Bike Party!

Happy Happy Tuesday & February 4th to you all!  Did anyone watch the Superbowl on Sunday?  We watched...thought it was kind of a snooze-fest unless you were a Seahawks fan. We were rooting for the Broncos because we like Peyton but I like Russell Wilson too :)  I like a closer and more competitive game like last year's SB personally...makes it more fun and exciting!  And the food I made was yummy...in fact we had leftovers last night...some of the recipes are at my other blog here if you are interested.

However I love Bruno Mars and I thought he knocked it out of the park...wish he'd played longer. He's just a talented dancer, choreographer, musician and singer. Would love to see him in concert but looks like we will be over in Europe when he's hear near DC...maybe next year!

Now I'm getting excited for baseball season...only 59 more days till opening day!  We have season tix for the Washington Nationals..our home team.  Hubby and I will be at Opening Day in DC...the teens will be in school hahaha and they can't miss for it (shhhh they don't know yet hehehe). I just love baseball and there is nothing better than hanging out at the ballpark on a beautiful day...one of our favorite things to do as a family.

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Bike Party!

Today I'm sharing a special birthday card for my mom...shhhhhh...her birthday is on the 13th this year.   So my son's birthday is the 12th, my mom's the 13th and Valentine's Day the 14th... a very busy week!  She will be 71 and my Gram is 92 and they BOTH can still run circles around me...its craziness ..I always feel like I'm lagging behind them :)  But growing up one of the things my mom and I always did after dinner was go on long bike rides. We'd bike everywhere and I miss that...we all have bikes here but I definitely don't ride it as much as I should...gonna try to do that more this year!  And since February's birthstone is the amethyst and violet is one of my mom's favorite colors...that decided my color palette for this card.   Hope she likes it!!  

This card is for the Magnolia-licious Tuesday Challenge "Anything Goes"...hop on over to the Challenge Blog to see all the DT gal's beautiful projects and join in on the fun too!

I used this super sweet "On the Road Tilda"(mini version here) because I think she's adorable and I loved the flowers in her bike basket. I'm so ready for spring so I think I'm craving spring colors and flowers in my projects lately.  All my papers are by MemoryBox "Viola" that I've had for awhile but was waiting for the right project. The first thing I choose after my image is my papers...the papers have to move and inspire me..otherwise I don't feel it...its just the way I operate ;)  I used some dies from Spellbinders, PTI and MemoryBox for the image mat, the middle border and the small tag.  I used my MS butterfly punch on some of the papers and inked them...always need some beautiful butterflies on a gorgeous spring day.

The lined paper was scrap paper that I had and then I stamped some script from PTI in violet ink.

A few bits of burlap that I inked under the flowers and behind the image.

I like a vintage, distressed look so I inked and distressed all the papers and accents..and my fingers are lovely shades of brown and violet..hehe..the issues of a stamper/papercrafter yes?

This cutie was colored with Copics:  BV17,BV11,BV02,BV00 / C9,C5,C3,C1 / E11,E00 / E43,E42,E40 / YG67,YG03,G20 / background: YG93,YG91,E41,W0

I added some Stickles dotted around the image too...always have to have a little sparkle ;)

I haven't used Flower Soft in AGES...OMGosh...and I have every color ever made LOL...crafter's prerogative ya know!  So I used two different mixes on the flowers in her basket. I didn't want it to overwhelm the image so after it dried I picked off some of it so you could see the leaves and space in between.

I like to layer different elements together with flowers...here I used some burlap, a punched butterfly, pearls, a tag and different flowers.  I add my embellies with Scor-Tape in either 1/2" or 1/4"...my fave thing to use on my cards.

Hope you enjoyed & have a fabulous week!

Holiday Blog Hop!

Happy Monday folks!  Have you started decorating for Christmas yet?  I have, slowly but surely a little bit each day so that by Thanksgiving we can get our real 12+ ft tree for our family room.  But I LOVE this time of year so much...it just makes me happy..and keeps me busy LOL.  I won't chitter chatter much because I have lots of project photos, details and hop details to share with you!

But if you missed any of my posts on my other blog...hop on over to see some holiday crafts I've been working on over there.

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HOLIDAY BLOG HOP

My Winter Wonderland Holiday Box

Today both the 

Magnolia-licious & Scor-Pal DTs are having a super fabulous holiday hop

for you all!

We want to inspire you to get crafty with some holiday, wintry projects!!

And as always there are a FEW WAYS TO PLAY along as you hop along, so don't miss a thing!

For all the details and blog hop order in one place hop to the Challenge Blog when you are done!

PLAY ALONG 2 WAYS

The 1st way to play is to collect the letters and clues on each blog as you hop along...then when you have them all--have fun unscrambling a holiday expression and email to Suzanne (me) at sjdean0574@yahoo.com by Dec 30th.  Each blog has either letters or a clue in RED at the bottom of their post.

The 2nd way to play (and you can do both to get 2 entries) is to submit a Holiday/Winter Themed project at the Challenge Blog by Dec 31st.  See Challenge Blog for the prizes and other details.

(winners will be announced by Jan 4th)

Now let's have some fun ok?

If you have been hopping then you would have come to me from Patti Jo's Blog, if not make sure to hit all the blogs and continue on the hop at the bottom of my blog.

I made a Winter Wonderland Holiday Box for my hop project and it was so much fun to make!  For my project I decided to use one of those fab 3D Kit boxes by LaLa Land that Magnolia-licious sells. They are super easy to put together and sooo much fun to decorate.  I used the Best Glue Ever to glue mine and then put a book on top once it was all done (except the easel back piece) to make sure all the seams dried evenly.  Then I painted it white with acrylic paint and added my fave MS Glitter Snow to the decorative designs on the front.

My trees were cut out with my Silhouette Cameo in different heights (if you don't have a Cameo, use a die like this one) and then they got a 3-step process...inked with dark navy ink, then I used a Liquid Applique Pen in white to add puffy snow to the branches, then finished off with some Snow Glitter and Tinsel products applied with Tacky Glue.

TIP: Cut your background paper to size FIRST, BEFORE you put your box together to make it easier on yourself...trust me. My paper is by BoBunny.

I handcut some snowy hills out of white cardstock and added them in the background after coating them with some snow glitter & tinsel.

Here's a side view...the boxes come with an easel back piece so they stand up nicely.

I painted all sides and back of my box with the white paint.

The lamp post is a LaLa Land die that Magnolia-licious sells as well. Its such a fun accent to use.  I added vellum behind the glass areas of the lamp and colored them light yellow with a TouchTwin marker.  I also smudged white ink and added some Stickles & Snow Glitter onto the lamp post so it looked like it was coated in snow too.

At the bottom of the box I added a banner that I stamped with snowflakes and then hand-numbered with the year 2013.  The banner is from a PTI die that cuts the banner so it bends and pops up for dimension...and some Stickles along the edges for more sparkle.

I used an oldie but goodie stamp "Edwin & Tilda Skating" that is STILL my fave holiday stamp of all time from Magnolia-licious! They're just adorable!  It comes in both regular size & mini size, if its out of stock send a note that you are interested in it to Diana as she may be getting more in if they're all gone.  To make the stamped image and lamp post pop out more I just cut white cardstock the width I needed and glued it to the image in 3 places--lamp in 2 places, bent it twice and then glued to the backside of box.

I had fun coloring them with my TouchTwin Markers and then adding some extras.  The fur trim on their coats got white Doodlebug Flock, Stickles on her skates and pockets and a cute mini pom-pom added to Edwin's cap.  I love adding details like that!

On the top of my box I added some Memory Box "Frostyville" diecuts and centered it with a snowflake coated in MS Snow Glitter.

The frosty coated lamp post shining some light down on Edwin & Tilda. I love the chunky look of the MS Snow Glitter.

Hope you enjoyed my frosty project today & keep hopping along to see 

the DT's amazing projects and collect your LETTERS & CLUES!

MY LETTERS ARE:

H, i, f
And the Clue is:
A "twist" on a popular holiday expression

Now you need to hop onto

 Dena Concienne's Blog

to see what holiday fun she's created!

It's Fall Y'all!

Happy Fall Y'all!  Yup yup I'm back to crafting...it was great to have time off and enjoy the end of summer and now to get back in the swing of things.  Do you know that was the first break I took that was longer than a week in over 5 years...wow?? LOL!  It was needed...that's all I will say. 

So we have kicked off my daughter's senior year and my son's sophomore year.  My son is playing both JV and Varsity football...he's a defensive end at 6'3.5 feet tall and 240 lbs.  So I am VERY busy with school stuff, work stuff and of course life stuffs.  That never changes right, hee hee.  But I am feeling extremely blessed, glad to have had time off to get back to being somewhat healthy in spirit, mind and body.  So thank you for sticking with me and I promise to have more projects completed soon :)  Yet today I am battling a tummy virus..what else ugh..that is going around so I will keep my chatter light today and hope you like the project!

Keep Up With Me:
As always I have other posts regularly on my other blog too if you want to check in over there at Bitz of Me!  I also post daily on Facebook most things I'm liking or doing...I have two twitters as well.  My twitter under my name is mostly my country music, random thoughts and sports twitter...my MoreBitzofMe Twitter is project post oriented. I have an Instagram as well that I'm TRYING to be better about posting to.  I have linked them all on both my blogs if you love social media like me and want to add me.

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Fall Y'all

Today the Magnolia-licious DT has a fun Fall/Halloween Blog Hop for you all.

Everyone has created some special projects to share with you all today.

You can see the blog hop details HERE and we hope you find time to hop along with us today.

So I started out with a chalkboard I got off of Amazon...loved the distressed look and size.

However I didn't want to attach anything permanently to the chalkboard..I wanted something I could change out each season.   I made an insert with black cardstock that can easily fit inside the chalkboard frame and come out when needed.  

I LOVE SUBWAY CHALK ART...

so this subway art was cut out on my Silhouette Cameo from one of their files.  Then pieced together after I inked it well with brown ink and glued onto my black cardstock.

 

Then I added some extra details...with 3M foam so each element can be easily removed when I'm ready to change it for the season.  Nothing says fall like beautifully fall colored leaves to me..and crisp air outside..football..fires in the fireplace and comfort food.

I used an oldie but a goodie "Tilda in Fall Leaves"..one of my fall favorites..I used to love jumping into leaves.  Now I'm old enough to cringe at the bugs and spiders that may be lurking LOL...but I sure enjoyed it when I was young!

She's colored with a mix of Copics & TouchTwin markers (list to come).

Then I added some Stickles to the mix for pretty sparkle.

The leaves are older stamps from EKSuccess and then inked a bit and stuck on with small bits of 3M tape I cut up.  The leafy swirls are a Memory Box die cut out of dark yellow cs and inked and then I added some leaf punches to them.  Check out all the delicious dies that Magnolia-licious has in stock now...so many, so many I love and want ;)

Some raffia ribbon tied at the top to finish it off.

I love the way it turned out and can't wait to think up ideas for a wintry version. Its the perfect size to hang, lean or add to a fall arrangement...hope you like it too!

 Thanks everyone for stopping by...missed ya!!

Now you need to hop on to Patti Jo's for her sure-2-amaze-u project!!

The Beauty of Sunsets!

Happy Tuesday y'all!  I'm back with a project...although I'm not at home this week...I'm up in New York at my Gram's house for the week with Riley.  She celebrated her 92nd birthday last month and we always try to visit at least 1-2 times a year.  Plus Riley gets some "country boy time" with my Uncle and I get to spend time with my Gram and cousins.  And its not any cooler up here LOL...still humid and hot..that's summer for ya!  Hubby is in Arizona this week and with Alexa in FL the Dean Family is EVERYWHERE LOL...oh nooooo!

Alexa is down in Orlando, FL at SeaWorld for her internship and happy as a clam...or dolphin LOL! She got a private show of "Shamu Rocks" last night, she has a friend from school as her roomie and has already made a bunch of new friends...so she's basically having a BLAST LOL! They slept in sleeping bags in the dolphin enclosure last night ahahaha...fun for her!  Tomorrow she will shadow the vets in the veterinary center for half a day and work with dolphins, sea turtles, seals and otters.  THEN SHE SWIMS IN THE SHARK TANK OMG....not sure momma is happy about that one but she's totally game.  She got an underwater camera for her birthday to use so hope she gets some great shots.  She wants to major in Marine Biology with a minor in Environmental Sciences so she's totally in her element that's for sure!

Then we get back next week and we have hair appts (read: Riley gets a buzz cut), baseball games, sports physicals, senior photos and eye appts...then football camp starts.  Tis the season for mom to run around and drive sweaty, stinky boys to and fro camp...starts at 9 am and runs till 3 with a 45 min lunch break...gonna be HOT for sure and will tucker those boys out no doubt. (I do not envy them) I need to buy stock in Gatorade I tell ya...I make sure that all the boys I drive home have cold ones when they get in the car and each football mom takes over Gatorade duty for a few practices as well.  Along with what I regularly stock in the house for Riley and his friends = a helluva lot of Gatorade LOL!

So that's what's going on this week for the Dean household anywho!  Crazy as usual,what else is new eh?  LOTS of new posts on my Bitz of Me Blog if you want some other reading!

SALE still ongoing at the CMC Classroom on my Copic Online Classes thru Aug...go check it out HERE!

I will have a HUGE vacation slideshow for y'all next week...just haven't had time to weed thru all the photos.  But today's project was TOTALLY inspired by the beautiful Key West sunsets we saw while on vacation.

Sunsets in Key West

 

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Sunset Beauty

I love sunsets...always different and each one beautiful and the ones in the tropics just take my breath away.  As my husband says "each sunset is its own beauty and to appreciate each one"....gotta love my husband :)  So to have a true sunset most things photographed in front of it are in silhouette or darkened which I wanted to replicate on my card.  So I stamped my Tilda in white Palette Ink on black cardstock and then cut her out.  The background stamp is a Magnolia stamp "Romantic Sunset Background" from the Wedding Collection and was colored with Copics but I stamped it a second time on black cardstock so I could cut out the fence and beach to add on top of the image. 

This card is for the current Tuesday Challenge at Magnolia-licious "Some Like It Hot" which you can see all the details HERE.

The main image is "Tilda with Ponytail" from Magnolia-licious and she was stamped in white Palette Ink as I noted above.  Hard to see but the background black cardstock was embossed for a little bit of texture.  The sentiment from PTI "Simply Amazing" was stamped in white ink as well.  A few flowers to match the colors, some die cuts from a Memory Box die and rhinestones finish this off.

The sunset was colored with Copics and then I added Stickles to the sun, and while they were wet sprinkled Glamour Dust in clear on top for extra sparkles...I wanted it to almost blind ya like a real sunset sun ;)

Hope you liked my ODE to Sunsets today!  Have a great week!

Easter Wishes!!

Happy Monday everyone! I want to let you know that my posting will be sporadic this week due to the Spring Break & Easter holiday. So it will probably be every other day posting from me and nothing on the weekend, sorry :o( Don't miss me too much, hee hee!

We're headed to Hilton Head Island, SC on Thursday with the kids for 5 days of fun in the sun!! We will be back on Tuesday & I'm sooooo looking forward to it! We're planning on relaxing, a dolphin cruise & some swimming--fun, fun!!

I had made this card for the new Copic Creations Blog and didn't post it here, so I thought I would for those of you who didn't see it! I just really love it!

The dp is from DCWV's "Whimsy Stack" and both stamps, "Tilda w/ bunny" & "garden fence" are available at Magnolia-licious. Colored with Copics and stickles on the flowers. The sentiment is from PTI's "Mega Mixed Messages" and the butterly is the MS "monarch butterfly" punch. Just a great Easter card--love that lil' bunny!!

In other news, Susana of Susana's Custom Art & Card Design is giving away some AWESOME BLOG CANDY starting today. What's the prize? A handsigned print of an upcoming stamp for SCACD by ©Elisabeth Bell and an entire set of the 1st release of stamps!

To enter, head over to the store blog "Follow Your Heart" for all the details!! It's a one-of-a-kind BLOG CANDY that even I want, hee hee!!

Have a great one!

hugz,

Suzanne

Cookin' Mama!!

Happy Thursday everyone! Almost the weekend--yay! Do any of you play video games with your kids (or perhaps alone, hee hee)? We have literally every gaming system made including the Wii, GameCube & the new XBox 360 and of course my kids love them. Every now & then I get sucked down to our rec room to play (against my will too) and end up playing for like 2 hours. I'm highly competitive so I must figure the game out & get to level #? before I can stop, lol! So the other night I was forced to play "LEGO Indiana Jones" and I had so much fun, hee hee, and I got way farther then my son (who was deemed my sidekick) so now everyone is mad at me & no one wants to play with me anymore :o( Can't figure out if its a blessing or not, bwahhhahhhhh, lol!! But I will say that I recommend a lil' video gamin' as a great stress reliever!!

Anywho...while making my card today the thought for my blog title "Cookin' Mama" came to me, and of course its a Wii game that we have that I hate, but is fun anyway! Just thought you should know that, hee hee!

For my card today, I used "Cowberry Muffin Tilda" and she's one of my faves---you can get her here at Magnolia-licious. I paired her up with this new DCWV "Nana's Kitchen" dp (and I got this stack wayyy before I made the vow of no more paper, lol---so no cyber smacking me). The layout is last week's SCS sketch which was a fun one! My lil sentiment is from PTI's new "Around & About Sentiments" which I love! I don't sew (I know how, but I don't like it at all) so I did some faux stitching around my card with my paper piercer and white gel pen--looks kinda real, huh?

Alright, no more random ramblings from me cuz' I've got a ton of work to do. The last week of every month is super busy for me because lots of stamp companies start their sneak peeks for the next month including SUINK & H&M Stamps! Make sure and check out my DT sistah's blogs from SUINK today for more sneak peeks---Tori, Janna and Kristen! H&M Stamps sneak peeks coming soon!

hugz,
Suzanne

Pink It Is!

Hi everybody! It is such a beautiful day here--it's only 77 degrees with no humidity & my windows are wide open (love it)!! I like nothing better than being able to turn off the A/C and have fresh air in the house-its the best. I'm posting a little late because I had a ton of stuff to do. Don't ya hate it when "real life" stuff gets in the way of stamping? I had to finish 3 loads of laundry, strip all the sheets off of beds, unload dishwasher, walk doggies, and vacuum up pet hair, not to mention shuttling the kids to their friend's houses--fun fun (not)!! Anyhow, I am now settled in my craft room working, which is what I like best!!

My card today is another Magnolia card--I just love this little girl sitting, looking lost in thought. I had ordered this stone wall last month but hadn't used it yet and wanted to use it w/ this girl. I made this card for a challenge over on Caardvarks which is a card challenge blog and this challenge was to make your card w/ the color "pink"! If you're interested in entering you have to do it by tomorrow--so get goin' :) I lovee this new paper I got from Crate Paper called the "Kaitlyn Collection-daydream", the colors and designs are fan-tab-u-lous--(Enabler alert--I get all my Crate Paper from Eclectic Paperie if you're interested)! The sentiment is from SU's "For a Friend" set which I believe was a Sell-a-bration set this past year. All the flowers are Primas (don'tcha just love them). The brads are from Hot Off the Press and they were actually plain, but I like to dress them up. I added polka dots w/ my Ranger Inkssentials white pen and some stickles to one of them too. You can always add designs or bling to your plain brads to change them up instead of buying them--makes what you have more versatile. Of course I cut everything out (can't help myself) and the girl, wall and sentiment are all popped up with dimensionals and colored w/ Copics (u know my usual fave stuff)!!

**If you're interested in the Magnolia stamps, Diana from Scor-Pal will have a US website up & running real soon. It will be the only place that you can get them here in the US--you can email her at magnolia.us@shaw.ca and she will email you a catalog with her inventory. She is shipping out orders now and the website will be up soon.***

Just another bit of news, I won the Bellaholics Anonymous Home Page (a Yahoo group for those of us who love Stamping Bella's) contest this month, so my card that you can see here, will be on the front Home Page for the month of July--yippee!! Thanks to everyone who voted for me--you rock!!

Alrighty, now don't forget that MFT is having their release party tomorrow night over on SCS from 9-11 pm (EST). It's always fun & fast moving and Kim always has fun challenges to play & win! Maybe I'll see you over there!!

**Help me get to 5,000 blog hits so I can give out some more blog candy!! Almost there...!!**

Till tomorrow....

Suzanne

Magnolia card-Magnolia girl & stone wall, SU sentiment "For a Friend", Prima flowers, HOTP brads, stickles, nestabilities, Crate Paper dp, SU cs, Copics dimensionals, Inkssentials pen

Magnolia Crazy

Hello Scrappers! Hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. Yes, I am once again typing my blog post at 12:30 am because I DO NOT know how to go to bed--lol!! I just wanted to get it done because we have a busy day coming up. We're going to the nursery to buy plants & shrubs & then we'll try and get over to the pool for a little while. The kids went to bed early tonight since they were up way too late last night (after 1 am I think) because my daughter had a friend sleepover--and boy was she a grumpo today--so they went to bed at 9pm. Gave me lots of time here in the craft room to finish up some things in peace! My two cards today are with Magnolia stamps. I have had these sitting in a box for awhile now and just got them inked up (I didn't realize how many of these I had--oh no)! It's so funny to see everyone going crazy over the Magnolia's now that they are going to be sold here in the US soon--could've saved me some money if I had waited (but I'm not good at waiting for anything)since I ordered mine from overseas--lol! **Fantasy Film for those not familiar is a thin kinda cellophane that comes in multiple colors. You ink up your stamp w/ a permanent ink (I used Staz-On) lay a few layers of fantasy film on top, then cover w/ parchment or a thin fabric and iron on medium heat for a bit. I always peek to make sure it's fully stamped (when the stamp comes thru the film). Pull off and cut out what you need; in my case it was just the mermaid tail. The film does not stick to your stamps (I've tried them w/ rubber & acrylic). The fantasy film also comes w/ instructions--not hard at all, but gives a great effect**

This first card is made with 2 Magnolia stamps (I do not know any of the names because they do not come in a package w/ the names when you order them from the home company overseas) and I'm too lazy to look it up for you (sorry)! Some of these stamps are newer, but some are from last year too--I just buy what I like, not always what is new--if you're curious you can see their catalog online here. Anyhoo, this card has 2 stamps that I stamped separately instead of masking. For some reason I always want to cut my girls out because I think they look so much more real in 3-D! So I stamped & colored the bench (w/Copics) and then stamped & colored the girl and then cut her out (she's popped up w/ dimensionals). I followed Lauren Meader's Saturday sketch (I flipped it around) to make the card. The cs is from PTI (boy do I just lovee their colors) and the dp is from DCWV "Nana's Nursery-baby girl". I just adore any kind of prints with cherries or strawberries so I had to use these. When Alexa (my dd) was a baby she had the cutest little strawberry dress with matching beret--just the cutest, but now she hates pink (ugh--preteens, I tell ya!). After I got the card assembled I added the Prima flowers and buttons. The middle of the flowers are pearls from Ellen Hutson's online store--I made the green leaves from some green Prima flowers by cutting the petals off and shaping them into leaf shapes. The sentiment & the bee are from one of PTI's new stamp sets called "flower garden sentiments"--lovin' em! I still felt it needed something so I added some white dots around the cs with my Inkssentials pen and voila!

The second card is with a Magnolia mermaid that I bought ages ago w/ good intentions to use it, but then forgot (uh, what else is new)! I have had this fantasy film (in waterfall) for just as long, because I bought it knowing I would use it on her tail when I had ordered the stamp. I got my fantasy film The Art Institute Glitter but I see you can get it from All That Scraps now(very easy to use) and so pretty on cards. The cs is once again PTI's (aqua mist) and the dp is by American Crafts (Elegant-formal). I love the contrast of these two colors together--so dramatic. I'm calling her Moonlight Mermaid because it's as though she's sunning herself at night in the moonlight! I colored her with both my Copics and my twinkling H2O's for lots of shimmer. The flowers are by Prima (daisy doodles) with pearl centers again. The sentiment is from Verve Visual's "wonderful wishes" stamp set and I thought it was so appropriate w/ this card--just lovin' it!!

If you too have a love affair with the "Magnolia's"--get on over to the new Yahoo group and join up. Always fun to cyber "hang-out" with others who share the same passion! If you're looking for Magnolia's here in the US, Diane from Scor-Pal will have her online store up & running soon. Details from Diane (which originally came from Lauren's blog):
“The MAGNOLIA-licious web site will not be online for several weeks but we have inventory and are sending out product now. People can contact me at magnolia.us@shaw.ca I will send them a catalog persay of all the images we have. They copy and paste into a new document what stamps they would like and send this to me. I then call them and we complete their order. The Tilda and Edwin images are $12.00 and the others range from$9.00 to $14.50 for the very large stamps like the “swing”. The stamps are mailed from Blaine, WA for US customers and Surrey, Canada for Canadian Customers. The prices are at par.”

So there you have it for today--I'll see everyone on Monday!

Suzanne

Strawberry Magnolia--Mannolia girl & bench;PTI cs, sentiment & bee; DCWV "Nana's Nursery--baby girl" dp; Copics, pearls, Primas, buttons by SEI, dimensionals, stickles, nestabilities

Moonlight Mermaid--Magnolia Mermaid; PTI aqua mist cs, American Crafts dp, Fantasy Film in waterfall, Primas, pearls, Verve Visual sentiment, nestabilities, Copics, Twinkling H2O's, dimensionals.

Horsin' Around

Hi again stampers! Hope your weekend has been fab. Sunday is always kinda sad for me, because I know Monday will be here (& I hate Mondays). My hubby comes home tonight so I'm thankful for that & back to work for him (no more golf--awwww)! The kids and I went to dinner last night and decided to have Movie Nite at home. We watched "Nancy Drew" & it was pretty good--I read all those books when I was young & loved them. Our spring weather has disappeared and been replaced with dreariness and cold--yuck--just in time for Monday, what a treat :(

I had mentioned before that I had ordered a bunch of Magnolia stamps and just love them. When I got the 3 stamps I used in the card above, I knew I had to make a barn card for Tilda & her horse. The idea came quick, however the execution of my idea took much longer, but I'm happy with the results. I stamped out Tilda, her horse and the hay bale on PTI white cardstock (the best for stamping in my lowly opinion) & then colored them with my Copics;then they were cut out. I made a barn template and transferred the design to barn red cardstock by Bazzill & cut that out, pop-dotted the roof & cut out the window. The background of the barn is a stamp by CC Designs (Big Ol' Backgrounds-stripes) & it's inked with Adirondack espresso (love those inks--great for non-bleeding with your Copics). The horse saying I had heard a long time ago, and thought it was fitting. I printed it out on my computer and then added a heart. Tilda, hay bale & horse are all pop dotted too. I'm quite pleased with it---hope you like it too. Alexa l(my dd) loves horses and has claimed this card as her own, so I might have to make another.

I hope everyone got some stampin' time this weekend. See you tomorrow!

Suzanne

Just a side note-I've had quite a few people ask where I get my stickles & liquid pearls. I used to get them at our Recollections until, sadly they closed. I now get them from All That Scraps - they have a great selection of both.

Bazzill solid papers, PTI white cardstock, Copics, dimensionals, Adirondack espresso ink, CC Designs stripe background, Magnolia Tilda stamps

Childhood Memories

Good afternoon everyone! Sorry I was away from the computer (that I seem to be attached to) this weekend. We spent it with our friends who were visiting from CA. We braved the non-springlike weather (cold & rainy) to visit Mt. Vernon. The kids seemed to only want to holler about eating and visiting the gift shop (what's new, right). But we had fun catching up and the visit was definitely too short.

I received in the mail 2 "presents" today that got me thinking about my childhood (how long ago was that-haha). First came my Magnolia stamps from the Netherlands. I had fallen in love with these stamps when I'd first seen them on someone's blog (don't remember whose). It took 2 weeks to receive them and the shipping wasn't any worse than the US companies. This girls name is Tilda w/ flower basket and she totally reminds me of Holly Hobby. Do you remember Holly Hobby? I loved her when I was little; my bedroom and lunch box were devoted to her. She's just so cute & innocent, just like these Magnolia stamps.

The second present (I say this term loosely) that came today were my new Copic sketch markers. I have seen & heard magnificent things done with these markers. What appealed to me was the fact that you can replace the tips and refill them--makes them worth the expense (serious moulah $$). I used them today for my Tilda card, hopefully I will get more skilled with the blending and shading over time. I just love to color and I have since I was a child. Nothing was more exciting then sneaking down Christmas morning to grab my stocking and opening my brand new 72 box of Crayola Crayons!! I loved them so much and I always got a couple of coloring books to go with them. I would stay up all night waiting for Christmas morning, just coloring away--there was just nothing better to me. I still love to color and I still love the smell of Crayola crayons, except now my coloring has moved up to colored pencils, watercolors and markers, but the feeling is the same. Ahhh childhood, some things just take you back, ya' know. I got my Copics from Dick Blick's (best deal at the time)--I encourage you to check them out.

Anyhoo, enough about my past. Hope you enjoy this card (and look, no stickles this time)--I'm sure you'll see more Magnolia images in the future.

Happy Stamping---Suzanne

Magnolia stamps, SU sentiment, Copic markers, Paper Trey Ink ribbon, dew drops, Prima flowers, Basic Grey 'sultry' paper & rub-on