Color My World--Blog Hop!

Happy Friday to you!  I'm typing this up from Disney World for you today (actually the night before)--our flight was fine and we're staying at the Disney Swan this time.  We stay at a different Disney hotel each time we've come--next up is the Yacht Club with the kids next year :)  If you come here I highly recommend the Wilderness and Animal Kingdom Lodges--perfect for kids (w/ bunkbeds) and a lot of fun!  Anywho, I'm on vacay and hubby has given me limited time on the computer each evening, lol so I gotta get this done.  Today we're going to spend the day at Epcot--my most fave park next to the Animal Kingdom which we'll do on Saturday and Magic Kingdom on Sunday!  I'll tell Mickey & Minnie "hello" for you!  But, don't forget to stop back by on Sunday--I'll have a Magnolia Sketch project up for you as well!  And again, thank you sooooo much for all the wonderful, supportive and sweet comments and emails I've received from you all the past few days--it has meant so very much to me!  More than you will ever know!

PS--If the reader that won the NEW Zutter Distress electric tool from me in March is reading please contact me so I can send you yours.  I haven't had a chance to go back thru my posts to see who the winner was yet, cuz my memory is not so good.  So if you won, please remind me!  LOL

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Color My World

Today my fab friend & pal Susana of Susana's Custom Art & Card Design releases a FABULOUS new set of stamps by Elisabeth Bell called "Sampler #4" today!  These stamps are so cute and will touch your heart I promise you that!  The DT is having a fun BLOG HOP today to showcase all these stamps for you today.  And if you've been hopping along Welcome and if you want to start at the beginning you can start at Aud's Blog HERE (and all the blog hop details are on the store blog here as well).

Today I get to share with you a stamp named after me, hee hee--this is "Little Suzanne" and I LOVE her!  Why you ask?  Because she reminds me of both myself, my daughter and my niece at that age (see my niece's pic below)--I was ALWAYS coloring or drawing when I was young (and old too, lol)!  My favorite present in the whole world was a new box of 64 Crayola crayons, coloring books and watercolor paints (and maybe a Barbie too)! I have always loved to color and draw--it truly is my passion and makes me happy so I'm thrilled to have this cutie-pie named after me!

The papers that I used I really love, but I can't recall who they're by but I know they are new, lol--if you email me about them when I get home I can check for ya (sorry) .  I distressed all the edges with my fabulous NEW Zutter Distress tool--I lovee that thing, but I will warn you that it is powerful so hold your paper tightly and don't let your young kids use it, 'kay?!  I used my Bow Easy for my bow, some Kaisercraft pearls and the scrolls were made with Spellbinders dies.

I colored her with copics (can't recall what they were exactly--R08,R04,R02 I think and BG11,BG10,BG000 for her clothing) and used W Copics for the shadows.  Some stickles on her headband, coloring book and belt got a coat of stickles for sparkle.  The sentiment is from PTI's "Tiny Valentines" set--I thought the sentiment was MORE than perfect.  I just fell in love with this set of Elisabeth Bell for SCACD stamps and this one in particular.

This is my niece Taylor on her 3rd bday coloring!

Now you need to hop on over to DANNI's BLOG HERE and make sure to stop by the store HERE to pick up your new stamps (and it's a steal if you get the whole sheet).  Hope you enjoyed my project and have fun hopping!

See you back here on Sunday! Have a great weekend!

Raindrops & Winnie-the-Pooh!!

Hello everyone & Happy Middle of the week to you all!  I want to thank each & every one of you that stopped by my blog yesterday, BECAUSE YOU WANTED too and left me such wonderful comments.  It truly uplifted my spirits to know so many of you like stopping by here and visiting with me each day!  I appreciate you all taking the time to leave comments for me yesterday, it really meant a lot to me and touched me more than you can know!  Thanks for taking time out of YOUR day to do that for me--it really is beyond words how much it meant to me!

No more ranting from me--I'll just put a link to that post when I need to okay? LOL!  But I'm the kind of person that says what they mean, and I ALWAYS mean what I say!  What you see and hear is what you get---I don't play games and I don't have time for games in my life.  LIFE IS TOO SHORT PEOPLE!!  You only get ONE chance at living your life--take advantage of it and live YOUR life not someone elses--it's just not worth it!  What doesn't kill us, makes us that much stronger!!

I'm sitting here watching "Glee" with my daughter right at the momen and driving her NUTSY!  I don't much care for the story line but I LOVE the singing--I love musicals, sing-a-longs and just music in general.  It drives her crazy that I know every song lyric ever made and that I sing along to her fave show--cracks me up of course!  LOL!  Quality time with my teen daughter, hee hee!

So today I have some sunshine to share with ya that is breaking thru those rain clouds!!  And here's a couple pics of my daughter with her friends on her birthday too!

 Alexa is on the far RIGHT!!

On Sunday (her actual bday) we took her to dinner and she opened her last present--a topaz/silver key necklace picked out by her Mom (meeee)!!

NewsBitz:

-Don't forget to enter for that yummy Elisabeth Bell Blog Candy over on the SCACD store blog HERE!

-You still have time to register for the Copic Class 4 on my Color Me Creative Classroom to receive the discounted rate and have $3 of your class fee donated to Unicef.  April 30th is the last day to register to get the discounted price, after that it will go up to the regular price (so don't worry, you can take it at any time)!!  Click on the tab that says "Class Info" to see all the classes, descriptions and supply lists!

-I leave on Thursday for Disney World to celebrate my birthday with my wonderful husband (my mother-in-law is staying here with the kids & furbabies)--but I will have posts going up on Friday and Sunday for you all, so stop by if you get a chance.  I'll have an SCACD Blog Hop on Friday and the Magnolia-licious DT Sketch on Sunday for ya!

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Sunshine Thru the Rain!!

 Today I've got a little sun to share with you--hope it brings a smile to your face!  I used this cutie-pie duck from the "Popcorn the Bear" stamp set (see here for that post) from Paper Romance.  These cute Popcorn Bear stamps come with so many cute sentiments and accessory stamps to use--fabby!  I love this cute duck--I colored him with Copics and then cut him out.  I had to use this Winnie-the-Pooh sentiment from Verve Stamps!  It says "If you live to be 100, I hope to live to be 100 minus one day, so I NEVER have to be without you."   That's how I feel about my husband and this sentiment was on his wedding card from me all those years ago--perfectly said by the wonderful Winnie-the-Pooh!

I chose to make an acrylic card because I wanted to give the illusion of water--and they're just fun to make!  Those dots/rain drops on the acrylic (I use a transparency for my base) were made with a Viva Decor Gloss Pen in transparent--awesome for glass/water images you want to make. And you can use it on any surface--I think it looks really cool on acrylic!  The cs and ribbon is a new color from PTI called Hawaiian Shores (love it).

Hope you have a wonderful day today!  I'm off to get my hair done (yikes its been 4 mos--my poor roots, hee hee) then do errands and finish up work before I leave on Thursday.

Thinking....

Hello everyone!  Today I have a card for you from I Brake For Stamps below---but first I'm going to have a monologue for you about some thoughts I had.  If you don't want to read this, that's fine with me as well!  But this will be the last time I ever comment on any of these things ever again.  There are reasons I'm writing this but I won't go into that and what I write below does not apply to the majority of you---the people that this is directed towards know who they are!

First let me start by saying I started this blog for myself as a way to meet others and share my work.  I CONTINUE to do this blog for MYSELF and for the enjoyment of others who WANT to visit.  This is MY blog, my time and I'm allowed to write whatever I feel like whenever I like--if I want to cuss all day long here on my blog, I'm allowed to do that!  If you write your own blog then more power to you and GUESS WHAT??? You can write whatever you darn well please and I'm fine with that too, because it's YOUR BLOG!  You don't like what I have on my blog, don't stop by--EASY AS PIE!  What a concept this is---you don't have to read anyone's blog you don't want to--get it!

I don't ask anyone to come to my blog--EVER!!  If you come visit me, it is by your choice only.  I don't ask you to jump through hoops, ask you to "follow" me, subscribe to me to enter for blog candy or to get you to read my blog.  It is your personal choice to stop by my blog--while I'm happy that I have many of you stop by, I don't influence anyone to come here.  If only 3 of you stopped by each day, I would continue to write my blog for ME, to share my work with those that actually enjoy it!  If you come here because you do not like me (for whatever bizarre reason you might have since I don't personally know most of you) and want to be nosy or gather info on me, then that's just fine--my blog is public so I cannot stop anyone from visiting.  If you stop by because you enjoy my work and what I have to say, then I'm thrilled and happy to have you.

This part of my blog is like a journal for me, so I write whatever I might be feeling that day.  If I'm tired, I'm sick, stressed, happy, excited, busy, celebrating, etc--this is where I will do it.  YOU DO NOT HAVE TO READ IT---no where does it state "hey, read all of this before you proceed".  I have no idea why anyone would complain about what I write on MY BLOG about MY LIFE when no one said you had to stop by and read it.  I don't understand why people invest so much of their time "hating" on other people and concerning themselves with other people's lives.  Really, do you hate yourself so much that you have to spew that hatred onto others---are you that unhappy in your life and what you do that you have to involve yourself into someone's life that you don't know and be vicious.  (and you know exactly who I'm talking about because I know you're reading this and I know who you are)  Guess WHAT?? I don't care!! LOL--I don't give a rat's ass what you think about how I live or manage my life and work--YOU DON'T HAVE A SAY IN MY LIFE!  Just like I don't have a say in yours!

Want to know why?

I have a beautiful, loving family and I KNOW that I am a damn good mom---I have dedicated the past 14 years of my life making sure my kids are well taken care of and am involved in every aspect of their lives.  And if you asked them they'd tell you the same (minus I'm too strict sometime or hover too much, but hey that's teens right).  I'm also a pretty darn good wife and have an AWESOME relationship with my best friend who just happens to be my hubby--I wouldn't change a thing and he would tell you the same. 

Know what else???  I like who I see in the mirror!  I know when I see that person it's someone to be proud of, acknowledges her accomplishments thru HARD WORK(nothing has EVER been given to me that I haven't worked my ass off for) and knows that she's a kind, generous and sympathetic friend, mother and person.  I never look in the mirror and feel bad about myself or something I might have said or done to others.  I have never been nasty to anyone, never written a nasty email or note or started forums to spread vicious lies to make myself feel better.  At the end of the day I may be tired and/or stressed but I am VERY HAPPY with myself and even better--I LIKE MYSELF!  I have great friends, great family and lots of love and support in my life which makes ME HAPPY!

Does this mean I never am tired, sick or stressed?  I'd be lying if I said no--of course, cuz' that's just life.  I started 2 businesses in one month--crazy?--maybe, but so worth it.  If you know me well you know that I NEVER do anything I don't want to--I'm a stubborn mule so to say, it's the Taurus in me.  If I didn't want to be on DT's then I wouldn't--I'm honored to have been asked (and yes, all the DTs I'm on, I was asked to be) and thrilled to work on projects each day for fantastic women and store owners.  And you know WHAT?  If those businesses thought I wasn't doing a good job then they would let me go--no DT has ever let me go!!  Those owners also know what kind of work I do, how hard I work and the 110% I put into everything and they wouldn't ask me if they didn't want to!!  I have NEVER complained about being on DTs--I know I'm lucky to even be asked.  Am I sometimes overwhelmed by work, YES--aren't we all!!?  If I didn't want to start my businesses, then I wouldn't have done that either but I did and I work hard on both everyday!  And who the heck isn't overwhelmed when they first start a business--if they say they aren't, then they're lying!  I'm lucky enough to NOT have to work, I work because I choose to not because our lives depend on it!  If I didn't want to type my blog each night then I wouldn't do that either.  It's all done by CHOICE!  Yes, sometimes dinner is late or laundry piles up but I don't know many people who work and have families that don't have something pile up occasionally.  I am by no means a supermom, superwife or superwoman--I don't want to be nor do I strive for that because it's impossible.  I am who I am and I try my best every day I wake up no matter what and I NEVER GIVE UP!  And not that it is really anyone's business, but I work all morning and afternoon while my kids are at school and while my hubby is at work---that gives me a lot of time to get things done during the day.  When they are home, I'm not working--I never craft at night.  And yes I do my computer work in the evening, sitting beside my husband, conversing with him & watching our favorite TV shows--that's how I get my work done!

So if you think I'm a quitter--YOU ARE SO WRONG!  If you think I'll change what and who I am--SO SORRY!  If you don't like it---then don't stop by--cuz' I don't CARE!  But by all means, take a look in the mirror and see what kind of person you are and how you treat others, and if you're happy with what looks back at you then I wish you a happy life.  I believe that life gives you what you give to it and so far what I'm gettin' is pretty darn good.  How 'bout you?

Now in no way does this apply to all of you that stop by and in no way am I trying to offend anyone--I'm just being honest about myself, my work and my intentions.  There are a lot of unhappy people out there who try to bring others down and this is my way of letting them know that they don't BOTHER ME!  I never understood vicious people who attack others for no reason and ya know what---I don't want to understand them, because if you start understanding them you might become them.  No one can make you happy but yourself--no one can make you change but yourself and for those of you (you know who you are) I just feel really sorry for you, you're missing out on the one life you've been given by wasting time on things that just don't matter.  Too bad for you!

And here's a quote that a great friend, mentor, wonderful lady and a boss of mine shared with me:

"I LOVE BEING ME!!  It pisses off all the right people!!"    I Love it!!

And for the rest of you, thank you for stopping by and letting me know you care, you like what I do or that maybe I made you laugh or you liked the book I suggested!  I have made many a friend thru my blog and I appreciate all of you more than you can know.  And for you I do care about how you're doing, how life is treating you and helping you whenever I can--I have always made myself accessible to everyone and that will continue. There are so many wonderful people out there and I am so thrilled to know you, talk with you, help you and befriend you.  For that I thank you very much!  Oh and for those that care, my life is great, I'm doing great, I manage myself and my businesses just fine and I live my life with no regrets nor does my family!  I like myself, my life and my family--nothing could ever compare!!

And that's the last you'll ever hear on that!

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Thinking of You!

I was in a solitary mood yesterday so I chose this beautiful tree image from I Brake For Stamps. I brayered the background with various SU inkpads onto glossy cs to create a lovely sunset for my tree to sit in front of.  After brayering the background I stamped the tree from the "Rare Image Garden Sheet" (so many beautiful stamps in this sheet) with memento ink and added a bit of color with my Copics.  If you order something from I Brake For Stamps make sure to use the coupon code "SAVE10SUZANNE" to get 10% off your entire order :o)

The sentiment is from PTI and the background cs was embossed with the CB "Asian" embossing folder.  I love the sunset colors, kinda reminds me of the movie "The Lion King", hee hee--I love to see a great sunset!  The corner brackets were made using a MS border punch and the sentiment sits on a die cut from my Spellbinder's "Ribbon Tag Trio".   To finish this off I spritzed the whole card with Vanilla Smooch Spritz.  This would make a nice sympathy card or just simply to tell someone you're thinking of them.

I wish you all a fabulous day and hope you'll stop by again tomorrow because YOU want to!!

A Melon Summer!

Happy Monday to you all--and Happy last week of April!  Wow, it's almost May already--seems like not that long ago we had 60" of snow on the ground and now all my trees & flowers are blooming and last night we had severe thunderstorms, yikes!  I'm more than ready for summer though--I love the hot weather and bright sun, nothin' better!  Yesterday was my daughter's 14th birthday and I think she had a pretty good birthday.  Friday night she had friends over, they went to the movies and then camped out in the backyard AND lasted until 7:30 am the next morning!  Yep, at 3:30 am they were waking me up having a Nerf gun fight in the backyard in the 50 degree weather, brrrrrrrrrrrr!  No sleep for the weary ya know and some of those girls had to go play soccer and lacrosse games that day, lol!  On Sunday James and the kids took our 1 dog on a charity 5K walk--I didn't make it cuz I had tripped in my craftroom (not surprising, I trip A LOT, lol) and pulled my lower back, so me and Casey (my older cairn who couldn't walk that far) stayed at home.  I didn't want to make it worse before I leave for Disney.  Then we went to dinner for Alexa's birthday---she got 2 tickets to the Taylor Swift concert in June, a silver/blue topaz key necklace and a bunch of clothes & gift cards from us.  She made out pretty well, lol!  And I'm gearing up for my trip to Disney World on Thursday to celebrate my birthday with hubby and I've got lots to get done before I go (of course!)!!

NewsBitz:

-Want that NEW Zutter Distress electronic tool---7 Kids has it for ONLY $27--that's a steal!  Marti has mine, so I hope to get it from her when I get back but I LOVE that thing! Awesome for distressing!  Also NEW in stock are Zva embellishments (I want one of each, hee hee) and the McGill Strongarm tool (a must have) for all those that have issues with your punches, I use this A LOT, makes punching easy!

-For those that entered for the $25 gift certificate blog candy by guessing what time the girls would come inside---well they made it all night!  So there were a few of you that said she would last all night so I have to print your names out and have Alexa draw a winner.  I will post that tomorrow for you!

-Susana's Store will be having a fantastic NEW RELEASE from Elisabeth Bell this Friday--the DT will be having a Blog Hop to show off these super-cute (cutest evah) stamps!  And you can enter to WIN some awesome Blog Candy on the store blog HERE!

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Melon Summer!

This lil' cutie is a High Hopes stamp from Paper Romance--isn't she a cutie!  Amy of Paper Romance has a HUGE selection of High Hopes stamps in stock (and if there is one you want that's not on the site, she'll custom order it for ya).  If you haven't used these before you've been missing out--they stamp so nicely and there are so many cute stamps of every variety.  This one is called "Summer Sweetness" and she is sweet isn't she?!  (shhh....don't tell but I HATE melons of all kinds--just don't like them at all) LOL--but a watermelon sure is a symbol of summer isn't it?  I paired her with perfect watermelon colors of pink, red and green--the dp is from GCD Studio's "Homespun" collection and then PTI cs.  I embossed the background with the CB folder "swiss dots" (my all-time fave) and then the corner brackets are from an SU punch.

She's colored with Copics of course (melon: R24,R22,R20,YG67,YG63,G20/ dress: RV17,RV14,RV10/ hair: E25,E31,E50) and then I coated the red part of the watermelon with diamond glaze.  The grass, lace trim and the white rind of the melon got stardust stickles on them for some fun sparkle.  A perfect summertime card!

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Enjoy!

Since I was on a watermelon kick it made me think about the cute Itty Bitty Watermelon stamp I have from Lockhart Stamp Co--I had to use it!!  I love making 4x4 notecards (I buy the envies here)--they're so cute and fun to create and you can use much smaller images on them.  The sentiment is from PTI's "Handwritten Notes" set and I just love the saying!

I kept the layout pretty simple--lots of white with kicks of red & black!  The background is embossed, the watermelon is colored with Copics and some stickles for sparkle and then 2 strips of red cs in the background as well.  A few pearls finish them off--just a fun bunch of cards (I made 4) for the stash!  I whipped 4 of these up in 20 mins so just think of all the lil' mini cards you could make and the Lockhart IB stamps are perfect for these!

See ya back here tomorrow!

Bear-y Special!

Hello & a very happy Friday to you all!  OMGoodness but I am so tired today (and typing this at 3 am in the morning) and I have to run out and get goodies for Alexa's sleepover this evening.  And yes, give me the "bad mom" award of the year but I forgot to order her ice-cream cake, for her birthday & no I haven't gotten all her presents yet, YIKES, lol!  Thankfully Dairy Queen has a cake in the flavor she likes and they are going to decorate it for me last minute so I can pick it up this afternoon--my poor brain needs a break I tell ya.  Her birthday is Sunday so I'll be heading out tomorrow to get the rest of her gifts although her BIG SECRET one (I can't say cuz' she's nosy & reads my blog, lol) I've had for a bit!!  I need lots of Cherry Coke intravenously today :o)

And then I was adding my part of the new magazine issue's info last night and somehow deleted a whole page--Marti is gonna KILL me or smack me down, lol!  She's better with that template and I'm horrible so I always end up messing something up--good thing she doesn't live too close that she can come over here and knock me a good one :o)

My birthday is May 3rd and I'm so thankful that hubby is taking me away for a few days before I LOSE MY MIND.  The past couple of months have been supremely stressful as most of you know and it doesn't seem to be slowing down much (who the heck starts 2 NEW businesses at the same time--crazy me that's who) with not a lot of sleep and I've been sick for over a week now, can't get rid of it.  So next Thursday we are leaving (without kids--yay--grandma dean is coming to stay with them & the animals) to go to Disney World in Florida until the following Monday!  We love Disney and have been multiple times with the kids but we haven't done Disney by ourselves in 13 years so it will be fun to get away.  As much as we love to do things as a family, it will be really nice to get away with just the hubby and have some adult time ya know.  We had thought about going somewhere quiet but I got an email from JetBlue about airfare to FL and before you knew it we had booked a trip to Disney (thanks Expedia, LOL!)  So Disney here we come--now to make sure all my work is done next week before we leave--eekk!

NewsBitz:

-I did post yesterday but blogger screwed it up and posted it late afternoon instead of the morning, so if you missed it scroll down to see :o)

-Susana's store will be having a NEW Elisabeth Bell release next Friday and this is her best collection yet!!  I love all of them equally--wait until you see 'em!  Blog candy starts this Sunday on the store blog HERE!

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Bear-y Good Friends

This month I am a lucky guest designer for Amy Leggate's NEW store Paper Romance!  She stocks lots of crafting goodies and some fabulous stamp lines including these cute "Popcorn Bears"--they are just too cute for words.  I've used "Someone Special" for my card today--I didn't use the whole image though, I die cut just the top portion of him for my card.  These stamps come with adorable accessory stamps and sentiments too.  This layout is this week's SCS Sketch #277 and the papers are from October Afternoon's Thrift Shop 8x8 pad HERE.

I love these colors together--so cheery and springlike dontcha' think?  The little sentiment says "friends forever" but I think I'm going to change it out to "Happy Mom's Day" for my mother-in-law.  She loves bears so this will be a perfect card for her for Mother's Day and she loves my cards, so I hope she likes this one!  The background paper is embossed with the Cuttlebug "Moroccan" folder and then I distressed the edges with my Tonic tool (Yay-my Zutter Distresser is in-Marti has to give it to me now, hee hee if she doesn't slap me for the magazine mistake I made)

I colored this cutie with Copics of course--when I color fur I like to use short, brush strokes so it gives the feeling of textured fur. (Copics used on bear: E35,E31,E53,E50)  The jar got a coat of diamond glaze and then I sprinkled Glamour Dust on top (cool stuff--check it out here).  The insides of those beautiful daffodils got Ultra-fine Flower Soft on them for some extra texture.  Now make sure and stop by Amy's store HERE and see all the goodies she's got in stock for you!!

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Flowers 4 U

Lots of times when I'm working if I really like the sketch I've used and/or the papers, I will create a second card.  Might as well right if you have the time, everything is already out, lol!  I really liked the sketch so I decided to pull out a NEW Lockhart stamp called "Roses, Daisies & Polka-Dots" that I hadn't inked up yet.  This time I made the card 4.25x5.5" instead of my usual 5.5.x5.5" to accomodate the smaller stamp better.  I carried all the same elements in this card as the one above but I switched the layer colors around a bit and I added this fun striped paper from the same October Afternoon pad for the center panel.  I added some PTI buttons to match my cardstock colors (aqua mist & lemon tart) and tied the center button a bow with my Scrappers Floss (did you know that you can color the white floss with your copics to change/match your colors??)!!  This image got a coating of diamond glaze on the jar as well and then some stickles on the leaves and flowers too for lots of sparkle!

Hope you enjoyed the projects today and I'll be back with another post on Sunday!!  Pray that the 7 girls tonight don't drive me nuts and that they stay out in the tent all night (yeah right, lol)!  Have a fabulous, relaxing & quite (sigh) weekend!

Button Me up!

Hi everyone!  This is a quick post for ya today cuz' I am SUPER CRAZY BUSY--YIKES!  I've got to finish 1 last project for the magazine, take & edit all the pics, type up my portion of the magazine and run around and get birthday presents & supplies for Alexa's bday party tomorrow.  Egads--I'm gonna lose my mind I tell ya, LOL!  I don't remember what days were like when they're boring, with nothing to do but I sure wouldn't mind one or two each month I tell ya!  And thanks for all your well wishes, I'm slowly feeling better--certainly not fast enough for my taste though, lol!  And because I haven't been sleeping well due to sinus issues and stress (lol) I have been catching up on reading--I don't craft late at night because my hands don't move well late at night so I save my crafting for the daytime.  So I have THREE (3) FABULOUS books to recommend to you--omgoodness these were good ones:

-Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen (I didn't want it to end)

-The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

-Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah (aweome storytelling!!)

NewsBitz:

-The May/June issue of the mini-mag "Through the Craftroom Door" will be going to the printers this weekend, so if you haven't subscribed and want the paper edition you need to subscribe NOW.  Subscriptions ordered after this Friday will not be getting the paper issue due to the printer cut-offs--you will only receive the pdf version.  Then the next month you will get the paper edition--we are not big enough to order 100's of extras to have on hand to ship out after the end of the month (maybe next year, hee hee).

-Class 4 for the Color Me Creative Classroom will be up and ready for you on May 10th!  I am still running pre-registration rates on this class until April 30th along with donating $3 from each class 4 sold to Unicef--you can find the details HERE.  Other classes coming in mid-May are beginning & advanced Cricut classes, cardmaking class, and project classes so stay tuned!

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Buttoning Around

Well, I hadn't had a chance to post the Try It Out Tuesday Challenge for Susana's Custom Art & Card Design yet!  This week I challenged the team to create a frame around their image or on their card but it could not be a paper frame!  One of my favorite embellishments is buttons so I had to create a button frame for my card of course!!  I used one of my fave Victoria Case stamps called "Milla"--she's fantastic because she can be used for so many fun occasions.  This paper is NEW from Melissa Frances--I loved the lilac colors paired with a minty green--pretty & springlike.  The border punch I used is a new one from Martha Stewart--I love the delicate feeling it has.  I used my buttons (by PTI)  to create a round frame behind the image in matching colors.  Those clear pearls circling the edge of the card were made with my Viva Decor Gloss Pen (in transparent)--you can sprinkle glitter on the top of them as well for more sparkle!

She's colored with Copics and then I also paper pieced her dress with the matching dp--I love to tie in the images with the rest of the card that way.  Remember when you're paper piecing to shade it like the rest of the image--here I used W3 & W1 to shade the edges.  Then I used the Viva Decor Glitter Liner (in holographic) on the stripes on her dress and her bows--this stuff is 100x sparklier than Stickles!!

Alrighty I'm off to run errands and chores!  See ya tomorrow!

Fah-Bu-Lous Darrrrling!!

Good evening to you all again--hope your week has been fabulous for you so far!  I'm still suffering from a nasty sinus infection/flu bug that is seriously slowing me down.  With Alexa's 14th birthday party/sleepover on Friday night with 6 girls in the backyard--I AM PRAYING for some relief so I can function!  They're sleeping in the backyard (if it doesn't storm), with the firepit & I'm sure lots of screaming--YIKES!  And I haven't gotten her gifts yet, oy!!  Not to mention that the final version of the magazine "Through the Craftroom Door" is due Friday and I'm sooooooo behind, that Marti is gonna SLAP me silly, LOL!  OMGoodness please pray for ME!!

Anywho, tonight I'm sharing another fabulous stamp set being released by Gina K--I LOVE this set!  I love vintage lady stamps and this set "Sew Pretty" makes me happy--lovin' it so much (fabulous job from Asela who is the illustrator)!

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Sew Pretty

I love anything vintage--I don't know why, but it just makes me happy like this stamp set "Sew Pretty" from Gina K!  I especially love movies made in the 50's & 60's with the ladies all dressed in their finest and men sharp looking in their suits--they really dressed classy then ya know.  Not that I want to dress up when I vacuum my house like June Cleaver (lmbo), but I wish there was a little bit more dressiness in our world these days--it's fun!  So when mentioning classic lady wear you can't NOT mention Lilly Pulitzer--she WAS resort fashion in the 60's & 70's and still rocks a bit today (though you won't see me in it, little too bright and patterned for me to wear, lol).  See HERE if you have NO idea what I'm talking about, LOL!  So when I found these fabulous papers from GCD Studios called "Homespun Chic" that had vintage ladies in it and all these fab Lily-like patterns I ordered it as fast as I could SPECIFICALLY to use with this set!  Lilly rocks the pink & greens!

I paper pieced the apron and the apron pocket to be matchy-matchy with the fabulous papers--it's all about the fashion and looking "FAH-Bu-Lous Darling".  (Remember to ALWAYS shade your paper piecing so it has the same dimension as the rest of the image) I gave her a fabulous hot pink sweater (I drew in the neckline, seemed a little TOO low cut for me, hee hee) and then stickled her skirt and apron bands to make them glittery.  Ladies like their bling ya know!  And she was colored with copics {RV17,RV14,RV11,RV10,YG67,YG20}

I like having my papers off center--it gives it some funky fun to the layout and I distressed some of the edges too!  I polka-dotted the green cs myself with my Sharpie pen cuz' it was too plain for me!  I added some large buttons to tie into the sewing theme but topped them with pearls to dress them up a bit and had to use a large flower on the bow to match the flowery paper!  I blinged around the "Happy Birthday" sign as well for extra sparkle!  I have to say I just adore this card and it might be with me for awhile in the craft room, lol---it just makes me HAPPY!  Hope you enjoyed it too--now make sure and visit the other fabulous designers on the hop tonight too below!!

Designers Participating in Previews tonight: 

• Gina Krupsky
• Jessica Fick
• Cathy Tidwell
• Donna Baker
• Erika Martin
• Emily Giovanni
• Kurtis Amundson
• Lee Murphy
• Lynn Mercurio
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Tami Mayberry
• Theresa Momber
• Bev Gerard
• Colleen Schaan
• Suzanne Dean
• Nina B
• Geri Utterback - our Center Stage Spotlight Designer!
• Asela Hopkins - Sew Pretty illustrator

The Release Party is this Thursday, April 22 on StampTV.  We would LOVE to have you join us for the fun!


There will be challenges, contest questions, chatter, as well as tons of samples from the Design Team members from 7-10 (central time) all leading to the new products being available in GinaK's online store at 10pm. 

One Fish, Two Fish!!

Hi all & Good Evening to ya!  This is the second post for today, so if you missed the first one with the Magnolia-licious Blog Hop make sure to scroll down to see it all!

This week is Preview Week for Gina K Designs and there will be quite a few fun BLOG HOPS that the DT is doing this week to showcase all the new stamp sets.  Tonight Gina K's Card Club DT is featuring a fun set called "Quite the Catch" that includes:

* Quite the Catch stamp set
* Cardstock: Layering White, Red Hot, Turquoise Sea, Green Apple
* Quarter Sheet Patterned Paper sheet
* 10 silver brads
* Print out with supplies and measurements

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Quite the Catch

I really had so much fun with this set "Quite the Catch"--it's just such a happy & fun set to use!  And it reminds me of my favorite Disney movie "Little Mermaid"!!  I can't tell you how many times we watched that movie when my 2 kids were younger but it remains my fave (hear me singing "Under the Sea" hee hee)!  I wanted to make a couple fun cards that aren't hard to create but fun to give or have in your stash.  I kept the layouts the same, just switched up the color of cardstocks.

I like to call this lil' guy "Sebastian" like in the Little Mermaid, he's such a cutie!  Don't tell him that my favorite seafood is "crab" though, LMBO!  I used some dp from my stash and then created some fun circle cards.  The lil' bubbles have Viva Decor Gloss Pen (transparent) in them and they look like real bubbles IRL.  I put Stickles on his legs and diamond glaze on his eyes (Gina K's Crystal Lacquer is similar HERE).
The scrolls are from a punch and the bow was made with my handy dandy Bow Easy.  Crabby fun-fabulous! {Copics Used: E08,R02,R00,C2}

Next up is the little Goldie Queen--I had to make her a gold fish with my Copics {YR23,YR21,YR20,R02}--dontcha' love her lil' crown?  Her lil' fins got stickles and her eyes got diamond glaze too!  Isn't she just fin-fabulous now, hee hee!  Now make sure to hop down to see what the other designers have in store for you tonight!

Designers Participating in tonight's previews: 

• Theresa Momber - Gone Fishing illustrator
• Jessica Fick - Quite the Catch card kit designer
• Gina Krupsky
• Cathy Tidwell
• Donna Baker
• Emily Giovanni
• Erika Martin
• Kurtis Amundson
• Lee Murphy
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Bev Gerard
• Colleen Schaan
• Suzanne Dean
• Sankari Wegman
• Valerie Stangle
•  Nina B
• Geri Utterback - our Center Stage Spotlight Designer!

The Release Party is this Thursday, April 22 on StampTV.  There will be challenges, contest questions, chatter, as well as tons of samples from the Design Team members from 7-10 (central time) all leading to the new products being available in GinaK's online store at 10pm.  We'd love to have you join us for our monthly party!

Zebra Feather Arrows!!

Hi everyone and welcome to a brand new week!  Hope you had a fabulous weekend!  Ours was nice but busy and now it seems that I have a nasty sinus infection and a touch of the flu--blech!  So I hope to get some projects done in between laying on the couch today, lol!  And I've got magazine projects to get done, I need to whip myself back into shape quickly, I HATE being sick!  My daughter's 14th birthday is this week on the 25th so she's having a sleepover with a few friends--OUTSIDE--in a tent, LMBO!  My non-nature-adventure daughter sleeping outside--we'll see how long it lasts, lol!  I'll make a bet with you that it doesn't last very long--in fact if you leave me a comment today on this post with "the time you think my daughter & friends come crawling back in the house"--the closest person to the actual time will win a $25 gift certificate to Emma's Paperie on me, hee hee!  (shhh..don't tell her I have this bet though, lol)  And what she'll love even more is us going camping for Memorial Day Weekend--we haven't told her yet--when we do you'll hear her scream, lol---no electronics, no facebook, no showers--she just LOVES it!

NewsBitz:

-The winner of my blog candy from this post is Autumn of My Creative Side!  Congrats Autumn! Email me with your details!

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Magnolia-licious Blog Hop!!

Today the Magnolia-licious DT has a fun blog hop for you and we've all used the same stamp "Right Through My Heart" from Magnolia-licious. You can find all the blog hop details (including how to join in on the fun for some fabulous prizes) on the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog HERE.  I decided I wanted to go over to the WILD SIDE with this stamp to show how you can use it for a multi-tude of things!  This time it's funky fun using my favorite animal print and colors (hmmm....matches my craftroom, coincidence I think NOT, lol) for a card and a fun matching purse!!

So I pulled out some zebra paper from my stash and my favorite colored cs from PTI (aqua mist) to create a WILD SIDE card!  I had bought a bag of feathers from the craft store awhile back, so I was happy to see some black feathers were included.  I distressed the edges of my zebra paper then skewed the layers for a more funky look--not so perfect!!  The sentiment is from PTI's Handwritten Notes" which is one of my faves and it says "Listen to the whispers of your heart"--dontcha' just love that! And the big bow was made with my Bow Easy.  Those black pearls were made with my black pearl pen from Viva Decor--I love making my own pearls whatever size I need them to be and you can use the Gloss Gel Pens to create pearls as well (see here for both).

 
This stamp is so cute--I love Tilda as a little warrior, but when you stamp her she doesn't have an arrow in her hand thru the bow! Strange huh--so I made her an arrow with a toothpick that I colored with my black copic and attached some white feathers to the end of the arrow.  I also restrung her bow with a scrap of Scrappers Floss.  The bow was coated with diamond glaze for some shine.  I also colored her lil' bag of arrows like zebra print and then gave it a coat of diamond glaze as well (and there are a lot of stickles thrown in too).  Hey, my warrior gal is FUNKY FABULOUS!!

And lemme tell ya there is nothing better than a funky fabulous ZEBRA PURSE to go along with the card (yes, I know I have a few real ones myself, hee hee).  You can find a great purse template on the Scor-Pal site HERE.  My purse has a magnetic closure so you could add some small treats and gifts or a gift certificate inside.  I added some more fun feathers, a Prima pearl center to the closure and ribbon handle.  I had a ton of fun creating this project and I hope you had fun viewing it too!

Now for the next stop of this fabulous Blog Hop you need to hop over to Becca's Blog HERE (her post goes up at 6 am est)--so if you are hopping before 6 am make sure and stop back by her blog cuz' she always have something fabulous for you to see.  While you're waiting hop on over to Claudia's blog HERE.  And don't forget to stop by the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog to see the rest of the hop details and join in on the fun!!

Have fun hoppin' and I'll see you back here tomorrow with a Gina K Blog Hop!!

Minty Fresh Friends!!

Hello and YAY Happy Friday to ya too!  Not that the weekend is going to be any less busy for me, but it's still the weekend right?! LOL!  The kids have off school today and they're off busy with friends, which is good for me so I can try and get a lot of projects done!  Although Riley is having 2 boys spend the night so that means it will be LOUD--but they'll stay down in our finished basement most of the time!  Then the rest of the weekend is family time with birthday parties, some shopping and gardening.  We're at a point as a family that we have to schedule family time now, hee hee---the kids have more social activities now that they're older.  We've always been such a "4-pack" and done everything together, all the time.  Hubby and I never really had to many dates the first 10 years of marriage when we had kids--we never had babysitters very often other than my parents and occasionally a family friend.  We just always had the kids with us--a lot of times we had anniversary dinners with them too, LOL!  And now that they're older they can stay home by themselves or they're off with friends which means hubby and I get date night once a week--what a revelation and it's wonderful I must say.  Sometimes we'll just grab a bite to eat late in the evening or like tomorrow night we'll see a movie and have dinner (Date Night with Tina Fey).  It's good to have that time and catch up again--once the kids are gone out of the house it will just be us, so it's good to keep that part of relationship alive & well!  If I had to do it over again, I would add more babysitters over the years but that's said and done and we all live & learn, right?!

NewsBitz:

-Winner of the FREE COPIC CLASS from my Color Me Creative Classroom (or a $40 gift certificate from me to Magnolia-licious) from this post is Michelle Singer!!  Yay Michelle!  Email your details and your choice of prize! Sorry I was so late with that--my mind is not my own these days I tell ya, LOL!

-Winner of the Blog Candy from this post will be announced Monday morning!!

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Minty Fresh!!

Today's card uses a brand new Stampavie stamp by Gillian Roberts called "Teddy & Me"--isn't she a sweetheart!  I just love her and that cute bear!  I used this week's SCS Sketch #276 for my layout and all the papers and cardstock are from PTI (New Leaf & Aqua Mist)--the sentiment is from PTI's set "Handwritten Notes" too!

The white trim in the background was made with a new MS border punch called "Scroll Lace"--love these punches (although I have a ton, I keep buying more, help me please, lol)!  I used pearls for corner accents and the large aqua flower on top of the twill bow is from Prima--it matches PTI's aqua mist papers perfectly!

She's colored with Copics of course (BG18,BG23,BG11,BG10, E43,E42,E41,E50) and then I've added diamond glaze to her shoes and stickles to her shirt and teddy's bow!  Minty fresh fun friends for you!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and I'll see ya back here on Monday!! (it's a fun Magnolia-licious Blog Hop that day)

Ebony & Red!!

Hi all and Happy Thursday to ya!  One more day till the weekend--YAY!  We've got a busy weekend this time--my niece turns 3 and has her party on Saturday, then Saturday night is Date Night for me & the hubster (and yes dinner & movie that includes seeing "Date Night" w/ Tina Fey/Steve Carell), LOL!  Then Sunday we have to finish the flower beds out fron, put together my new solar fountain bird bath and then I have a party to go to at a friend's house--whoosh!  And of course lots of projects to finish up in the meantime too!  Weather is supposed to be beautiful today so we're going to have dinner on our golf club's patio this evening and enjoy a bit of time together and spring!

NewsBitz:

-The Fan Club Gallery is now up for everyone if you're a Fan Club member at Splitcoast Stampers (if not & want to be, see here).  That means the Dirty Dozen DT (including me) has all their projects up for you and the theme this time is VINTAGE (my fave)!  A lil' sneak peek for you below of one of my projects--I can't share any them on my blog for at least 6 mos. so this is it, hee hee!

 

-Class 4 is almost done for my Online Copic Classroom and it's up now for pre-registration (discounted pricing) if you're interested HERE (click Classroom Tab and page down) for a class description, pricing & supply list!  For the first 3 weeks I'm taking $3 from each Class 4 registration plus $100 of my own money and donating it to a great cause--this time it will go to UNICEF which I think is a brilliant & wonderful charity that serves this great big world we live in!  They educate, rescue, feed, give medical aid and help to those in need around the WORLD and you know your money is being used wisely.  I think it's so important to give back and if you've followed me regularly you know I pick different charities every now & then to support (past ones have been women's shelters, children's charities and animal rescue groups).  Once monies are collected I'll post the receipt/invoice to Unicef here on the blog for all to see--hoping for a good tally!!  There is a lot of need here in our country and around the world!  And if you don't buy a class but would like to donate some $$ email me and we will add you to the group funds!!

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Copic Creations Challenge - Ebony & Red!!

Today is the 15th which also means it's Copic Creations Challenge Time and this week the challenge is black hair!  Our sponsor this week is the fabulous The Greeting Farm and they have generously donated each of the DT members with a wonderful digi image to use and a great prize gift for a lucky participant too!  I chose this happy digi image "Dressy Ebony" (there's a rocker Ebony too) which seemed very appropriate for the challenge, lol!  And I got to use my 2 most favorite colors as well--black & red.  The black papers are by My Mind's Eye "Lush" line and the red is from "Lily Bee Designs".  That fun sentiment is from PTI's set "Handwritten Notes" (you know I'm a total PTI and sentiment addict right), ribbon is PTI too!!

I colored this lil' gal's hair with C9,C7,C5 & C3 then added a few white highlites.  I have a video tutorial on coloring black hair (at top of blog, click on the tutorials/templates tab)--it can be tricky making it look black & not gray so you have to practice at it.  You don't want to use anything below a "3" copic when coloring black hair, and do most of your coloring with your darker colors.  I added some diamond glaze to her shoes and headband for some shine--gave her skirt some white polka dots as well to match the paper!  I just love her and think she's super sassy & cute! 

Now make sure & hop over to the Copic Creations Challenge Blog and see the rest of the DT's fabulous projects with The Greeting Farm stamps and find out how you can join in too!

See ya tomorrow--have a goodie!