Sue's Paper Creations

Welcome to the Pumpkin Patch!

2010-09-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!
I'm nowhere near ready for fall yet, but I did get a head start on my pumpkin cards for this year! I only made one of these little ghost cards but I think I'm going to make a few more. Here's a few more pumpkin cards....

I wasn't sure if I liked the darker orange pumpkins at first - but they've grown on me. I even did some pumpkins with googly eyes too!

And of course I had to do a fall inche card as well...

And then I started on some fall cards with my Cricut. The apple was cut from the Preserves cartridge. I swear I don't know how I ever lived without my Cricut :o). I have so much fun with that thing!

There are lots more cards in my Etsy shop, so go take a look! Right now I'm off to clean my craft room - again. Sheesh. Doesn't it seem like I'm always cleaning in there? I hope you're all having a great week!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

More Medallion Cards

2010-09-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

Hello Blogging Friends!
I thought I'd share some more medallion cards. I'm finding these medallions kind of addicting! It's a bit of a challenge limiting the design to a 2-1/2 inch circle, but as I start adding layers I begin to see something evolving. I'm not really planning them before I start - just cutting circles and squares, digging in my stash of accessories and seeing what happens. On the card above I used DCWV Green Stack paper. The circles were cut on my Cricut, and the leaves and the label were cut on my Cuttlebug. The label is a Nestabilities die and the leaves are Sizzix. I also added some texture to the white circle on the medallion with the Birds and Vines embossing folder.

Here's another one! Again, the circles were cut on the Cricut. I used a Nestabilities scalloped circles (2 layers) to make the flower, cutting the petals by hand. The leaves are a Martha Stewart punch, and I added paper flowers (the little red ones) and a chunky sticky-backed pearl for the center of the flower.

Here's a close-up of another one that has a bit more detail.   After cutting the circles I added a die-cut heart, punched flower, stickers (the Wisteria seed packet and the word Adore), and then I cut out a sparkly pink bird from a scrap of background paper and adhered it to the medallion with foam tape.   Ooh I also addes some pink rhinestones too.

I'm planning on heading back to the craft room tomorrow - after I run errands.   I'm working on lots and lots of pumpkins for fall cards and I'm thinking about making some as scrapbooking embellishments to put in my Etsy store too.   I can hardly believe it's almost fall!   The pool is getting cold now and my garden is starting to wind down, which is kind of sad, but it's okay.   Usually by the end of September I'm ready for a break from working in the yard anyway.   I do have a new flowerbed to plant with spring bulbs though.   I was thinking of planting a huge mass of white tulips there, but my hubby says he'd rather have red, so I'm thinking we'll have a huge mass of red and white tulips instead.   Marriage is all about compromise, right? :o)

I'll leave you with another shot of something that's been taking up a lot of my time this summer.   Mind you, this was all harvested this last weekend, so you can see the vegetable garden is still going strong...

Yes, I'm still picking veggies pretty much every day - tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, jalepenos, banana peppers, green peppers, eggplant, cucumbers and lots of herbs too. This is the first veggie garden I've planted at this house so I'm quite happy with how much we got!

I hope you're all having a great week! Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Long Time No Blog!

2010-09-08T06:07:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! Long time no see, huh? I feel like I haven't been here for ages, so I'll get down to sharing what I've been working on. I've been addicted to making these little inchie cards lately, and on this one I used some of those quilled flowers I wrote about a few posts back. I learned to quill back when I was in junior high and I've been getting back into it lately. It's relaxing to sit and cut and twirl paper while I'm watching tv with my family - and then I get to use the flowers on cool cards like this one. This card is in my Etsy shop right now.

Here's another card I did a few weeks back. This baby sold right away, so I'm thinking about making a few more for myself. I just love the colors! I've also been making sets of notecards with a similar design. Like these....

I used all sorts of goodies on these cards - buttons, punches, dew drops, rhinestones, sticky backed pearls, epoxy stickers, etc.   They're really easy to make too.   I cut the little square out on the Cricut, tape them down to a piece of card stock, and then decorate each little square with something different.

So what else has Mousemom been up to?   Oh lots!   My son started high school this year so now we have a new schedule (that starts quite a bit earlier than our old one - grrrrr) and I've been getting used to that.   I've also been out in the garden quite a bit.   We started a vegetable garden this year so I've been busy freezing green beans and tomatoes, and making refrigerator pickles and pico de gallo.   I've also been trying to get out and visit my grandmother more often.   She's 92 and has a lot of health problems and can't get out of bed anymore, so I try to visit a few times a week.   I've also been busy with card orders too - which is good because that's my favorite thing to do next to spending time with family and friends. :o)

Well I hope you are all doing well!   I'm off to catch up on blogs!  Thanks for stopping by - see you soon!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Camping Trip

2010-08-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
We just got back from a few days of camping so I thought I'd share a few photos. We went to Turkey Run State Park in Indiana - and boy was the scenery beautiful! I didn't see any turkeys though - go figure.

We did see lots of trees though. We've camped in a few places that don't have a lot of trees on the campgrounds and well - camping in direct sunlight all day is not fun. The trees made it nice and shady.

We also met some interesting friends on this trip. My girlfriend was talking to me this morning and stopped mid-sentence and said "You're not afraid of bugs are you?" LOL. I turned around and found this little critter on my chair. I have no idea what it is but as we inspecting it and photographing it someone wondered aloud if it could fly - and then it did. I also made friends with a little butterfly who perched on my arm and wouldn't leave for about 20 minutes. What an awesome experience that was!

This photograph is from a short hike we went on this morning. I'm a wimp and only do the easy trails but this one was really cool. We were in one area with large rock formations towering on both sides of us and it was just amazingly beautiful. There's nothing like walking in the midst of God's handiwork on a Sunday morning - and in fact I felt like we were in a sanctuary He made instead of one with four walls.

We had a great time on this trip. We got to see one of the big wind farms out in the cornfields on the way down, the scenery in the park was gorgeous and of course it was wonderful to spend time with friends - and bugs! :o)

I hope you all had a great weekend!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Flowers Anyone?

2010-08-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Look what I did the other day --- well really I've been doing it for a couple of days. I decided to dig into my quilling supplies the other day and well - one thing led to another. I figured if I was going to make one I might as well make a hundred, right? Really I only made about fifty of them because I had to cook and clean house and sleep. You know how it is.

What would possess someone to make all these flowers you ask? Well, I was thinking about using them as embellishments on my cards - because they're much cheaper than Primas, but now I've got some other ideas rattling around in my head too. I'll be back (hopefully) later this week to show you what I did with them! Until then - have a beautiful week!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Trip to Chicago

2010-08-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to share some photos of my trip to Chicago last Friday. My Sister in Law and my son and I took the train into the city and headed right for the Art Institute. I just love those big lions out front! Inside, we made a beeline for the Impressionists and spent quite awhile in those galleries.

Being the avid gardener, I always swoon over the Monets - especially the big ones like this iris painting. I could literally sit and stare at these things all day which - probably makes me a little weird. :o)

I had to get a picture of his signature too. Don't ask me why. Just seemed like a good idea at the time.

My second favorites are the Renoirs. I just love the beautiful colors and all the little details in his paintings.

And of course I had to pay Vince a visit - since I was there. A few years back my Aunt Jo and I went to the museum solely to see this painting and after searching for it for about an hour we discovered it was on loan to another museum. He was there this time though!

This is also another favorite of mine by Berthe Morisot.

This is my lunch - not art. LOL. BLT salad and a roll that we ended up feeding to the pigeons in the courtyard. I wish I could post all the pictures I took but I don't think they give me that much space per blog - plus I'd be here all night downloading pictures. We spent about 3 and a half hours in the museum and then headed across the street to Millenium Park which is TOTALLY AWESOME. I finally got to see the big bean in person.

My reflection is on that bean somewhere LOL.   After that it was time to head back to the train and home to Indiana.   I love visiting the city and all the spectacular sights but .... I still love home best.

Well, I think I'm going to turn in early tonight as we had a rather late one last night.   My son and I went to the book store yesterday evening and when we pulled onto our street we found a little baby racoon that was injured.   A friend of mine has rescued them before, so I called her and she was nice enough to come over and get it.   But alas - the poor little dear didn't make it.   I've been wondering why God put that little critter in my path if it was just going to die - but then at church this morning I think He answered me when the word "compassion" just popped into my head for no reason.   I do believe that everything happens for a reason - even if it's just to teach a simple little lesson - so that's what I'm going to take from this experience.

Boy - I'm really running at the keyboard tonight. LOL.   Seriouly though - my Advil PM is kicking in so I'm signing off for the night.   I hope you all had a great weekend!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

More Collage Cards

2010-07-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog Friends!

I hope this post finds you all well and enjoying your summer. I've been running like crazy with Vacation Bible School this week. It's a TON of work but it's so worth it. So far this week we've made little rainbow fish and bookmarks. Tonight we're making faux aquariums of out blue plastic plates and foamies (gotta love foamies), tomorrow we're making jellyfish (I'll post pics of these later this week), and Friday we're making fleece blankets that are going to be sent to Africa through Samaritan's Purse. I'm really excited about that one because all our little kidlets are going to make something with their hands and send it to another child who has next to nothing in this world. The kidlets are excited about it too and keep asking every day if we're going to make blankets yet. LOL.

So I thought I'd share some more of my collage cards today as I haven't been in the craft room much this week - well - except to cut foam bookmarks. The one above was made using a ton of scraps in my handy dandy little scrap bin. The circles were all cut on my Cricut, and the texty flowers were made with the Cuttlebug. Other materials include stickers, chipboard, buttons, and sticky rhinestones.

Here's another one! The little turtles and butterflies are from a sticker sheet I bought at the Dollar Store (gotta love the Dollar Store too). Again I cut the circles on my Cricut, and added paper flowers, brads, clear dew drops, and some dry embossing with the Cuttlebug. As soon as this week is over I plan on making a bunch more of these cards, both for my Etsy store and some to go in a gallery that my friend has just opened. The green card above is still in my shop but this little bug one and the blue one I showed you last week have already sold.

Well, I'm off to finish prepping crafts for tomorrow night. Thank you all for your sweet comments! I'll talk to you soon!
Sue :o)

Collage Cards

2010-07-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hello Crafty Friends!
I know I've been a bit MIA lately but seriously - I've been busy!   We went camping, had a birthday party for my DH, had a 4th of July party (same day as DH party), and now I'm in the midst of preparing for VBS the week after next.   I betcha can't guess what I'm in charge of this year.   CRAFTS!   Ha!  You won't hear me crying about that --- well --- until the last day of VBS when I have to clean up the craft room at church after a week of little ones wreaking crafting havoc!   It's all good though.   VBS rules!

So I've been feeling a little stuck lately.   You know the rut of doing the same thing all the time until your mojo just leaves without saying a word?   That was me.   So as is often the case when I've got crafter's block, I went searching for some inspiration on blogs.   I found a really cool idea here on this blog - and boy - I spent nearly an hour looking over Christine's embellished paper doilies.   That was the jump start I needed - an idea - so I went to work and came up with this.....

Now I didn't do it exactly like Christine did, but I did use the idea of embellishing circles and using lots of layers and embellishments, and well --- I like it. This is only one of six cards I fired off in one week. I'll share more later - otherwise you'll be here all day!

I used a variety of materials on this card. The circles were cut with my Cricut. I also used some Nestabilities dies, punches, sticky backed pearls, die cuts from K&Co., dew drops, ribbon and oh yeah - the polka dots embossing folder for the Cuttlebug. This is a lot different than what I usually do and trying something new really helped me get my mojo back. If you get a chance go check out her blog here and be prepared to be amazed!

I hope you all have a wonderful, sunny, blessed weekend!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Stormy Weather

2010-06-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

Hi all! I just wanted to share some pics of a "lovely" little storm that rolled through NW Indiana tonight. I'm not usually one to take pictures during these things but I was intending on taking some pictures of my garden when I saw the clouds approaching. Within about 5 minutes of this picture, this is what I saw....

Then it started getting a little scary...

This is the last picture I took before the tornado sirens started going off. That's when I decided to go inside and get in the basement.

Pretty scary stuff, huh? Thankfully there was no tornado, but when I saw that sky - yikes - I was worried! My son and I went in the basement and prayed (hubby was upstairs watching - grrrr) and thankfully God kept us safe. :o)

I hope you're all having a happy sunny week so far. Thank goodness the forecast is good here for the next couple of days!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Pink Treats

2010-06-09T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! I thought I'd share a little project I made on my Cricut the other night. I thought it would be cute to make a matching tag for the card this time. Both the cake and the ice cream cone were cut with the Sweet Treats cartridge and I used DCWV Sweet Stack paper.

Now that I've really gotten used to the Cricut I'm finding that I like the images better when I add details to them before assembling. For instance on the ice cream cone I used my stylus to add a crosshatch pattern to the cone, I added chalks to the edges of each piece, and then finally added highlights with my white gel pen. I did the same on the pieces for the cake, and then added dots along the scalloped edge on the top of the tag.

I finished off the inside of the card with some punched hearts that I sponged with ink on one side and then accented on the other with the white gel pen. I suppose I could have cut them on the Cricut but that would have require switching cartridges. Looks like I'm going to have to get that thing (I think it's called the carousel) so I can avoid having to switch out cartridges in the middle of a project.

Well I hope you enjoyed my project today. I'm heading back downstairs to play until dinner and then I'm going to work in the yard this evening. My vegetable garden is really coming along and it's time to stake up the tomato plants and weed again after all the rain we've had. I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Hugs!
Sue :o)

Cleaning The Craft Room Today

2010-06-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
It's rainy and soggy and muggy here today so instead of playing in the garden I decided to clean up the craft room (or the craft pit - depending on how you see it). I've had this idea in my head of lining the face of these storage drawers with patterned paper, so I got started on that first. These particular drawers are pretty old and looked beat up, so I like the makeover!

I also used some of the same papers to line my cups where I keep my tools, pens and painbrushes.

I got my Cricut cartridges all in order too and tidied up the little box where I keep precut card stock.

This is the storage drawer where I keep all my scraps of patterned paper. Each color has it's own cellophane bag and I keep one for large scraps and one for small scraps. I throw away nothing!

Here's a jar of my grandma's buttons I keep on one of the shleves above my workspace. This is the grandmother who taught me to plant flowers and sew and cross stitch, so I don't use these buttons on projects because they're sentimental. When I was little she used to let me sprawl them out all over the floor so I could look at them, and sometimes I still do. :o) If you look at the bottom of the glass jar next to the buttons you'll see a bunch of rocks that my son gave me when he was little. He colored some of them and I'm just too sentimental to get rid of them.

Next we have one of my punch drawers. I keep all my huge ones in one drawer, border punches in another drawer, then medium and small in their own drawers.

And lastly I have my ribbon drawer which ... errrr .... needs some work. LOL. I wanted to point out the ribbon wound up on clothespins though. These are my grandma's clothespins and sat in a bag in my closet ohh... for the last 30 years since she passed away. I finally put them to good use in a place I could see them all the time.

Well I hope you enjoyed your view into my craft room today! I'm back downstairs to continue cleaning!

Have a blessed day!

Hugs! Sue :o)

Gift Tags

2010-06-03T08:27:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I've been on a bit of a tag making kick lately so I thought I'd share a few of my creations. I actually have a whole container of them in my craft room but you can only share so much on your blog at once, right? These tags were actually pretty simple once I got in the hang of making the rosettes. I found a tutorial on making them here on Lolly's blog. She is so fun, isn't she? If you've never visited her blog before do so right now. She's hilarious and actually very informative.

Along with rosettes I added some quilled fluffy flowers too (that's what I call them anyway) and I think they added a nice touch! I used card stock to make the rosettes, quilling paper to make the fluffy flowers, and the tags were cut on my Cricut from K&Co. paper.

These tags were super simple to make too. Much simpler than the rosette/fluffy flower tags. I cut the tags on my Cricut (again K&Co. paper) and the flowers were also cut on the Cricut using A Walk In My Garden cartridge. I added the buttons because ..... I like buttons.

That's all I have to share today. I hope you're having a lovely start of summer. Today is my son's last day of school and then (hold on a minute let me get a tissue) I'll have a high schooler on my hands. Seems like just yesterday I was fretting about leaving him at preschool and now I'm starting to panic about college savings and just how much money it's going to cost to insure him when he starts driving. :o) God is good though and I know He's gonna see me through this just like He has everything else in life.

Have a blessed day! Hugs!
Sue :o)

It's a Happy Flowery Day

2010-05-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends!
Today's blog entry has nothing to do with stamps or paper. I'm one of those crazy people who have a BUNCH of different hobbies and I regularly bounce around amongst them. Next to paper crafts, gardening is my favorite hobby eveeerrrrrrr, so come take a look in my yard and see what I do in when I'm not crafting or cleaning my house. :o)

This is the view you'd see if you were sitting on my deck and looking through toward our little pond. Notice my husband's gargoyl? I hate that thing but I let him keep it because he lets me have real pets.

Here's a clearer view of the pond.

This is a view standing by the pool and looking back at the house. I feel like I need a tree in there somewhere but hubby is saying no. I'll work on him.

This is a view of the front of my house. Notice no gargoyls.

A closer view of the little bed by my front door. Something is already chewing on my rose. Grrrrr.

This is one of a bunch of allium I planted around our river brich in the front yard. I had to straddle a bush to get this shot, but you gotta do what you gotta do to document your hobbies, right?

And finally, some happy yellow flowers on my front porch.

I hope you enjoyed peeking into my yard this afternoon. I don't know about you, but flowers just make me so darn happy. :o) The way I see it, flowers are a visible manifestation of God's love and creativity and beauty. HE created these things. He thought up what every one of them should look like, smell like and where they should grow, and I do believe He delights in their beauty every bit as much as we do.

If you scroll down to the very bottom of my blog, I'll be posting weekly pictures of my garden until it starts to snow!

Here's wishing you happy yellow flowers today! Hugs!
Sue :o)

Give a Hoot!

2010-05-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! I just wanted to share some cards I made with my new Give a Hoot Cricut cartridge! The images are on this cartridge are just too stinkin' cute! I knew right away that I wanted to use my DCWV green stack with these images - especially with the card above. Love that little bird background paper!

I used the same papers on this card and the sentiment is from SU. So I'm having fun - right? I'm cutting, gluing and assembling little critters - and then I got to thinking that these little critters needed some dimension. So I broke out the chalks and my markers and my white gel pen and did this....

I'm sure I'm not the first one to think of doing that, but whatever ---- better late than never, right? All I did was add decorative chalk around the edges of the images (I seal it with good old fashioned cheap hairspray), and then I added some accents with my white gel pen. It adds something, don't ya think? Oh, and on this card I used K&Co. background papers.

Well, that's all I have to share today. I have a nice stack of critters on my desk that need to be attached to cards, so as soon as I do that I'll have more to share. I hope you're all having a great day! God bless!

Sue :o)

Bloom!

2010-05-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Hey there! I wanted to share this cute little project I made a few weeks ago. I bought this wood shadow box/barn at the dollar store several years ago and it's been sitting in my craft closet waiting patiently all this time. :o) Just goes to show that sometimes hoarding is a good thing. Before decorating I gave it a light sanding and then lightly washed it with white acrylic paint. I wanted it to look whitewashed so I left some areas of wood showing through the paint.

Then I went to town with lots and lots of paper flowers. Some were cut on the Cricut, some were cut on the Cuttlebug, some were punched and some were quilled. It's amzing how many flowers you can make with paper, huh?

After filling all the little boxes with flowers, I added embellishments like quilled circles, buttons, and rhinestone dragonflies --- oh and dew drops too. (Can't get enough of those dewdrops).

I had a lot of fun making this bloom box and honestly it wasn't hard at all.   The quilling took the longest to do but I love doing it so it wasn't like work.

I hope you're all having a great spring/summer so far!   I'm excited because my son only has a week and a half left of school and then SUMMER VACATION!   I can't wait to sleep in and enjoy a little more relaxed routine.  Thankfully he decided against taking summer school this year so we don't have to be out the door by 7:15.   Yeesh!

I'm hoping to post some more projects this week.   I've been having some technical difficulties with my computer - or as my husband puts it "operator error" but it seems to be working now.   :o)   Have a happy Monday!

Hugs!
Sue :o)

Mother's Day Cards

2010-04-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Bloggy Friends!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and got lots of crafty time. I got some and will actually have a really cute Cricut/quilling/punch art project to show you just as a soon as a I find my hot glue gun and can finish working on it. I have nooooo idea where that pesky little glue gun went but I'm thinking it might be at church. Hmmmmmm. Anyway, I was in the midst of vacuuming when my vacuum cleaner died (WHAT LUCK HUH?) so I thought I'd share some more cards.

The above card combines two of my favorite things to do - stamping and cross-stitching. I intended on paper piercing the corners when all of a sudden I spotted some embroidery floss and thought - well why not? The stamp is Penny Black and I have absolutely no idea who made the paper because it was in my scrap stash. Once paper ends up in the scrap stash it's origins are a complete mystery to me. :o)

Here's another one that actually just sold this weekend. The bird stamp is from The Greeting Farm, and I embossed it on patterned paper, cut it out and then attached it to the card on foam tape. I do know who made these papers - K&Co., and the punched flowers have dew drop centers.

I promise I'll be back with some more Cricut creations - just as soon as my rechargeable batteries recharge and I can take pictures again. I better go see if the vacuum cleaner is really broken or if I just overheated it. I do that sometimes. :o)

Have a wonderful, happy, blessed day!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Man I've Been a Bad Blogger Lately

2010-04-22T19:55:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been really really busy and really really burned out and just BLAH? Well that's where I've been for the last few weeks. Luckily I think I'm coming out of it - thanks to the wonderful sunshine and warm-ish temperatures. There's nothing like digging in the garden and getting stabbed on rose bushes to bring me out of my wintertime blues. :o)

And speaking of my garden check this out....

I know! It really is spring when the grape hyacinths come up! Yay!

In addition to getting muddy and injured in my yard, I've been quite busy in the craft room too. I just put 17 new cards in my Etsy shop and I'll be posting some new Cricut creations this weekend. Here's another Mother's Day card in the shop...

Ha! That's not a mother's day card - it's a rhododendron! I couldn't resist! Seriously now - here's another card...

I hope you're all having a great week! Thanks for visiting!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Stamp Credits: Pink Bear Card - Stampavie
Blue Butterfly Card - sentiment is by Stampin' Up!

Sunflowers!

2010-03-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!
Is it just me or are we ready for Spring yet? I keep peeking around in my garden - looking for signs of life, and while things are definitely waking up - there isn't nearly enough green out there to suit me. So the next best thing was to make my own flowers! Granted, you have to wait until a little later in the season for sunflowers - but whatever - I wanted flowers so I made some.

Everything for this card was cut on my Cricut using the Walk In My Garden cartridge. All these images are cute enough on their own, but of course I had to jazz them up a little. After cutting everything out I used my chalks to add some depth to the leaves, the centers of the flowers and the edges of the watering can. Then I used my stylus to add some texture to the flower petals, and I also popped up some of the flowers and leaves with foam tape.

And of course I had to finish the inside of the card with another sunflower. (I can't stand it when the inside of a card is naked). All the background papers are K&Co. and everything else is just scraps of card stock.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Easter Creations

2010-03-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

Easter is just around the corner so I thought I should get busy on cards! I tell you - I'm really behind this year. I haven't even started on Mothers Day or Fathers Day or graduation cards yet. I think I'm going to have to camp out in the craft room for a few days and get caught up! The card above was made with DCWV paper and pink cards stock. The tulip stamp is from DeNami and the scripture stamp is from Clear Dollar Stamps.

I just love the bright colors on this card. The paper is from K&Co. and the stamp is Stampendous! Can you believe I got that stamp for 50 cents at an estate sale? Bargain!

Here's another card I did with my Cricut. Isn't that bunny sweet? I think I'm going to use this as my official Easter card to family and friends this year. The Cricut cartridge I used was the Woodland Wonders cartridge. The papers are all K&Co., and I used the Cuttlebug and Nestabilities dies to cut out the scalloped ovals.

Well, I'm off to the kitchen now to try out some new recipes I found in my blog travels this last week. After that it's either house cleaning, laundry or ----- more stamping. Guess which one I'd rather do. :o)

Have a great weekend all!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

It's Time for Spring!

2010-03-12T05:50:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
Sorry I've been MIA lately but life has been crazy busy. I thought I'd pop in real quick here and share a card I made a few weeks ago. This was made with a Clear Dollar Stamps set and some punches. The big flower and the leaves were embossed, cut out and paper pieced, and the smaller flowers are all punches. I made the background by embossing the big flower with clear embossing ink and clear powder on black paper.

I popped up the big flower on foam tape too - because foam tape rules! :o)

In spite of my absence here, I have actually gotten quite a few Easter cards finished and should be posting them in my Etsy shop later on today - hopefully between running errands and then working for a few hours this afternoon.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Just Us Girls Challenge #19

2010-02-11T06:32:00.000-08:00

Hi all!

Boy, I sure am getting into these challenges lately! This one is for the sketch challenge over on Just Us Girls. This week's challenge was a sketch and you can find it here.

The stamp is from Clear Dollar Stamps. I embossed it with black Colorbox ink and clear powder, and then colored it with my ZIG markers. I cut all the scalloped circles with my Cuttlebug and Nestabilities dies, and the white circles were cut on my Cricut. I sponged everything with Memento Lulu Lavender Ink, and then raised the circle with the pansies up on foam tape. The paper is from DCWV Once Upon a Time.

I hope you're all having a happy Thursday! I'm hoping to get some more stamping done today in between loads of laundry and picking up the house. Hubby was home sick yesterday so I need to sanitize EVERYTHING.

Oh and if you get a chance, send up a little prayer for my Grandma. The poor thing has been in and out of hospitals and a nursing home all year, and just yesterday they had to take her back to the hospital because she has an infection in her leg that is going to require surgery. Pray that God will heal her up and lift her spirits.

Thanks so much & God bless YOU too!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Caardvarks Wedding Card Challenge

2010-02-10T10:59:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
Here's my submission for the Caardvarks wedding card challenge. I don't have very many wedding stamps, so I improvised with the help of my Cricut and Cuttlebug. I just love my little bugs - love love love :o). Anyhow, here are the deets:

The cake was cut on the Cricut using the Sweet Treats cartridge. I cut everything out of white card stock, assembled all the layers, and then I added Crystal Stickles to the swirls and teen tiny sticky pearls to the base of each cake layer. The little heart at the top of the cake and two butterflies were made with punches, and I added Stickles to them as well - because I like sparkles.

The cake plate was cut from baby blue card stock, and then I used a sponge and some turquoise ink to add shadows to the edges.

The rest of the card was pretty easy - just layers of DCWV metallic blue card stock, baby blue card stock, and white card stock. The layer right behind the cake was made by running a piece of the DCWV metallic blue paper through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots embossing folder. I have absolutely no idea where I acquired the blue and white striped ribbon, but I do know that the metal slide was made by Making Memories.

Well I hope you enjoyed my card today & thanks for visiting! Hopefully you don't have too much snow if your neck of the woods! I'm breathing a sigh of relief today because the weather men were calling for a lot more than we got. My poor son though --- he SOOOOOO wanted a snow day. Oh well - maybe next snow storm. :o) Have a great day & God bless!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Cricut Fun

2010-02-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
I've been having fun playing with my Cricut so I wanted to post some of the cards I created this week. This one was made using both the Cricut and the Cuttlebug. The vase and tulips were cut with the Cricut. I used a sponge and some turquoise ink to add some shadow to the side of the vase, and I'm not sure if it showed up in the picture or not but I also added some details to the tulips with my ZIG markers. The scalloped ovals and the corner accents were cut on my Cuttlebug, and I also added some sponging to the corner accents to give them some dimension.

Next, I did this cute little turtle card. Isn't he stinkin' cute? I sponge the sky and grass background and then added some blades of grass with my ZIG markers. Then I added all my die cuts and embellishments like the googly eye on the turtle, the buttons on his shell, and finally two button butterflies. I don't think I'm giving this one away. Hee Hee.

This last one was made almost entirely from the Cricut. I sponged the background to look like sky and grass, and then I sponged the edges of the flower pot and then popped the top part of the pot up on foam tape. The flowers were all cut from scraps and then glittered in the centers for some sparkle. I did use a punch for the leaves, and then cut the word Thanks on the Cricut.

I hope you enjoy!

God bless!

Sue :o)

Happy Friday and a Few Challenges

2010-02-05T18:07:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
I'm back today with another card and this time I managed to work in TWO challenges. I've seen some people work a dozen challenges into one card, but I'm not quite up to that speed just yet. :o)
This card is being submitted to the Penny Black Week 86 - Special Someone challenge. I made it for one of my oldest and dearest friends for her birthday. The other challenge is the Cute Card Thursday Challenge 98 - spots and dots. My spots and dots are on the background. I couldn't find any blue polka dotted paper in my stash (I know - I was shocked too) so I decided to make my own by punching circles (in this case spots and dots) out of scraps of blue background paper. I glued them down on white card stock, sponged the edges with turquoise ink, and then ran that whole piece through the Cuttlebug with the circles embossing folder. The stamp is Penny Black. I embossed it twice, colored with my ZIG markers and then cut out the little mice and popped them up on foam tape. I got the felt flowers from Kutz (you can find the link for her Etsy shop on my side bar) and I actually sewed on the buttons. I hardly ever sew so it's kind of a big deal for me. LOL.

I hope you all have a great weekend & God bless!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Caardvarks Red Heart Challenge

2010-01-23T21:21:00.000-08:00

Hi all!

It's been awhile since I played along with a challenge, but I came across this one in my blog hopping a few days ago and decided to give it a try. If you'd like to play along you can find the challenge here.

I stamped the heart (Great Impressions) on red card stock with Colorbox black pigment ink and clear EP. I embossed it, cut it out, and then sponged the edges with red ink and chocolate brown ink. The papers are all K&Co. and I believe the metal slide is from Making Memories.

I'm thinking I may give this card to my hubby because it's kind of masculine with all the blues.

I hope you're all having a great weekend! Hugs!
Sue :o)

So Behind on Blogging

2010-01-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
Yes I am really, really behind on blogging lately. I have tons of things I want to post - it's just a matter of getting around to it, right? So that's where I am right now - playing catch up. Awhile back I won some fabulous blog candy on Heidi Van Laar's blog and I wanted to post a picture of all the fabulous goodies she sent me...

Is that amazing or what? And I finally got around to playing with it all yesterday. Check it out!

I'm pretty much a novice when it comes to the shabby chic style, but I gave it a whirl and came up with these two cards. I dug into my stash of vintage postcards for the photo card and I added the pretty flower, leaves, ribbon and dew drops from my blog candy gift. The card with the keys was pretty simple too. I covered the chipboard keys with acrylic paint and then mod podged on (spell check says that isn't a word) the glitter. I had a great time playing AND I am still sparkling from the glitter! :o) If you've never checked out Heidi's blog you can find it here.

Well, that's it for today! I took a sabbatical from housework yesterday and now I'm really behind. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Valentine Inspirations

2010-01-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
I'm back with a few more Valentine cards today. I've got a bunch of them really, but I haven't had time to photograph them yet. I found the inspiration for these two cards in the greeting card section at our local drug store. Imagine that! LOL. I hardly ever pass up a card display because I find they are awesome when it comes to finding inspiration for colors and layouts.

Both of the cards were made using the Cricut for the big hearts. On the pink, red and black card I used a bunch of my flower punches to fill in the heart, and then I added different "centers" to the flowers with brads, eyelets, dew drops and rhinestones. The embossed background on that card was made with the Cuttlebug and the circles and flowers embossing folder. I'm not sure if that's what it's really called, but that's what I call it. :o) The red card was made using a bunch of scraps from my red scrap paper stash, and the flowers were made with punches. I also used a few Primas in addition to the punched flowers.

Well, I'm off to get back to housework. I hope to be back with weekend with some more cards I finished up! Have a blessed day!
Sue :o)

Love (And a Lot of Snow) Is In the Air

2010-01-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
I woke up this morning to lots and lots of white fluffy stuff. It's soooo pretty, but I only say that because someone else drove my son to school this morning. I'm sure I'll change my tune around 3 when I have to go get him. :o) Ah that's okay. Doing donuts in the snow and skidding through intersections is one of the joys of Midwest winters and I don't feel that I've actually experienced winter until one of those two things (or both) happens.

I'm getting started on some Valentines cards! I'm not sure if I'm going to put these in my Etsy shop, or if I'm going to keep them and send them to my friends and family. Can you tell I'm loving my Cricut? It took me no time at all to cut the letters, and then I sat and played for a few hours and got the cards finished. I used a variety of embellishments - buttons, punches, Stickles, brads - you name it. Whatever I found in my hefty stash of fun stuff to glue on cards, I used! I think my favorites are the punched daisies with pearl centers.

Well, I'm off to get some work done. I still haven't taken my Christmas stuff down yet. Can you say "draggin' your feet a little bit"? I've got a good excuse though. I decided the other day to start a major kitchen cleaning and I've been busy taking everything out of cupboards, reorganizing and scrubbing everything from ceiling to floor. Some people do Spring cleaning, but I never get that bug until winter time. I'm weird like that.

I hope you have a wonderful day and for those of you experiencing snowy conditions - be safe and stay out of my way! LOL.

Hugs!
Sue :o)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T17:28:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
Well, Christmas break is drawing to a close and tomorrow morning we'll get back into the school routine. Sigh. I might be a little strange, but I honestly love it when my son is at home with me during the day. The house is too quiet when everyone is gone! Oh well - there's no getting around it, I suppose. I'm not qualified to teach him honors algebra, so he has to go to school. LOL!

Here's a card I did over vacation. The stamp is from Penny Black (my favorite). I used my new Cricut to make the layered frames for the little hedgie, and the flowers were made with good ol' punches.

I'm hoping to get back to card making tomorrow and to blogging on a regular basis again. I was blessed with a lot of new goodies over the holidays, so I should be ready to go! I also had a major organizing epiphany (LOL) over the last week so now my crafting area is better organized and easier to work in!

I hope you're all having a great day!

Sue :o)

Sparkling Angel

2009-12-29T19:47:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted! Christmas really got the better of me this year! Maybe next year I'll get wise and get started on everything in October instead of November. Yeah right LOL! I'm one of those people who work better under pressure.

Despite my lack of posting I have been stamping a lot. I just put around 30 new cards in my Etsy shop today, and this is one of them. I just think this angel is the cutest little thing! She's from Stampin' Up! and I stamped her once on white card stock and then I embossed her on the patterned paper, cut out the dress and paper pieced it onto the stamped image. I also colored the little flowers on her dress and added sticky blue rhinestones to the centers. I LOVE this paper from K&Co. too. I felt like I'd been neglecting my punches for awhile too, so I made the little flowers in the corners, punched some leaves and then added baby blue sticky back pearls to the centers of the flowers. I swear these little sticky back pearls are so addicting - which reminds me I need to make a trip to Michael's this week for more. Hee Hee!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We're actually not done celebrating yet because my sister and her family were in FL over the holiday so we're celebrating with them this weekend. And wow is it going to be another busy weekend at that! We're getting together with friends on New Years Eve, then we get together with my husband's family on New Years Day, and then my whole family is coming here the day after that. Yikes! I'm going to need a vacation soon. LOL.

Take Care & God bless!
Sue :o)

It's Snowin' and Blowin'

2009-12-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
Boy I've been neglecting this blog, haven't I? I've just been so busy! The good news is I've gotten a lot done over the last week and I should be (I hope I am anyway) able to relax very soon.
I don't know about your neck of the woods, but it's snowing and blowing like crazy here in Indiana! After Bible study this morning I had to walk over to the office (just across the parking lot) and I swore the wind was going to knock me off my feet! The temps are supposed to drop tonight too and everything is going to freeze! Ugh! My poor hubby has an hour's drive home in this yuck too, so if you have a minute please send up a little prayer for him for safe travel.
I don't have any cards to show today, but I will soon. In light of the magical winter wonderland outside, I thought I share some photos of my magical winter wonderland inside. LOL. I love, love, love snowmen and have quite the collection. This is only a smidge of them though. I hope you enjoy AND that you're warm, safe and happy wherever you are.
God bless!
Sue :o)

Is It Christmas Yet?

2009-12-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

Oh wow, I hope not. LOL. I am so not ready for the best holiday of the year. I'm going on the third day of decorating my house, but of course I'm doing other things as I'm decorating. That's why it takes me three days to get it all done. My Bible study group is hosting a Ladies' Tea at church in a few weeks and we've been preparing for that, along with shopping and cleaning and working on my lessons for Sunday morning children's worship. Whew. Sometimes I think I'm involved in too many things. My husband would nod and laugh if he heard me say that. And to boot my son has been sick and at home for the last two days! He had 102.6 fever last night. He's okay now though, so Mom can relax a little.

I have a few Christmas cards to post today, and much more in the works. There's a lot on my desk that still needs to be photographed, and I will get to it eventually. I'm very excited because my father in law gave me an early Christmas present this year - he told me go out and buy the Cricut and some cartridges - so I did! I've been having a lot of fun playing with it and can wait to start showing some of my creations.

Stamp Credits:
The Snowmen are Great Impressions
The Nativity is from Clear Dollar Stamps
The Holly Berry is Penny Black

I'll try to post again soon. In the meantime, God bless!
Sue :o)

Cherry Pie

2009-11-23T06:33:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend! I spent a lot of time in my craft room on Saturday and got caught up on custom orders. Among other things, I wanted to get some non-Christmas related cards done for my Etsy shop, and here's one of them.

The cherry pie stamp is from Pink Cat Studio. I embossed and colored it on watercolor paper, cut it out and then added Diamond Glaze to the cherries to make them shine and Stickles to the whipped cream. The piece of pie is popped up on foam tape, and I added dry embossed paper and red striped brads as accents. I just love the cherry background paper too (DCWV)!

I'm not going to have a lot of time in the craft room today. I have to go pay our real estate taxes (groan) and I need to get some shopping done (double groan). I guess I'm weird because I absolutely hate shopping - except for at the craft store and unfortunately I don't need to go there today.

I hope you have a great day! Hugs!

Sue :o)

Polar Bear

2009-11-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Here's a card I made yesterday with one of my oldest stamp sets. It's from SU and I think it's perfect not only for Christmas but for winter cards too. All the papers are Die Cuts With a View, and I added blue and silver star brads as accents.

I'm not sure how I managed to get a whole Saturday where I don't have something going on at church or with family, so I'm taking advantage of it and playing in my craft room today. Hubby is up on the house putting up lights, so I'm laying low. :o) I don't go on the roof!

I hope you're all having a great weekend!

God bless!

Sue :o)

Twinkling Christmas Kitty

2009-11-20T10:10:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

I'm taking a little break from making Christmas cards and I thought I'd post one I just put up in my shop. I just love this stamp from Stampendous! I've been challenging myself to find some different ways to embellish my cards, so today I went searching through all my little drawers and found these wonderful sparkly little rhinestones. I thought they'd be perfect for Christmas - sort of like Christmas tree lights. I also found a corner punch I forgot I had! LOL. It's amazing what one can find in their own stamp room, isn't it? I also did this card a little differently in that I didn't emboss the image on watercolor paper. I stamped it twice on regular white card stock and then cut out the kitty and the star and popped it up on foam tape. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Alright, I must get busy again. I've got an order to get in the mail, I need to get my cards and paperwork from this week in order, and someone from church ordered a bunch of sympathy cards. It'll be a busy day! I hope you're having a great one!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Holiday Hustle and Bustle

2009-11-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Just a quick post today as I'm heading to bed shortly. It's been a busy week, but busy in a good way. Yesterday, we finished up all the Christmas shoeboxes at church and delivered them, and now they're on their way to children all over the world. It's hard to believe there are children who have nothing - and I love working on this project because it reminds me early in the season that Christmas is about Jesus and his love for us, rather than presents and running ourselves ragged. I also love working on this project because one of my best friends - let's call her Mz. Nastypepper - works on it with me, and we always have a great time together. :o)

Anyhow -- I thought I'd share some Christmas projects I've been working on here and there this last week. The first card is another snowman trio from Great Impressions. I told you it's my favorite stamp :o). This was a custom order for one of my customers and I have to say I may need to make a few more for msyelf - if I have enough eyelets leftover from this one. The second card was made with a High Hopes stamp. Isn't that the cutest nativity scene? I stamped that one in Memento tuxedo black ink and then colored with my watercolor pencils, and I found that beautiful gold embossed background paper at Joanne's. And finally, the last picture is a set of really simple Christmas gift tags made with nothing more than a Martha Stewart snowflake punch, scalloped edge scissors and card stock. I have some in my Etsy shop, and I made some more for myself.

Well, that's it for tonight. Tomorrow I have some shopping to do in the morning and then I plan on working in the craft room non-stop. I hope you're all staying well in your neck of the woods!

Take care and God bless!

Sue :o)

Red Velvet

2009-11-13T12:38:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

I'm just squeezing in a quick post today before I get busy down in the craft room. I've used this holly stamp (Stampin' Up!) quite a bit this year, but this time I paired up the image with red velvet paper. Boy, it just screams Holly Jolly Christmas. I wanted the velvet paper and the holly stamp to really stand out, so I didn't do a lot of layering. I kept the inside of the card pretty simple too - just some Christmas plaid and green and white card stock.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Snowmen Christmas Tags

2009-11-12T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

I wanted to share some cute snowman tags I made the other day. I'm as crazy about snowmen in the winter as I am about pumpkins in the fall. I actually used snowmen faces like this a few years ago when I was asked to come up with a quick kids craft at church. The kids loved the googly eyes! I cut the face out with my Nestabilities scalloped circle dies, added the eyes and glitter, handcut the carrot noses and then used a marker to make the mouth. Then of course I had to use the MS snowflake punch on the one tag. The holly on the other tag was handcut by me.

I hope you're all having a great week!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Snow Buddies

2009-11-11T12:29:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Boy I've been neglecting this little blog all week, haven't I? Busy, busy, busy! Ah, it's all good though. I'm getting my house cleaned up, my paperwork in order, and shopping for the Christmas shoebox project which I'm in charge of at church. This weekend we have our big Thanksgiving dinner at church and next week I have to wrap up and deliver all the Christmas shoeboxes to a church in Illinois. Whew! I may have to start drinking some energy drinks or something.

Any-whoo, I did get some stamping done this week and I'm finishing up a lot of projects for myself and for my Etsy shop. I always swear I'm going to start Christmas stamping in July so I'm ready by December, but --- I never do. LOL.

I think this card turned out so cute! The stamp is from Great Impressions and it's one of those I seem to reach for all the time. It's stamped and colored on watercolor paper, and I sponged the edges with both both turquoise and navy blue ink. I found a few scraps of heavy duty foil card, so I punched some stars and added them around the snowmen.

I hope you're all having a great week, and please - if you haven't already done so, take a moment today to remember our veterans. We are so blessed to live in this country where we are free to worship God without fear of persecution, and I'm grateful to the men and women who fight to protect that freedom. May God bless you all too, Friends! Have a beautiful day!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

One of Those Nights...

2009-11-06T12:50:00.001-08:00

Oh my goodness - please tell me you've had one of these stamping nights too. I got this stamp (High Hopes) a few weeks ago and I've been dying to use it because it's so darn cute. So I finally sit down to play. I emboss the image and then get almost all the way done coloring it in, and then I see something. The base board on the floor behind the moose is lopsided. I didn't emboss it straight. No, problem right. I'll just turn the paper a little - straighten it out and cut it again. Wrong-o! I chopped the image too close and shaved off part of the wall socket. Sigh and move onto plan B - and mind you, I don't want to color everything again - I want to make a card. So I embossed it again, this time straight - sort of anyway. Then I cut out the colored moose and layered it on top of the new one. It looks like I meant to give it dimension but really it's just a flub-up. LOL.

So I'm excited! I got one cute moose card done. Let's make another. I ruined two sheets (front and back) of watercolor paper trying to emboss it again but never quite got a good clean image. So I think - I'll just stamp it with Memento ink, let it dry and then color with watercolor pencils. Stamp it two more times without getting a clean image and I'm getting really close to cussing. LOL. Finally I got it and sat down to color. I used my handy-dandy watercolor pencils and then moved onto blending with my aqua painter only to discover that on the bow I accidentally grabbed a regular old colored pencil and not a watercolor pencils. I'm getting to the point I don't like this moose anymore but I persist anyway. I will have moose cards for Christmas darn it! I ended up using my markers to color over the wrong kind of pencil and finally --- finally I have 2 moose cards.

Ah I guess we all have those kinds of stamping sessions, huh? LOL. On the blue card I used a chipboard snowflake with a button and glitter as an accent, and on the red one I used Diamond Glaze on the Christmas lights to make them look glassy. Both Christmas sentiments are from Stampin' Up!, and as I mentioned before, the moose stamp is from High Hopes. I bought it at
7 Kids College Fund - one of my FAVORITE places to buy stamping stuff. Go check them out - especially their Nestabilities dies!

I hope you have a great weekend!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

It's The Great Pumpkin!

2009-10-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been making cards all day today -- I just haven't had time to take pictures. So instead I thought I'd share some pictures I took tonight at the Pumpkin Guy's house. That's what we call the guy who makes an awesome display like this every year. His whole front yard is filled with HUGE pumpkins that he carves and then illuminates from inside with car headlights. These babies are way too big for candles. Every year he has a theme and this year's is, as you probably already guessed, Charlie Brown! Last year's theme was Dr. Seuss and the year before that he did the Seven Dwarfs. The neat thing about it (other than the smile it brings to your face) is that he doesn't charge a fee to see the pumpkins. He does it just for people to enjoy, and boy do they. We've never been there when there hasn't been a ton of people.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween tomorrow. My son is too big (and cool) to go trick or treating anymore, and if he decides to go anyway he certainly won't want Mom going along. Sniff sniff. It seems like just yesterday he was dressed up as Cookie Monster and was barely able to climb the porches to knock on the door and I had to hold his little hand every step of the way. Oh well, they grow up fast. Thank goodness for scrapbooks so we can remember when they were little!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #2

2009-10-29T17:25:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!

Here's my submission for challenge #2 at The Play Date Cafe. What a BEAUTIFUL color combo this week. I haven't had my fill of pumpkins yet, obviously! The pumpkins are made of scalloped ovals I cut on with the Cuttlebug and Nestabilities dies. I stamped each oval with an autmn spray stamp and then sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip ink before assembling them into pumpkins. The "grass" was a scrap I found in my stash, and the leaves were punched from card stock and then I used my paper piercing tool to add some texture. Oh the little crystal moon was something I found in my stash too. The background is just black card stock run through the Cuttlebug with the swirls embossing folder.

Stamp Credit: Stampin' Up!

Click here to check out this week's challenge at The Play Date Cafe!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Another Quick and Simple Christmas Card

2009-10-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Here's another quick and simple - and shiny Christmas card! This one is pretty straightforward too. I embossed the image (Great Impressions) on watercolor paper and then colored it with my ZIG markers. The snowflake punch is from Martha Stewart and I attached the button with Diamond Glaze. The shiny snowflake background was made by taping the turquoise foil paper to a piece of light blue card stock and then running it through my Cuttlebug with the snowflakes embossing folder.

I'm happy to report that I did find a place to purchase more foil paper and card stock! I found the link on True's blog for The Paper Temptress. Oh my goodness. This place is to-die-for as far as paper goes. I'm sure I will be spending a lot of $$$$ there in the future.

Today is the first day this week I am able to stay at home and play in my craft room, so I'll be working on cards all day today and hopefully listing a bunch of new ones in my shop on Saturday or Sunday. Be sure to pop in for a visit!

I hope you're all having a lovely day!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

A Quick and Simple Christmas Card

2009-10-27T11:56:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! I whipped up this card last night while playing around with a bunch of foil paper I found in my stash. It was super simple and I just love the results. The image was embossed and colored on watercolor paper and then cut out with my nesties. I taped the gold foil paper onto a piece of white card stock and then ran it through the Cuttlebug with the snowflakes embossing folder. The rest is just layering.

Now I have to ask - does anyone know of a good place to buy more foil paper (or foil card it's called sometimes)? I only have a limited stash of it and well ---- I want more! LOL.

I hope you're all having a happy Tuesday!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Stamp Credit: Penny Black

Isn't This Sweet?

2009-10-26T13:04:00.001-07:00

Let me state right away that I did NOT make this beautiful card. One of my sweet customers sent it to me for Halloween! I love it so much I just had to share it with everyone. Isn't that sweet? Thanks V.!

I also have some other fun stuff to share today - links to the wonders I find while trolliing the internet instead of doing housework. LOL. (Honey, if you're reading this - I did do housework today). Be sure to check out these fun finds!

Click here to see an awesome paper storage idea.

How many of you remember your mom carrying one of these beauties - or maybe it was just my mom. LOL.

I have several of these wonderful little pendants - and I want more!

If you love cake you MUST visit this awesome cake website. Be sure to explore!

This is my new favorite blog!

That's all for today, folks! I'm still getting over this yucky cold and thanking my lucky stars it wasn't the flu! I hope you're all having a great Monday!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #1

2009-10-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Here's my submission for The Play Date Cafe challenge #1. I have to say that the colors for this challenge are not ones I'd think to use but I'll darned if I don't love them! I guess that's the purpose of color challenges, right --- to get us to think outside the box! My card is on the cutsie side and pretty straightforward. The stamp is one of my favorites from Penny Black. I embossed it on watercolor paper, cut it out with my scalloped oval Nestabilities dies and then colored it with a combination of watercolor pencils and my ZIG markers. The papers are from K&Co. and I made the flowers with punches and some brushed nickel (looks like it anyway) brads. I'm including a picture of the inside of the card too. I always finish the insides of my cards because it's sort of a let down to look at the front of a pretty card and then open it up and see nothing inside. I think it's fun to make the inside of the card a surprise too!

I hope you're all having a beautiful day. It's rainy and gray here today but I have lots to keep me busy inside the house - so I don't mind! Thanks for stopping by and please visit again!

OH (one more thing)! If you'd like to play along with the color challenge at The Play Date Cafe click here to go to Julie's blog for all the information! There are prizes involved so don't miss it!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

I Finally Got Her Done!

2009-10-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

This is the Halloween card for my niece -- isn't this little witch the cutest? She's a digital stamp from Enchanted Inspirations. You can find a link to Michelle's blog on my sidebar. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this image - it was just finding time to sit down and do it!

I printed 3 copies of the image - 2 on white card stock and one on purple. I wanted the dress to be a vibrant purple and I just wasn't liking what I came up with using markers or watercolors. So I paper pieced the dress instead. I just printed it off, cut it out and the glued it down on one of the white images. Everything else is colored with my ZIG markers. I used the second copy printed on white to color in and cut out all the little candy corns on her dress. The stars I colored with my silver gel pen and I went over the little polka dots with a copper gel pen. Oh and do you like the little fringe at the bottom of her dress? Once I cut the purple dress out I turned it over, added a strip of double sided tape and then cut little pieces of black embroidery thread and stuck it into the tape. Once that was done I turned it over and gave it a trim.

The rest of the card was pretty easy. I sponged the witch's panel with both black and navy blue ink. The flowers were made with a combination of punches and Cuttlebug dies. Oh and that orange and gold polka-dotted paper I got at the Target Dollar Spot.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sue :o)

Quick & Simple Birthday Card

2009-10-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to share this card I made last night for my girlfriend's little boy. It's nothing new in the way of techniques, but I just love the way it turned out. The stamp is from High Hopes Rubber Stamps. I embossed it in black with clear power and then colored with my ZIG markers. Then I just used a leftover piece of wrapping paper from the gifts and used it as background paper.

I just ordered some more High Hopes stamps from 7 Kids College Fund and I can't wait to get them. Their images are SO adorable and really fun to color. I also ordered some beautiful flower stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps so I should have plenty of fun stuff to play with next week.

As for this week -- sigh. I just got over a cold and then I woke up this morning with a sore throat and a headache. I'm praying it's just allergies from the change of season but I feel lousy. We'll see what I get done today.

Hope you're all having a great day!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Fall Decorating

2009-10-19T12:29:00.001-07:00

I might be a little behind in the game, but at least I got it done --- almost anyway. :o) I didn't get much done in the craft room this weekend so I thought I'd share some pics of my favorite fall decorations. I love pumpkins and have a collection of them on my side table in the dining room, but my favorite is the big glass one shown in the second picture above.

I'm hoping to get to work on a Halloween card for my niece tonight. I was going to do it this morning, but I left to get an oil change and somehow ended up at Target, Kohls and Joanne Fabrics. I never did the oil change BUT I got a new purse, two new pairs of jeans and a bundle of craft stuff that I just couldn't live without. Somehow I don't think my husband will be as impressed as I am! LOL!

I hope you're all having a lovely day!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Enjoy The Season

2009-10-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

Boy it's been a crazy week in my house! It seemed I had somewhere to be every day of the week. It was all good though. One of my gal pals (and volunteerism motivators) asked if I'd come and help out the book fair at her daughter's school and of course I just had to do it. This is the same school my son went to when he was in elementary school (I was PTO Prez there for 2 years too) so it was nice to go back and visit with the teachers and staff again. I love the school book fairs anyway so it didn't take much motivating by my friend to get me to do it. I worked half a day yesterday, went shopping with one of my best friends this morning, and now tonight we have my nephew spending the night!

This is a card I did earlier in the week. I used some more Christmas chipboard pieces like I did on my last post. The holly stamp is by Penny Black (scored at the estate sale a few weeks back) and I added some buttons and silver star brad. The papers are all DCWV.

I'm really hoping to get busy on some more Christmas cards this week, but already my week is looking like its going to be a busy one. We have a potluck after church tomorrow and then we're going to dinner with family in the evening (better wear eating pants), and then I've got nothing but errands on Monday and 2 school convocations to attend during the rest of the week. Sigh. I don't know why, but it always seems that Fall is such a busy time in our lives! I'm sure I'll find time to stamp though. I always do!

I hope you're all having a great weekend!

God bless!

Sue :o)

A Holly Jolly Christmas

2009-10-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to making some Christmas cards! Isn't this little snowman the cutest? He's from Penny Black (got him at 7 Kids College Fund) and I embossed and colored him on watercolor paper. I used an old speckle stamp and turquoise ink to add some "snow", and then beneath him I added crystal Stickles for some sparkle. That reminds me - I need to buy a new bottle of crystal Stickles. When I went to use it this time the tip was clogged. I tried routing it out with a stick pin and when that didn't work I got the bright idea to cut "just a little bit" of the tip off the bottle. Well, I cut a little too much of the tip off and when I went to use it I ended up with a sparkly desk and fingers. LOL. Oh well. These things happen. The big snowflake is chipboard, the medium ones are from Martha Stewart, and the little ones came from a punch I bought a long time ago. The blue background paper is Basic Grey and the rest is just card stock. I think he turned out pretty cute!

Well I'm off and back to my craft room to work on some orders! I hope you're all having a great day! Blessings!

Sue :o)

Great Pumpkins!

2009-10-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

I've been making the little mini pumpkins out of punched ovals for weeks now - you think it would have dawned on me sooner to make them out of BIG ovals from my Nestabilities dies. Oh well - I'm a little slow. It's the sinus infection! I put this card in my shop earlier and it sold right away so I'm definitely going to make more. Again I'm a little slow, but I was thinking of running the next batch through the Cuttlebug in the Swiss Dots or Swirls embossing folders. We'll have to see how that looks.

Anyhoo - I have been listing cards all morning and since today is also my birthday I am going to take the rest of the day off and relax - or shop (I'm undecided as yet). I also wanted to comment on the picture of my big cat Mouse (named after the little critters she used to line up on my back porch every day). I was looking for her yesterday and found her all snuggled up in a stack of blankets - it reminded me of the Princess and Pea. :o) The girl has the right idea too - it's been in the 40's here for the last few days. I may join her there in that pile of blankets.

I hope everyone is having a great day! Hugs!

Sue :o)

It Might Be a Coincidence...

2009-10-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I stayed up the other night and made a ton of Get Well Soon cards and now... I have come down with a cold. What are the chances of that? Maybe I should make a bunch of I Hope You Win the Lottery Soon cards - or I Pray An Anonymous Millionaire Pays Off Your House cards. LOL. I hate being sick - especially when I can't stop sneezing. Stamping and sneezing are not compatible!

Anyway, here's a card I did last week. This stamp is by DeNami. I just love the bold lines in their stamps! I got this one at an estate sale a few weeks ago and I was thrilled because I haven't found a stamp store nearby that sells them. As I often do - I embossed the image on watercolor paper, colored it with my ZIG markers and then cut it out and adhered it to the card on foam tape. I really love the way it looks with the lavender and green and white paper too.

I hope everyone is having a great week so far. I'm hoping to be back in craft room later on. I'm making some homemade chicken soup right now so hopefully that'll get me on the road to recovery. :o)

Blessings!

Sue

Quick Get Well Wishes

2009-10-06T10:41:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone!

It seems I've finally returned to my night owl status! For the last few weeks I've been dragging by 9 and officially in bed by 9:30, but last night I was up until well after midnight. I wanted to make some get well cards for my shop and I actually got quite a few done. This is one of them and I really like the way it turned out - so much so I plan on making a bunch for myself when I get some time. Ha! Unfortunately that won't be happening today as I we're rearranging furniture in two bedrooms tonight. My son just got a new desk and I need to make room for it, and then we have to move the bed away from the window in our bedroom which means moving EVERYTHING. I like the bed by the window during the summer, but when it gets cold (like I know it's going to) I like it clear across the room.

Anyway, back to my card. It was so simple. The flowers are Stampin' Up!. I stamped the flower three times on purple paper, cut them out and then attached a brad to the center of each flower. The rest is just card stock and DCWV background paper. Oh and sorry about the cruddy lighting in the pictures. We've got clouds and rain today.

Okay I'm off to clean (ugh) bedrooms so my big, strong, handsome hubby can move furniture tonight while I stamp. :o) I know he's going to read this from work so I'll probably get a phone call anytime now.

Have a great day!

Sue :o)

Look Ma - No Stamps!

2009-10-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah I'm a little goofy, I know. :o) I was at my friend's house the other day and we got to playing with her Cricut, and after cutting out this cute little spider, spider web and bat I thought I'd challenge myself to make a card that didn't use any stamps! It wasn't a hard challenge since I am a terrible hoarder and have scrapbooking supplies I don't even remember I have. The words are all scrapbooking stickers I found in my stash. I added the googly eyes to the spider and then mounted the bat inside on foam tape. This card is going to my girlfriend's kids up in Wisconsin.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We had a busy one. I cleaned house on Saturday and then we had friends over for dinner. Also, my nephew spent the night here with one of his friends. His buddy had trouble sleeping and didn't officially nod off until after 1 a.m., so needless to say I was tired and lazy on Sunday. It didn't stop me from shopping though. LOL. We went to the bookstore and I got the new Somerset Studio magazine, and then we bought a new desk for my son so he doesn't have to do his homework on the coffee table anymore. I'm a little bummed out today because I had to go back to the vet and pick up Cleo's ashes. I came home and had a good cry, and then I put her little urn on the bookshelf next to the rocker she always slept in. That was her favorite spot in the house so it seemed a fitting place for her.

Well, I'm off to my stamp room - hopefully to get started on some Christmas cards and some birthday cards I need this month. I hope you're having a blessed day!

Sue :o)

New Cards in the Shop!

2009-10-02T13:42:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone!

I just finished up posting some new cards in my Etsy shop! There's one new everyday birthday card and the rest are all Autumn/Halloween related. The card I'm posting today is one of them. I had planned on stampin a lot of Halloween cards for the shop this year and I even ordered some cute stamps for that purpose. I seem to have hit a snag though. I ordered the stamps from someone on Etsy. She never sent the stamps and didn't return any of my messages, and now I find her shop has been closed. Sigh. Never one to be deterred by misfortune, I began sifting through my stamps to see what I had that could be modified for the occasion. LOL. This is what I came up with and I think it turned out pretty cute. The stamp is from Penny Black and I just stamped and colored it and then added the punched leaves to make it look like kitty is in a pile of leaves. It's not the cute like trick-or-treaters I wanted, but hey - sometimes we have to adapt, right?

Thanks for stopping by!

Sue :o)

Fall and Halloween Inspiration

2009-10-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I don't know about you but I spend quite a bit of time trolling around the internet - just looking for inspiration. Some of my favorite places to visit are Flickr and Etsy, and then of course - I have a never ending stream of blogs to follow. :o) I thought it would be fun to post links to some of the fun places I've found - just in case anyone else needs a little eye candy to get the mojo up and running. I hope you enjoy!

Adorable Halloween cookies I found on Flickr. Click here.

An awesome altered haunted house I found on Etsy. Click here.

Halloween charms by Sally Jean. Click here. (this is a must see)

A Halloween bento box - way cute! Click here.

A spooky Halloween party table. Click here.

A gorgeous fall fabric wreath. Click here.

A halloween button tree - absolutely adorable! Click here.

A funky candy apple necklace. Click here.

That's all I've got for now!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Today Really Feels Like Fall

2009-09-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

I guess Fall is officially here now! It was in the 50's this morning when I left to take my son to school, I see Halloween decorations all over town, the leaves on the trees are starting to turn, and the impatiens and petunias in my garden are looking pretty gnarly. LOL. I still haven't ventured into the crawl space to dig out my Fall/Halloween decorations yet, but I plan on it this week. I have an addiction to ceramic and glass pumpkins and have collected many of them during the years, and I always have such a good time unpacking my bins and rediscovering decorations I forgot I bought last year. :o)

I had to take my father in law to the doctor this morning so I didn't get much stamping done, but here are a few cards that were in the shop yesterday. This first one is a Stampin' Up! set I bought at that estate sale the week before last. I wanted to keep this card simple so I just embossed the image in gold, and I especially love the irredescent copper paper on this card - another treasure I found at the estate sale. The second card is another pumpkin card. See I wasn't lying when I said I'm addicted to pumpkins! :o) I added a little gold wire stem to this one and the "friends" sentiment is from Stampin' Up!

I hope you're all having a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Sue :o)

Fall Flowers

2009-09-28T07:10:00.000-07:00

Whew! What a week it's been. I'd like to thank everyone for their kind words over the last 5 days. Losing my little furry shadow has not been easy but the Lord has been true to His word and has not left me alone in my sorrow. What an awesome and wonderful God we have - that He cares about our tiniest little hurts and sees us through them. It occurred to me yesterday in church that nothing here on earth really belongs to us and that what we have (pets included) belongs to Him. He gave Cleo to me for 17 years - to take care of her and to love her - and then it was time to give her back to Him. I didn't want to. She was my first cat and has been with me through so much. It hurt to let go, but instead of being sad that she's gone, I'm chosing to thank Him for letting me have her for so long.

With that said, I'm happy to say I was able to get back in the saddle (so to speak) this weekend. Here's the one of the cards that will be going in the shop this morning. This card was made almost entirely with punches. The bushel basket is a clay pot punch that I sponged, cut and layered on foam tape, and the flowers were all made from punches I bought at an estate sale the week before last. I had a few more felt leaves left over from another project so I tossed those in just for fun. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up!.

I've got a busy week of stamping planned so check back often!

Have a blessed day!

Sue :o)

My Heart Hurts Today....

2009-09-23T17:33:00.000-07:00

No card today - I'm too sad to do anything. I had to put my cat Cleo down today. God blessed me with her fiesty little presence for over 17 years and while I'm hurting so much right now - I know I did the right thing and soon enough my heart will catch up with my logic. I'll get back to making cards in a few days I'm sure. In the meantime - God bless!
Sue :o(

Happy First Day of Fall!

2009-09-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

Well it's finally here - the first day of Fall! It's time to get in the crawl space and dig out of my bins of autumn/Halloween decoration - yay!

I made this card yesterday with Fall in mind. I just love these little pumpkins. I sponged the edges of the ovals with Chocolate Chip ink before gluing them together and I don't know if it shows up in the picture or not but the paper I used is textured. The scalloped circles were cut out of black glossy card stock, burgundy card stock and some irridescent copper paper I found in my stash. I taped them all together and then ran them through the Cuttlebug with the Paisley embossing folder. Then to finish it off I added some brown felt oak leaves I got from Kutz (see my side bar for the link). I still haven't decided if I'm going to put this one in my shop or keep it for myself. I will have some new Fall cards in the shop in the next couple of days so be on the lookout!

Oh and while I have you here - let me ask if this is something you've ever heard. The other day my friend and I were taking a walk in a local park and there were lots and lots of acorns on the ground. She said that meant there was going to be a TON of snow this winter. I'm hoping she doesn't know what she's talking about (LOL) but if you've ever heard something like that leave a message in the comments. I used to love snow when I was kid - until I got a driver's license and discovered the horrors of losing traction. That's why I like Fall now - no one skids off the road and gets stranded in a pile of leaves! :o)

Talk to you soon!

Sue :o)

My Fun Morning!

2009-09-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Boy I've been neglecting this blog all week! I've been in a bit of a funk -- happens every year when the kids go back to school. I get so used to my summer routine and then everything changes and it takes me awhile to get into a new groove. I got some help getting out of that funk this morning though. One of my stamping buddies (yeah I'm talking about you Sherrie!) and I went to a big stamping estate sale this morning and both of us left with a mother-load of stamps and crafting essentials. I took a snapshot of my mother-load (sort of like my hubby has to take a picture when he catches a big fish) :o) Would you believe I got this all for just $40? I feel giddy! (Stop laughing at me Sherrie). I got 3 Stampin' Up! sets, 8 single stamps, 4 punches, a jar of clear EP, a bottle of Diamond Glaze and 2 bags of card stock, die cuts and envelopes! So I guess my funk was maybe due to the fact that I didn't have any new stamping items? Sounds good to me! I should be good and busy in my craft room for week to come now!

For any of you who live near NW Indiana - the estate sale is going on today and tomorrow. The listing for it was on Craig's List. If you can't find it, just leave me a message or convo me on Etsy and I can send it to you. There's TONS of stuff there - more than I could afford or carry home in my little car.:o)

I hope everyone has a beautiful weekend! I've got a busy one ahead of me so I might not be back until Monday. God bless!

Sue :o)

Ballerina Mouse

2009-09-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday Everyone! I finished this card this morning and I'm trying to get it posted before I leave for church. Isn't this little ballerina mouse too cute? It's a digi image I found yesterday from Lori Boyd. I printed this little sweetie off pretty big (3x5) because I wanted her to take up most of the front of the card. I colored her with watercolor pencils, added pink glitter polka dots to her bow and dress, and then glitzed up the rest of the card with sparkles, a big paper flower with a bubble brad, and a chipboard flourish. I plan on giving this card to my friend's little girl for her birthday next month.

Have a great day and God bless!

Sue :o)

LSC237 An Oldie But a Goodie

2009-09-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hi all! This card is for the Limited Supplies Challenge over at SCS. Here are the criteria for the challenge:

1. Use your oldest stamp set. Mine is good old Button Bear from SU.

2. Use your newest tool. That would be the Nestabilities dies behind Button Bear.

3. Use your favorite color combo. I love blue, brown and cream! These papers are from basic Grey - Granola.

4. Use your least favorite embellishment. That would be eyelets and I hated every minute of using them today. LOL.

Button Bear is actually 3-D on this card and I made all the flowers myself with punches and eyelets :o(. I did cheat a little though and used brads on the flowers inside the card but that's only because I ran out of blue eyelets. LOL.

I'm heading over to SCS now to see what everyone else came up with today! Thanks for looking and God bless!

Sue :o)

Just Buzzing By....

2009-09-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

I recently decided to give digi-stamps a try and boy - I have to say I do like them! This card was made from a digital stamp from Soft Pencil Illustrations. Now I have to say that usually I emboss my images on watercolor paper and then color them with markers, so it took a little getting used to on my part NOT to emboss the image. I know there are ways to do it, but while I was just "playing" I didn't feel like going through the work. :o) So I printed the image on regular old card stock and then got out my watercolor pencils and an aqua pen and got to work. The background papers are all Basic Grey and I got the adorable little felt flowers from Kutz, a wonderful little shop on Etsy that sells all kinds of beautiful felt embellishments. I will be adding a link to that shop on my sidebar so check back later! In the meantime, if you'd like to check out some more adorable digi-images from Soft Pencil click here. She sells her creations on Etsy and there is a link for her shop on her blog.

Well, I finally got caught up on all the camping laundry and now I'm on to regular old day-to-day laundry. I swear my washing machine never stops running some days. I've got to catch up posting my cards on SCS and then maybe I'll sneak away from the washing machine for an hour to work in the garden. It is an absolutely beautiful day here in NW Indiana so I should probably take advantage of it and play in the dirt while I can. This time of year many of my floral friends are full of seeds and I like to collect them for next year's garden --- cuz I'm cheap!

I hope everyone is having a lovely Thursday!

God bless!

Sue :o)

Mojo Monday 103

2009-09-08T10:46:00.001-07:00

I've never done a Mojo Monday yet, but when I saw the sketch today (a day late) I thought it would be a fun time to try. If you'd like to play along click here.

I'm afraid I have no idea who made the background paper. I just found it in my scrap heap and of course it wasn't a piece with the company marked on the back. Sigh. The image is from Clear Dollar Stamps and I colored it with watercolor pencils and a blender pen. The strips of paper behind the image were run through the Cuttlebug with the swirls embossing folder, and the buttons and ribbon I bought at Joanne's. This is actually going to be a card with pockets in the inside (when I get it finished) so check back later this week to see the inside.

I'm really hoping to get some more challenges done this week, but we'll see. We just returned from a camping trip and right now I'm knee deep in after-camping laundry. I love the smell of a campfire until I get home and smell it on everything we took with us. We had a great time so maybe the happy memories will take the sting out of going up and downstairs fifty times. LOL.

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! Talk 2 you soon!

Sue :o)

A Pocket of Thanks

2009-09-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

I made a large pocket card awhile back and I've been meaning to try it on a standard 4.25 x 5.5 card. I like the way it turned out! All the stamps I used (okay, there's only 2 stamps on the whole card) are from Stampendous!, the papers are all K&Co., and I used watercolor pencils and a blender pen to color. Here are the rest of the details:

- I made the pocket by sealing up a regular envelope (3-5/8 x 6.5 inches) and cutting it in half. I then trimmed the open edge with decorative scissors and then layered it with background papers and the little bee

- The bee image was embossed and then colored with watercolor pencils and a blender pen. I cut it out with my Cuttlebug and Nestabilities scalloped circle dies, attached a yellow brad to the center of one of the flowers in the bee's boquet, cut a larger scalloped circle out of blue paper, and then taped everything together. I then used my paper piercing tool on the scallops.

- The bookmark was made by stamping the image with Memento Tuxedo black ink and then coloring with watercolor pencils and the blender pen. I layered the image on several pieces of card stock and then stapled the pink polka dotted ribbon to the top.

-The scrolls in the upper corners of the card were cut out with my Cuttlebug and then I attached little pink rhinestones.

-The inside of the card is just a repeat of the image on the bookmark and done the same way only I cut it out with the Cuttlebug and scalloped circles dies.

Thanks for looking!

Hugs!

Sue:o)

Polka Dotted With Hugs

2009-09-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

I might have gone on a bit of a polka-dot spree on this card, but I like the way it turned out. I've had these bubble brads in my stash for ---- well ---- a long time and I finally decided to set them free. The little mouse is from Great Impressions, the "hugs" sentiment is from Penny Black, and the sentiment inside the card is from Stampin' Up! I don't normally decorate both panels of the inside of the card, but I have a ton of this polka dotted paper so I thought I might as well go for it. :o) I may start doing this on a regular basis because I think it really does add something to the inside of the card.

I'm trying to keep this post short today because I seem to be having internet problems. It's on for awhile and then POOF - my connection is gone and the internet thingy on the desk is blinking red. Now in addition to needing a personal assistant I need tech support. LOL. Lucky for me, I'm married to pretty cute computer dude who should be able to fix it a lot faster than I can.

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Two Little Fishes

2009-09-01T06:34:00.000-07:00

Here's another card that recently went into my shop. If the truth be told, I won't be upset if this one doesn't sell. :o) I just love this little fish stamp by High Hopes Rubber Stamps. They have some of the most adorable stamps out there. These little guys were colored with my ZIG markers, cut out and then adhered to the card on foam tape. The polka dotted paper is DCWV and I added some swirly dry embossed paper and clear dew drops as accents. The sentiment is Stampin' Up!

I've got a lot of new stuff in the works for the upcoming weeks, so I hope you'll check back often. I'm starting to experiment with digi-images and just purchased a handful of them to play with, and I've just ordered some new Halloween and Christmas stamps too. I've also decided to start posting some of my own personal art here on this blog - things I make for me as opposed to things I'm going to sell in my Etsy store. When I'm making things for my shop I tend to go with "cute" because that's what most people like, but for myself --- well --- I like to play with all sort of style and techniques. I make altered books and tags, I keep an art journal, I love to do quilling and punch art, and I even make my own paper sometimes. I've also been experimenting for the last few days with making my own paper flower embellishments instead of buying ones from the store!

Well, as much as I'd love to go downstairs and play in the craft room I'm afraid I'm off for a morning of errands. I think I need a personal assistant! LOL.

Talk to you soon!

Sue :o)

Tulips For You Thank You Card

2009-08-31T10:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday everyone! I just finished adding some new cards to my shop so I thought I'd post a picture of one of them. This is an OLD stamp from Great Impressions and it's one of my favorites. I used watercolor pencils and an aqua painter on this card. I tend to reach for my markers all the time so I forced to use something else - just to keep myself from getting in a rut. The papers are all K&Co. I taped the first 2 layers together and then ran them both through the Cuttlebug with the circles embossing folder and then I added some punched flowers to the corners. Simple!

I just wanted to say that I am having SO much fun blog hopping lately! I've had my Etsy shop for a year now, and before that I was only browsing on Etsy, Flickr and Ebay for inspiration. Then I joined Split Coast Stampers and that' when I discovered blogging. Now I just love getting up in the morning and looking around at what everyone else has created. I'm surprised every day by the talent out there! I've got all my favorite blogs listed on my side bar, so check them out!

Well, I just heard my evil, wretched dryer buzzing from downstairs so I best get down there and fold before things get wrinkled. :O) I wonder if there's a way to break that buzzer. It's really annoying!

Hugs!
Sue :o)

Pumpkin Card

2009-08-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I was busy the other day making paper pumpkins so I had to find a way to use them. This is one of the cards I came up with. The pumpkin was run through the Cuttlebug with the swirls embossing folder and then I lightly sponged the edges and the embossed areas with Chocolate Chip ink. The background paper isn't even background paper - it's wallpaper I rescued (?) out of a book of wallpaper samples that was about to be thrown out at the paint store. A lot of stores will give you their discontinued books of wallpaper samples, so don't be afraid to ask! Free is good! Finally, the flowers were made with paper flowers, some brass findings I bought on Etsy, and mustard colored brads I had in my stash. To finish it off I did some layering inside the card and added a little mini pumpkin. This card was my favorite out of the bunch I made. I just love the warm colors and the textures of the dry embossing and wallpaper and brass findings. This one might end up in my own stash instead of the my shop. :o)

I hope you're all having a lovely day today. It's gray and rainy here - the perfect day to do laundry and work in my craft room. I was hoping to get out in the garden to start dividing up some plants for my church's annual plant exchange, but alas - it's too soggy for that kind of work. Oh well - I guess I'll just have to stamp all day!

STAMP CREDIT: Stampin' Up!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Getting Ready For Fall Fun

2009-08-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

It dawned on me yesterday that Autumn is right around the corner, and when I had this realization I promptly gasped and ran to my stamp drawers to see what I have that could prove useful for this time of year. Apparently I'm more of a Spring girl because the pickings were slim. I promptly went to my computer, ordered some new Autumn/Halloween stamps - and while I was at it - a few Christmas ones too - and then I promptly went back to my craft room to play. I figured while I'm waiting for my new stamps to arrive I could at least get started on some embellishments and here's what I came up with.

The large pumpkins were traced from a template and cut by hand. After gluing the stems onto the pumpkin part, I ran the entire gourd through the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder. I used the swirls on one pumpkin and the circles on the other. I then moved on to the little pumpkins which are so simple to make. All you need is an oval punch, paper, and a pair of scissors. Punch 3 orange ovals and glue them together. The first two ovals go side by side, and the third goes in the middle - slightly lower than the other two. Then you just cut the stems by hand and glue it onto the back.

After making the pumpkins I was really getting in the Autmn mood. I grabbed some die cut leaves from my stash and sponged them up in fall colors. I pulled out my flower punches and my bag of orange designer paper scraps and I went to work on some flower embellishments. Then I found a chipboard tag and covered it with background paper, added some punched leaves and the word FALL.

Finally, I got out my watercolors and my aqua painter and played around with some other designs. The stamped leaves are from Stampin' Up and the pumpkin and the pear are my own designs. Obviously I'm not an artist but hey - I had fun while I was doing them and that's what's important, right? :o)

I hope you got some inspiration from my ideas and that you're having a great week so far! Don't forget - there's a sale going on on my shop right now. Everything is either marked down or has free shipping! The sale will run through the end of this month and then starting in September I'll be adding LOTS of new creations!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Week 3 Winner & Sale Announcement

2009-08-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Before the day gets away from me I better announce this week's winner! The lucky winner of the snowmen Christmas card pictured above is...

Terry T.!

I have your address Terry, so I'll mail it out tomorrow morning. Congratulations!

This week I'm having a sale in my Etsy shop! Every item is either marked down or it has free shipping. Now would be a great time to stock up on cards! The sale runs through August 31st. Click here to visit my shop!

I've had a great time celebrating my 1 year anniversary with Etsy and I hope you have too! Thank you to all my customers and my blog followers. I love papercrafts in a BIG way and sharing it with you makes it all the better. I'm looking foward to another year!

Be sure to check back here later for a new project! I finally have a day I can spend at home so I'm in my craft room working on new stuff for my shop!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

A Time for Praise

2009-08-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

I got nothing done in my craft room today, but that's okay. Sometimes we all need an ink-free day to refresh ourselves. I went to church with my family today, then my son and I went to visit my grandmother who is in a nursing home right now - recuperating from an injury. It makes me sad to see her getting so old and fragile. It got me to thinking about life and how quickly time passes and how sometimes we lose sight of what's really important. Then I happened to noticed today's Bible quote on my side bar and it just hit home - what IS really important. The quote changes daily so I'll type it again:

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:10 (NIV)

Without that promise nothing else in my life would matter. I can live joyfully because not only does God take care of me here in this life, but He's provided for me for eternity! As most of you know, I am an avid gardener and I love flowers. To me - flowers are presents from God - a colorful reminder of His beauty and creativity. Today I'm putting a picture of one of His creations instead one of my own. The work of my hands is nothing in comparison to HIS! I hope you enjoy!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Button Flowers

2009-08-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm still stuck on those buttons! Well, I made the buttons flowers so I had to find a way to use them, right? I decided to go with a bigger card than I usually do because I wanted to try to use all the button flowers. I'm not sure what you call this kind of card, but I made it by taping 2 cards together. I cut the flower stems and leaves by hand and then ran the leaves through different Cuttlebug embossing folders. The papers I used are K&Co. and the 3 dimensional stickers are also K&Co. This is exactly what I had in mind when I was making those little button flowers a few days ago! It's so fun when what I make jives with the way I saw it in my head when I started!

Stamp Credit: Clear Dollar Stamps

Well, it's the first day of school where I live, and I've got the house all to myself today. I really like it when my son is home during the summer, so it always takes me a few days to get used to a quiet house. It's going to take me a few more days to get used to getting up that early again too! Yikes! We were both dragging this morning!

I hope you're all having a great day! Now that I've got all this time on my hands I might be back later with another project!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Blog Candy Alert

2009-08-20T08:38:00.001-07:00

Julie's Open Window is offering up some AWESOME blog candy to celebrate getting 100 followers! You'll definitely want to go check it out and enter this drawing! Click here for all the details!

Anniversary Celebration - Week 3

2009-08-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

This week's anniversary celebration give away is this adorable Christmas card and you can win it by doing at least one of the following:

1. Leave a comment here on my blog.

2. Place an order from my Etsy shop.

3. Convo me from my Etsy shop and let me know you'd like to be entered in the drawing.

If you do two of the three things, you'll be entered twice. You don't have to be a customer to enter the drawing either!

This week's prize measures 5.5 x 5.5 and it comes with a coordinating envelope. As you can see in the pictures above, the inside of the card is decorated as well!

Beginning this Sunday evening, August 23rd and running through the end of August- there will be a BIG SALE in my shop. Every item will be either marked down or have free shipping. If you have your eye on something, you'll want to check back on Sunday!

I will announce the winner of this week's giveway on Tuesday August 25th and I will post it here on my blog.

STAMP CREDITS: Snowmen/Great Impressions -- Sentiment/Stampin' Up!

Have a great day!

Sue :o)

More Button Goodness

2009-08-19T06:48:00.000-07:00

I made this card yesterday while in the midst of my button binge. :o) I've had this idea in my head for quite some time so I decided to take it out and bring it to life, and I have to admit I like it. I was going for a vintage look and I think I got it - only I wish I would have used a lighter ink to sponge the edges of the panel with the buttons on it - and I would have antiqued all the papers instead of just the main panel. Oh well - that's the fun of experimenting!

I'm a little sad today because it's the last day of summer vacation and tomorrow morning my little boy --- sorry --- my junior high hunk is headed back to school. Sniff Sniff. It's going to take some time to get used to getting up early again and to having a quiet house during the day! Whatever will I do with myself? :o)

Be sure to check back here later. I'll be listing this week's anniversary give-away this afternoon and depending on how many noisy teenagers show up here today I might get some more button cards finished up!

Sue :o)

Buttons

2009-08-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. In addition to hoarding paper - I also have a serious addiction to buttons. Okay, maybe it's not terribly serious. I don't steal other people's buttons and I don't lose sleep over it if I lose one of mine. But I love them! I love the colors, the shapes, and the textures and I love sinking my hands into the big old bowl of them I have in my craft room. I used to try to keep them organized by color in one of those plastic boxes with the little dividers, but the messy girl in me just couldn't comit to that kind of organization so now they all commingle in one place waiting for me to use them. The only problem is - I like them and I don't always want to part with them. LOL.

So today I got it in my head that I was going to use the buttons - take them out of the big pretty bowl and actually use them on a project. I've had this stamp set for awhile, and when I bought it from Clear Dollar Stamps I envisioned using buttons in the centers of the spirograph-ish swirls, so I decided to start with that. I stamped the image in different colored inks, cut them out with my Cuttlebug and scalloped circle Nestabilities dies, and then sewed two buttons (one stacked on top of the other) into the center of the image. I don't sew so it's a miracle I managed this task - and an even bigger miracle I was able to find a needle. After the buttons were sewn on, I layered the images onto coordinating scalloped circles of card stock. Now I just have to find a way to use these babies! I have an idea in my head, but I wasn't able to get to it tonight but I'm planning on it tomorrow. I hope you'll check back to see what it is!

Sue :o)

Week 2 Winner!

2009-08-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

The lucky winner for this week's card and tag set is.....

Vicki J!

This must be your lucky month girl! I will get the card/tag out to you right away!

I'll be back later with a project I'm working on, and tomorrow I'll be listing the new item up for grabs in my anniversary celebration!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

White Butterflies

2009-08-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I'm no different than most of you out there. Sometimes I get in a rut in the craft room and feel like I'm doing the same thing over and over again. I get bored and feel uninspired. That's where I was this weekend, so I did what I usually do when I'm in a rut and I clean and reoganize my craft room. Usually a neat workspace is enough to get me going again, but that still didn't do it so I had to search for an alternate route. I decided to pull out a few of my old issues of Somerset Studio and browse the pages for inspiration and that finally did it! Now, I have to say I'm no good at the kind of artwork I see in Somerset Studio, but often I get inspired by the themes and color combinations I find there. In the particular issue I was reading, the theme was WHITE and that's what gave me the idea for this card. I've had this "crackle" paper in my stash forever and this Stampin' Up! set has been on my desk for awhile and instantly I thought about putting the two together. I embossed the butterflies in white on cream card stock, cut them out and then adhered them to the card on foam tape. Then I added some pearls since I was rolling with the white theme :o) and then embossed the sentiment in gold to give the card some more sparkle. Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Stampin' Up!

Paper: DCWV, cream and white card stock

Ink: Clear embossing ink and white embossing powder, gold detail embossing powder

Accessories: Cuttlebug, embossing folder (I don't remember the name of it but it's like little squares), deckle scissors, and mini pearls (Michael's).

I'm hoping to get some more time down in my craft room today, but I'm not sure if it'll happen. The kids go back to school later this week and as soon as mine gets out of bed we're going to get the rest of his school supplies and then I need to do some house cleaning. (UGH). We were literally running all weekend and I got nothing done. I seriously fear someone is going to come to my door today and then we'll all have to hide and pretend like we're not home! LOL.

I hope you have a great Monday! God bless!

Sue :o)

Play Time

2009-08-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

Boy do I have a sleepy kid on my hands today! My son was at a lock in last night at church and from the looks of it they didn't sleep. I picked him up at 7:30 this morning and he slept until after 1. Now he's just lying there with sleepy eyes watching tv. LOL. Needless to say I think it'll be an early night for him tonight.

I finally got to sit in my craft room and play today! The first one is another Penny Black that I use often. The second card is a little out of the ordinary for me but I bought the tags the other day at Joanne's and wanted to see what I could do with them. That stamp image is from The Greeting Farm. The last one is by High Hopes Rubber Stamps, another one of my favorite stamp companies.

Well I'm off to make dinner and then (hopefully) back to my craft room!

Hugs!

Sue

Etsy Anniversary Celebration Week 2

2009-08-12T07:21:00.001-07:00

For those of you who are new to reading my blog - I am celebrating my one year anniversary with Etsy this month with a drawing for free cards every week and a big sale the week of August 23-30th. This week's prize is a cute little Christmas card/tag combo.

The image on the card was embossed, colored and glittered on heavy watercolor paper, and I added colorful chipboard embellishments as accents. The inside of the card is finished nicely but left blank for your personal message. The tag was stamped and colored, and then I added red and white striped ribbon and a cute little chipbard tag that reads "naughty or nice".

All you have to do to enter the drawing is one of the following things.

1. Leave a comment here on my blog.

2. Place an order from my Etsy shop.

3. Convo me on Etsy and let me know you'd like to enter the drawing.

I will draw a winner next Tuesday, August 18th and post it here on my blog!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

A New Card

2009-08-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

Boy it's been a busy day but I managed to get one card finished in addition to working on orders and the project for this week's giveaway. Have I mentioned I love Penny Black? :o) I swear I could sit and color these little critters all day long. Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Penny Black
Paper: DCWV
Ink: Colorbox black, ZIG markers
Accessories: paper flowers, mini buttons, MS leaf punch, SU big flower punch

Well, it's off to start dinner now and then off to the youth group lock-in at church. Our youth minister said he only needed me until around 8 or 9, so maybe I will get to stamp some more. Either that or I'll have a huge headache (teenagers can do that to you) and I'll go straight to bed. :o) I hope you all have a great night!

God bless!
Sue :o)

Anniversary Celebration - Week 1 Winner!

2009-08-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

The winner of this week's giveaway is.....

Vicki J.!!!!

I will put your cards in the mail tomorrow morning!

Tomorrow morning I will be posting the next giveway. What is it? You'll have to check back tomorrow morning to see it, but I will give you a little hint. Think Jingle Bells.

Once again I want to thank all my customers and friends who visit this blog and my Etsy shop. It's a lot of fun creating, and sharing it with you makes it even better!

God bless!

Sue :o)

Manic Monday

2009-08-10T18:48:00.000-07:00

I might sound crazy for saying this, but sometimes I love it when Monday comes. We had a busy weekend. Saturday morning we went to the zoo with my sister in law and thank goodness we went early because by noon it was in the 90s and humid. I fit in grocery shopping and errands after that, and then my nephew came to spend the night and he brought a little buddy with him. LOL. It's amazing how late two little boys can stay up giggling. Unfortunately I had to get them both up early on Sunday so the little buddy could get to church with his family and I could get my nephew back to my brother's before we had to go to church, so I think their late night probably caught up with them yesterday afternoon. It caught up with me pretty early last night too. :o) We had my sister in law over for dinner and then I crashed.

I did get to spend some time in craft room today. I was finishing up an order for a customer and trying to clean things up a little. Tomorrow I'll be finishing up the order and then hopefully working on some new stuff for the shop before I have to go chaperone for a few hours at a youth group lock in at church. They're doing a photo scavenger hunt and needed a driver, so I volunteered. We'll see how that goes. LOL.

I don't have any new cards to post today so I thought I'd share a few pictures I took this weekend at the zoo. We were at Brookfield and they have a beautiful butterly garden that I love to visit. Not only are the butterflies beautiful but the place is full of flowers too! Now only if I could stamp in there... LOL

I hope you're all having a nice Monday! I'll be back tomorrow with paper creations!

Sue :o)

Christmas in August?

2009-08-07T17:34:00.001-07:00

I got some new Christmas stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps the other day and I just couldn't wait to get them dirty!

I was going for a softer look on the first card, so I used watercolor pencils and an aqua painter to color the image. I also used some Stickles on the star and the halo. I got some new Spellbinders dies too so I used them on this card. I made the die cut, embossed it and then kept it inside the die and sponged it with navy blue ink. That way the white shows around the edges. I popped that piece up on foam tape, then cut out the image and popped that up on foam tape too. The little sentiment in the corner reads "His perfect gift."

Since I did a "soft" card I figured I might as well do a "bright" one as well. I colored this image with my ZIG markers and then cut it out with my Cuttlebug and more Spellbinders dies. I also embossed the green paper with my Cuttlebug and the argyle embossing folder. Boy, I had some major ribbon issues with this card. For some reason I could not get it lined up. Grrrr.

Thanks for looking!
Sue :o)

Bubbly Birthday Card

2009-08-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a card I did this morning using High Hopes Rubber Stamps. I just love this little fish! All three of them were embossed and colored on watercolor paper and then cut out and adhered to the card on foam tape. Other cute touches include glitter on the flish, polka dotted dry embossed paper, birthday background paper and clear dew drops that look like bubbles. This card is in my Etsy shop right now! Don't forget to enter into my drawing for free cards this week! I will be drawing a winner on Tuesday night and posting the results here on Wednesday. Get the details here!

Well, it looks like I got my gardening done in the nick of time this morning! It's clouding up now and the radar is showing thunderstorms heading this way. My cat Mouse didn't even protest when I made her come inside so that's usually a sign that we're in for rain. We were planning on going to the zoo tomorrow morning but now I'm not sure that's going to happen as they're calling for rain tomorrow too. :o( I guess there's always next weekend.

I hope you're all having a happy Friday. I'm off to play in my craft room in between loads of laundry.

Hugs!
Sue :o)

Happy at Home

2009-08-06T05:49:00.000-07:00

I've been playing around with different blog descriptions lately and so far none of them have really expressed what I wanted it to. I was finally hit with inspiration yesterday though. As is often the case, it came when I least expected it - and when it came, I knew it was what I'd been looking for. I have been running like crazy lately and yesterday was one of the few days I didn't have to go anywhere. I thought to myself "Ahhhh, it's so nice to be able to stay at home today." That's when it hit me. I am happy at home! I love my craft room, my garden, my family, my cats and birds (not necessarily in that order LOL) and I just love doing the house-wifey thing in general. So it's official now - my blog description is Happy at Home.

I'm including some pictures of my garden this morning. Next to papercrafting, gardening is my favorite hobby and I love to go outside in the morning and just wander around the yard to see God's handiwork. It's always a surprise to see what's blooming. If you'll notice in the picture of my front porch there is a mound of marigolds growing right at the base of the stairs. Some seeds must have fallen in the cracks down there and lo' and behold they took root. I didn't have the heart to pull it when I saw it coming up, and I'm glad I didn't. It just looks like it belongs there doesn't it?

I'll be back later with some more paper creations! I hope you have a great day!

Sue :o)

Week 1 - Drawing for Free Cards

2009-08-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

To celebrate my 1 year anniversary on Etsy, this week I am offering up for grabs these two adorable cards! Penny Black is one of my favorite stamp companies, so I thought it would be appropriate to use their stamps for this week's drawing. Both cards measure 4.25 x 5.5 and they come with a plain white envelope. You can enter by doing one of the three following things:

1. The easiest - leave a comment here on my blog.
2. Place an order from my Etsy shop.
3. Convo me on Etsy and let me know you'd like to be entered into the drawing.

If you do two of the three - you'll get entered twice! :o) I will do a random drawing for the winner of these cards next Tuesday, August 11th and post the winner here on my blog.

I have had such fun selling my creations on Etsy for the last year and I've met a lot of wonderful people. This is just my way of saying thanks to everyone! Oh! I forgot to mention that select items are marked down in my shop right now - go have a look!

God bless!
Sue :o)

Back In Town!

2009-08-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back in town after a few days away. We went up to Wisconsin this weekend so my hubby could take a finger-style guitar workshop at the University of Wisconsin School of Music. He loves playing guitar and of course had a great time. I'm going to post a link in my sidebar later on for his YouTube channel, so you can see for yourself how awesome he is! :o) As for me and my son, we did a lot of relaxing. We went to the art museum yesterday and walked around the lake front taking pictures and just hanging out. I absolutely love going to art museums and I have to say the one in Milwaukee is just fantastic. When I go to the art museum in Chicago I tend to linger near anything from the Impressionists, but there wasn't much of that at this museum and it forced me to explore and find some new inspirations. There was one gallery with pieces made from found objects and OH MY did I love that. My son really liked the gallery with all the glass pieces best. Oh and we both had a great time looking at the abstracts and talking about what we saw in them.

All in all it was a good weekend but I'm glad to be back home! I've got a bunch of new Christmas stamps on order so I'll be getting busy on holiday stuff for my shop. And of course, this month is my 1 year anniversary with Etsy so I'll have a lot of fun going on with that! I'm going to start some give-aways on Wednesday August 5th so be on the lookout!

Have a great Sunday everyone! God bless!
Sue :o)

WTC229 - Office Supplies & My 1 Year Anniversary on Etsy

2009-07-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

Today's challenge over on SCS was to create a card using office supplies. How fun! The supplies I used on my card are the brass fastener (technically a brad but they were in my office supplies, not my craft supplies), the staple for the ribbon on the tag, and the little pocket that the tag fits inside is actually a normal old envelope that I sealed and then cut to make a pocket. I haven't been making many of the 5.5 x 5.5 cards lately because I'm out of envelopes, but I needed a bit more room to work on this card so I went big. Maybe I'll get brave later and make an envelope. Or maybe I'll just order more! LOL.

Card recipe:
Stamps: Stampin' Up!
Paper: All K&Co.
Ink: Colorbox black & ZIG Markers
Accessories: SU photo corner punch, MS lace border punch, SU flower punch, brass fastener, ribbon, staple, white envelope, ripple scissors

Oh, and before I forget - I've got some news about my shop on Etsy! In August, I will be celebrating my 1 year anniversary with Etsy! How exciting is that? When I started up the shop it was kind of an experiment - a "let's see what I can do with this" sort of thing, but it's really taken off and exceeded my expectations. Sooooooo I am going to celebrate my success with a sale the week of August 23-29 (my official anniversary is that week) and weekly drawings for free cards. The free cards will be advertised here on my blog so stop by weekly to see what's up for grabs!

Hugs!
Sue :o)

CC229 A Tulip for You

2009-07-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

I made this card yesterday for the color challenge over at SCS. The colors were apricot, pink and celery. I didn't have any Stampin' Up! card stock so I improvised with stuff I had on hand. I often use these colors together and was in the midst of whipping up this card when all of a sudden I noticed a piece of black card stock sitting by my paper cutter. It beckoned me, so to speak :o) so I tried it and loved the results.

The tulip is embossed on watercolor paper and I colored it with my ZIG markers. They're actually scrapbooking markers, I think, meant for journalling but I use them to color all the time. When you only use marker the color is sort of flat, but when you layer colors they really pop! For the apricot and black background, I actually taped the two pieces together first - trimmed the edges with the ripple Fiskars scissors and then ran them through the Cuttlebug with the argyle embossing folder. I then added some pink polka dotted ribbon from Joanne's and the pink rhinestones from Michaels and viola!

Card recipe:
Stamps: Inkadinkado
Paper: Misc. card stock I had on hand
Ink: Colorbox black/ZIG markers
Accessories: Cuttlebug, argyle embossing folder, Fiskars ripple and deckle scissors, ribbon from Joanne's and rhinestones from Michaels

I've got a full plate of errands today unfortunately, so I might not get to stamp much. I was a lazy girl today and stayed in bed until almost 9:30. Eek! I guess that's what I get for staying up until 1:00 in the a.m. I keep forgetting I'm not 20 anymore and I can't get by on 3 hours of sleep.

Have a great day everyone & God bless!
Sue :o)

Getting Organized

2009-07-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

I whipped up this little project yesterday and although it's nothing that spectacular as far as stamping goes, I thought I'd share it with you all anyway. I love to be organized and I love making lists. It just makes life simpler, I think, when you know what you're doing, what you need to do it and when you need to have it done.

One of my least favorite housewife/mom duties is grocery shopping. Ugh. I love to plan meals and I love to cook, but if I could get away with going to the store once a month I'd be tickled pink. For that reason, I try to be very thorough when making my shopping list. I sit down at the beginning of the week and make a menu, and as I make the menu I go through the kitchen to make sure I have everything I need. If I don't have it - I put it on the list. I find that it really cuts down on $$$ spent buying things I already have or don't really need, plus if I get it all in one shot I don't have to go back to the store.

So this is what I made to keep all my grocery shopping/meal planning stuff organized. I just took a regular old school folder and decorated it up with background papers and a cute stamped image and now I've got all my things in one place. I even took half an hour and typed up another list (see what I mean!) of meals I know my family likes, for those times when I'm having trouble deciding what to make on a particular night.

I hope you find this idea helpful! I think I'm going to make another one for Christmas - to keep my shopping list, card list and receipts organized over the holidays.

Hugs!
Sue :o)

TLC231 Quilled Flowers

2009-07-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

This card is for TLC231 over at Split Coast Stampers - to use quilling on your card. I was so excited to see the challenge yesterday morning! I learned to do quilling when I was in junior high after I signed up to take cooking and the class filled up. I was really ticked off about it too and thought for sure I'd hate it. I didn't though LOL and have continued to do it for the last 25+ years. Sigh. That just made me feel old!

Anyway, I love making these little fringed flowers. You can buy a tool to make the fringe but I'm cheap and cut it by hand. The white part of the card is actually an old sampler card I had from SU (not sure if they still sell them) and the leaf stamp is an old one I've had in my drawer for years. I'm not even sure who made it because the wording on the side of the stamp is worn off and covered in ink. There's another secret in addition to my age - I'm a sloppy, sloppy stamper. LOL.

I've got a ton of stuff planned for today. I'm getting ready to put some new stuff in my Etsy shop and I have another project I'm going list here on my blog as well. Even though I'm a sloppy stamper I am addicted to organizing things and making lists so I came up with something that feeds both of those addictions.

I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday! Hugs!
Sue :o)

HSC79 Riley Circle Birthday Card

2009-07-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

Boy this has been a busy week with VBS. I've hardly had any time to stamp. I did have time for one challenge today though and found it in the Hanna Stamps forum on SCS. This card is for challenge 79 - to make a circle card. I used the scalloped circle dies from Nestabilities for the base of the card and the layers. Riley was stamped and colored, and then his face and the bottom part of the cake were popped up on foam tape. I added some polka dots with a red fine tipped marker and some punched flowers as accents. Quick & simple & perfect for a busy day.

Card recipe:
Stamps: Hanna Stamps
Ink: Memento tuxedo black/ZIG markers
Paper: K&Co. & Misc. card stock
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities dies, flower punches, hole punch, foam tape

Thank God it's Friday! I hope to have more time to stamp this weekend!
Sue :o)

CC228 Pretty Rusty? Not Quite

2009-07-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

This card is for today's color challenge over on SCS. The challenge was to use Not Quite Navy, Pretty in Pink and Really Rust. I don't have those exact colors so I used Basic Grey papers from the Marrakech paper pad. The pink on the front of the card is just card stock. I've had this image from The Greeting Farm already embossed and colored on my desk for quite some time and I happily surprised to find it went well with the challenge colors today. The flowers were cut out and popped up on foam tape for dimension and I used the MS lace border punch for the pink paper. I never would have thought to put these colors together but I do have to say I like it!

Well, I'd love to work on some more challenges today but I'm due to pick up my son in a little bit here, cook dinner, get changed and then run straight to Vacation Bible School to craft with the kiddies. Maybe later - if I can keep my eyes open! LOL.

God bless!

Sue:o)

All Those Scraps

2009-07-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I'm not the only one who keeps every scrap of leftover background paper. I'm also sure we all have our own way of organizing them. Me? I have a basket where I keep my smaller scraps. Large scraps (over 1/2 a sheet) are kept in plastic envelopes up on my shelf. The smaller ones are sorted by size and color - one baggie for big scraps and another baggie for small scraps. Am I bit compulsive about sorting? Maybe. I've posted a picture of the scrap basket so you can draw your own conclusions. LOL.

Anyway, I'm always looking for a way to use up these scraps and I've had this idea in my head for awhile so yesterday I decided to try it out. It was really quite simple and didn't take much time to do. I just took a sheet of 5.25 x 4 card stock and began laying out coordinating scraps of background paper on it until I found what patterns and shades worked together. Some of the scraps fit perfectly and others I had to trim down a bit so they fit on the card stock, but really I didn't do much cutting. I use double sided tape on all my cards, so once I was happy with the way my papers looked, I taped them down. Then I ran the whole sheet through my Cuttlebug with the Paisley embossing folder - to give it a quilted look. Then I just used that sheet like it was a piece of background paper for my card. I think it turned out really pretty!

Stamps credit: Great Impressions

I hope this is helpful to other scrap hoarders out there!
Blessings!
Sue :o)

New Stuff Alert!

2009-07-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

I've got a whole new pile of good stuff going into the shop tomorrow so stop by and check it all out! You get to the shop from the link on the right, or click here. I posted a picture of the pile of goodies above. There are some new cards, a few card bundles, and some new tags. I was going to keep the little chickadees as tags, but after I took the picture I decided to put them on cards instead. They turned out so cute I almost contemplated keeping them for myself!

I am going to have SUCH a busy week this week. My church is having their VBS and I'll be assisting in the craft station. Big surprise, huh? :o) I am excited about it though. The kids always have so much fun and it's such a blessing to be able to plant seeds. It's like Christmas in July only with no snow and no shopping in crowded stores to buy presents.

Talk to you soon!
Sue :o)

Busy Busy Busy

2009-07-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

It has been a crazy couple of weeks here so I haven't posted much. I've been busy in the craft room though and will be adding new items to the shop on Monday morning. I wanted to post a picture of an ATC I made for a customer this weekend. I just love this little bird from The Greeting Farm. I don't often make ATCs but I think this one turned out really pretty with the dry embossed birds and vines paper, the jeweled brads and the flowery K&Co paper.

I'm also posting a picture from my garden. I love walking out there in the morning and looking at all the flowers . I believe that God speaks to us through the beauty of His creation and it's such a nice way to start the day - looking at what He's made. How great is our God, right?

I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! God bless!

Sue :o)