color challenge over at SCS. I have no Wild Wasabi paper, and it was hard to find a replacement, but I like how it turned out. The dp is Marcella K from Target. The green strip has French Script background stamped in Wild Wasabi ink; the image and sentimet are from SU! Friendship Blooms from the SAB catalog. The flowers are primas, and the brads are Target $1 spot. The rhinestones are from Hero Arts.

Just this morning I happened to swing by Target and they had a BUNCH of clearance stuff in the scrapbook aisle. (BTW - Target when you feel like the store is spinning is a trip - not recommended. I think I bought more stuff because I didn't have the presence of mind to think twice!) It must be time for all the new spring stuff, because the aisle was wiped out. But I found this great pad of Marcella K papers, a 7/8" square punch, foam tape, and Fiskars texture plates for cheap! I found out how I can get the Fiskars texture plates to work in the Cuttlebug. Has anyone else tried this?

Well, I have a little more time before it's time to pick up DS. Thanks for looking!

Little Bits of Spring

After the snow of last Friday (the first and hopefully last of this winter), I am in serious need of Spring! I made these cards last week and thought today would be a good day to share them. I wanted to post them last night, but we had guests all weekend and a birthday party last night. So here they are today.

The first uses the Maya Road chipboard blooms that I have had stashed away. Honestly, I was unsure of what to do with them. In the end I colored them with Sharpie markers and added some glitter using the Two Way Glue Pen and Martha Stewart white glitter. I used green rick rack for the stems and dollar stamps for the dragonfly, leaves and sentiment. I used my new Spica glitter pen on the lettering and it is very sparkly IRL.

Here's a close up of the flowers:

This second card is for my Grandmother's birthday next week. Even though my parents divorced when I was 6, my Grandmother was always in our lives. We still keep in touch with notes and letters. This card just scream Spring to me and I love it. I might have to make more of it! I used the Color Box Chalk Ink for the flourish from Baroque Motifs, and added Primas. In the centers of the flowers are colored brads from Queen & Co. The sentiment is from a set I have but lost the name of. Ribbon is from my stash, as are the papers. This was the first time I used the Chalk Inks and I LOVE them! I just ordered a bunch from Joann's and they came today. Hopefully I'll have some time to play later.

Thanks for looking!

Another Challenge For Another Bingo Number

Donna, from My Happy Place, is hosting her first weekly challenge - details here. To meet the challenge, I went paper-piercing crazy on this card, and I love the way it turned out!

I colored EmmyBella with my pencils and blended them. The dp is from CTMH, I think, and the ribbon is from my stash. Sentiments is SU! Happiness. I cut my stamp apart so that each row is now separate. The flowers are Primas and the brad is Making Memories.

This card also fulfills the requirement for another Bingo number to be drawn by Barb at Barb's Card Creations. Have you joined her fun Bingo game? It's a bunch of fun. I'm Soooooooo close to winning this round!

This has been a long day - had to take DS for his 4-year checkup, and he had to get 3 shots and was not happy about it. He was very brave, then broke down after the nurse stabbed him with the second shot. Poor guy, now he has to have blood drawn for more checks. I told him I'd take him to Target for a new Matchbox car if he does it with no fights. We'll try in the morning...

So I'm off to bed to rest up for what could be an ugly start to the day tomorrow. Have a good night! Thanks for Looking!

Baroque Primas

Baroque Motifs has been on my shelf and I have not used it nearly as much as I would like. Today I was playing with my embellishments, sorting brads and primas, and had a creative lightbulb moment. Here is the result:I used a premade ivory card from the craft store, which measures 4x5. The flourish is stamped in Handsome Hunter, and I scored a frame 1/4" from the edges of the card. The primas are attached with antique copper brads. I'm thinking of making a small set of these to send my grandmother as a small gift. She still writes letters and I'm sure she would enjoy them.

Time to go play with ds, who has been begging for a playmate all day. Sometimes I wish he would learn to play by himself, but I know I would be sad if he no longer wanted me!

Thanks for looking!