Seaside Vintage!

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Hope you had a good 3 day weekend if you had off for President's Day here in the States.  My kids had 5 days off due to the 18" of YUCKY snow we got and we got another inch last night.  However it will be in the high 50's and low 60's this week so I'm praying most of this snow melts away.  And melting snow means a muddy yard which translates to muddy paws for my dogs LOL...I have to keep towels by the patio door and wipe their paws when they come in (which they hate).  I'm soooooo ready for Spring..this winter has been BRUTAL and I cannot wait to see green grass, flowers in bloom and warm breezes coming through the window.

We had a great Valentine's Day...you can see what Cupid brought my hubby and the teens here. I got tickets to see Billy Joel this summer with the hubs...it will be my 4th time seeing him live and I just love him.  Little bit of fun trivia for you:  Alexa my daughter was named after Billy Joel & Christie Brinkley's daughter Alexa Ray :)  And Riley had a great 16th birthday....you can read all about him through the years on my other blog HERE.  He opted for a big present instead of a trip (I took Alexa to Cali for her 16th) so he got an Alienware Gaming Laptop to play all his battle/strategy games and a Team USA Hockey jersey...so he was a very happy boy!!

Ok onto my project for the day......

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Seaside Vintage!

I'm in such a Spring state of mind...there may be snow on the ground but I'm looking so forward to the colors of Spring and the oncoming heat of Summer lemme tell ya :)  So I pulled out this cutie "Playing on Beach Tilda" from the Sea Breeze Collection at Magnolia-licious (she's available in both reg size & mini)...she was unopened & ready to come out to play.  This project is for the current Tues Challenge "Pretty In Pink" over at the Challenge Blog so I did a shabby chic, vintage, pink beachy scene.

My papers are a mix of My Minds Eye and Prima that I inked and distressed.  I love the weathered board paper (MME) and it reminded me of the old boardwalks & piers found along the beaches on the East Coast.  The swirl die is a Magnolia die and the sentiment says "Sending my love to you" from PTI.  A mix of flowers from Lavish Laces and Prima along with some pearls and cream colored cheesecloth to add to the vintage look.

Tilda is colored in Copics and I added Diamond Glaze to her little floatie.  I have had Frantage since it came out...a friend gave me 6 bottles at CHA the year it debuted and it has sat, and sat and sat on my shelf in my studio LOL.  I finally decided it was time to put it to good use.  So around the image and the circle mat I added "Aged Rose" Embossing Enamel...you just shake on what you want & where you want it and then heat it from underneath till it melts.

Flowers, cheesecloth & a tag finish off the corner of the card.

Have a fabulous & crafty week!

Some Summer Fun!!

Good Sunday Evening to you all---did you have a fabulous weekend?  I had a great weekend filled with family and friends and happy chores but I could do without the rain that we're once again getting!  WHOEVER in VA is doing the rain dance--"PLEASE STOP!", LOL!  My backyard is never gonna dry out I swear and I need sun to motivate me :)!!

Tonight the Gina K DT and illustrators have some great sneak peeks for you of the NEW RELEASES coming soon!  So hope you will enjoy all the sneak peeks tonight--the new sets are "gotta have them--fabulous"!

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Gina K's Botanicals

The first card I'm sharing with you tonight is with the NEW Gina K set "Botanicals"--this is also the Card Club Kit set of the month as well.  What does that mean for you?  Well you get this stamp set, new Gina K cardstock and gold brads to use all together--how fab is that?  I love this set--so elegant and I have lots of ideas for it!

For my card using "Botanicals" I stamped a few of the flower images in different colors (sage greens & soft mustard yellow) very softly onto the cream cardstock.  The dandelion-like flower got stickles on it for a soft shimmer.  I distressed the edges of my moss cardstock and inked the edges---then added some Prima flowers, punch leaves and die cut scrolls.  Each of the scrolls got some small pearls to dress them up a bit.

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Gina K's Beach Bum

For my second card I used a fun new Gina K set called "Beach Bum"--pretty appropriate too once you see all the fun images in this set!  I wanted to use a few of the images to create a beachy scene against a bright white background.  With all the rain we've been having I wanted to use bright & cheery colors and a fun swirly (waterlike) CB embossing folder "D'Vine Swirls" for the background. 

I colored everything with Copics and then cut them out individually.  I traced each of the background swirls with my stickles so it's shimmery like waves and sunshine!  Makes me want to take off for my beach vacation NOW instead of waiting for the end of June (sigh...), lol!

I spritzed the surfboard with some Smooch Spritz in Vanilla after coloring it with Copics---then added a thick coat of diamond glaze (or you could use crystal lacquer).  Love those flames on the surfboard!! The beach ball's white stripes were coated in stickles as well and then popped up with dimensionals onto the fun beach towel!  Feelin' like Summer Now, huh?!!

For more samples with the stamp sets being previewed tonight, check out these Designer's Links:

• Gina Krupsky
• Jessica Fick
• Theresa Momber
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Nina Brackett
• Cathy Tidwell
• Lee Murphy
• Donna Baker
• Lynn Mercurio
• Emily Giovanni
• Erika Martin
• Kurtis Amundson
• Bev Gerard
• Colleen Schaan
• Sankari Wegman
• Suzanne Dean
• Valerie Stangle
• Kay Simmons *May's CenterStage Spotlight Team Member!*

Please make plans to attend our Release party this Thursday night, May 27th from 7-10 central time which will be held at StampTV.  There will be contest questions, challenges, samples from several designers and lots of chatter all leading up to 10pm central, when all the new products and stamp sets previewed this week on our blogs become available online through GinaK Designs store!

RELEASE DAY!!

Happy, happy Friday to you all!! This has been like the longest week of my life, LOL--or so it seems! Only 7 more days until we leave for Hilton Head Island for 2 weeks---woohoo--I cannot wait! But I've got sooo much to get done before we leave--work projects, lotsa errands, and 5th grade graduation events for my son! Tomorrow my son sings at the Frederick Key's game (minor league baseball) with his chorus so that should be lots of fun & on Sunday I have my next Copics class. If you're around the area & would like to take a Copics Class with me, my next class will be July 26th (1-4:30)--email me if you're interested--you'll learn alot & have a good time I promise!!

**If you haven't entered for my 200,000 Blog Hits BLOG CANDY, you still have until tonight at midnight to do so right HERE! Winner will be announced on tomorrow's blog post!!
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Want this badge?"

So today is RELEASE DAY for Anki's Sweethearts for SCACD-series 2--YAY! All stamps are now available at Susana's Custom Art & Card Design! Anki did a wonderful job on these images--they're all fabulous! Today I've used "Emilia" so sweet with flowers in her hair & her lil' basket ready for a picnic. I created a fun stair-step card for her using Basic Grey's "Wisteria" dp--I wanted it to look like she was in a field of wildflowers! The sentiment is from a Heidi Grace set (from AC Moore)--love it! The whole card was spritzed with Shimmerz Spritz (baby's breath). The DT (on sidebar) has more projects using these sweet stamps on their blogs today, so hop around to see them all! So don't delay...hurry & get your own Anki's Sweethearts to play with!


My second cards for ya today are some fun beachy notecards I made using Lockhart Stamp Co.'s "IB Sand Bucket"-available at Susana's store! I just love these colors together, so peaceful & beachy (my rec room is painted in these soothing colors)! I embossed the baby blue panel--so pretty; image is colored w/ Copics & popped w/ dimensionals. Then I spritzed the entire card with my fave Baby's Breath Shimmerz Spritz (a must-have)--nice and shimmery! I made 4 of these notecards using sentiments from PTI's "Mega Mixed Messages"--2 thankyou's, 1 hello, & 1 birthday! If you love these they are available for sale (I have 2 sets for sale) in my Etsy shop, link on sidebar! I just love 'em, might have to make me some too--LOL!

Alrighty, I'm outta here--I have lots to do! I'll see you all back here tomorrow! Oh and thanks for all the uplifting & funny stories you've left me--I've had some great laughs, LOL!

hugz,

Suzanne

Beach-y Fun!!

Hello my friends & welcome to Thursday, hee hee!! Oh boy am I in a funky mood--giving up caffeine is soooooooooooo HARD!!! I am loopy, grumpy & super irritable--just ask my hubby, LOL! I'm hoping to get over this hurdle soon, cuz' it stinks! Why does being healthy have to be sooo hard, I ask??? ROFL! I keep thinking about how toned & thin I can be so I'll keep working, working on it---keep your fingers crossed! I think about all those useless calories I was drinking away (and no I can't stand diet soda so that's not an option)!

*****Today is your last chance to enter the oh-so-yummy BLOG CANDY over at Susana's store blog right HERE!! The prize is a set of 9 Brand New Stamps by Victoria Case for SCACD that will knock your socks off in cuteness I swear!! They will be released tomorrow morning & the DT is having a Blog Hop to celebrate! So make sure and check back for it!!***********

Moving on....I have been oh-so good these past five months and haven't bought any patterned paper (except for Basic Grey & DCWV stacks) so I went on a buying spree at All That Scraps & Emma's Paperie (oh the paper yumminess!!)! And of course I could NOT resist these cute new Sugarplum stamps by CC Designs at All That Scraps--I mean how cute are these? (All of these CC stamps are also available as digi stamps too--I like rubber tho')! I bought a bunch of these fun bath goodies at Target awhile back & just knew that I'd have stamp set to use them with! If you could see the bags of Target "gift" items I've bought over the past 8 mos. it might just shock ya, giggle---so I gotta start using more of them!!

So first up is "Surfer Emma" and I paired her with this fun Nemo-esque bubble bath soap (fish) and bath fizzy tablets. I used Lauren Meader's "Timeless Templates--Lolli-pop-Along" for both gift sets! If you haven't tried out her templates ($5 at PTI) you really should--they're so easy to put together & so many ways to use them! The fun dp is from Frances Meyer and I paired it with aqua for a nice summer pop! The flip-flops on the card are cut out & popped w/ dimensionals & then I also cut-out the flowers & popped them up too (and some stickles of course). All the images were colored with Copics and have some Shimmerz & Stickles on them!

Here are close-ups of both of the cards I did. Same layout just different stamps and sentiments from the CC Designs "Sugarplums Beach Scene" & Amy R's "Beach Sentiments".

Second set uses "Trevor Sea Shell" and he reminds me of my son sooo much--such a cutie! I used more blues on this project & the dp is from Flair Designs, perfect for this set! Aren't those whale bath goodies cute-a-licious? I've got a pink octupus & green turtle bath goodies too, hee hee--not sure what I'll do with them yet!

Just a side view to show you the holder--I attached everything with my favorite Scor-Tape so it will stay together perfectly! If you're interested in these gift sets they are for sale over on my Etsy site!! Hope you like them as much as me :o) and they were fun to do too (even w/ my caffeine deprived mopey self, LOL!).

See ya back here tomorrow for the release & Blog Hop of Victoria Case's new stamp line for Susana's Custom Art & Card Design! You won't wanna miss it!!

hugz,

Suzanne

Hang 10!

Good morning fellow stampin' addicts!! Hopin' your having a good summer weekend so far. I'm not sure what we're up to today, because we're supposed to have storms and torrential rain all day--yucko! Guess that leaves the pool out, huh? We might go check out the 3-D "Journey to the Center of the Earth" movie, see if its any good. If not I'll be hangin' 10 (lol) in my craft room!

I made this card yesterday (along w/ a few others) for 2 more Dirty Girl challenges on SCS. One was a sketch and the other was to make a "scene" with your stamps. I really liked the sketch and I wanted to use another CC Designs stamp--this lil' surfer doggy is from the Itzie Inkies "Summertime Fun" set. All of the stamps in this set are super-cute!! The dp is from Autumn Leaves and I liked the softer tropical colors in it, not like the usual bright colors. I paper pieced his lil' swimmin' trunks w/ the dp and the rest of the image is colored w/ my Copics. I cut the image out and mounted it on dimensionals and created a "scene" by making an ocean w/ my Copics on another sheet of white cs. I coated his "wave" and the ocean with diamond glaze, and then once dried I added diamond stickles on top with my finger for a nice sheen. The dk organge cs is by Bazzill and the other cs I used is SU's soft sky, which I embossed with my CB embossing folder. I like this CB emboss. folder (D'vine Swirls) because it reminds me of waves. The sentiment is from Eclectic Paperie's Sushi's Favorite Words stamp set (check it out, they're cute)--I just put 3 together to make the phrase I wanted, punched it out and mounted it w/ dimensionals and added orange stickles around the circle layer. I wanted to add some fish to my "scene" so I stamped 2 different fishies from PTI's "Pond Life" stamp set in SU's pumpkin pie ink and then added orange stickles to their bodies for more shimmer. For a final touch I looped some ribbon from Michaels around the center and tied off. My doggy friend is "hangin' 10" for sure! I think this would be a "cool" birthday card for a young boy (have to check w/ my son on that--he he). Hope you like it!

All right, I'm off to enjoy the day, rain or no rain. See ya tomorrow!

Suzanne

One of Those Days...

Happy Monday (I guess)! Another Monday, another week--I'm not a fan of Mondays I must say! Mondays always start with an impossibly, long to-do list for the week & seems overwhelming at times, ya know. And its been one of "those" mornings, if ya know what I mean--the kind where you probably should never have gotten outta bed! I woke up to kitty puke on my floors (yuck) and then went outside with the dogs and stepped in doggy doo with my new slippers (not a good start). Then I dropped an egg on my kitchen floor which proceeded to splat all under the fridge and then burned myself on the pan--this is when I should've just sat my bottom down-lol! After all that, I decided I'd go in my craft room and get some things done. I had finished my beach card yesterday so I wanted to take a picture of it to post. Somehow it got lost--yep that's right, I lost my new card in my craft room. You know how Jeff Foxworthy says "you know you might be...", well mine would be "you know you might need to clean & organize your craft room" and then you wouldn't lose things--lol! After a wasted 20 mins of looking, my son found it out on our kitchen desk--go figure! Guess I need to organize some tonight!

Ok, the first card is with the new Pink Cat Studio stamps called QT Hooty Owl--they are so cute, all of them. I stamped my owl twice and his ballons 2 more times because I knew I wanted him to hold a bunch of balloons (he only holds one on the stamp) and I wanted to pop up his wings and one of the balloons. He's colored with Copics and the balloons have stickles on them. I tried paper piercing for the 1st time--can ya believe it? I had bought my paper piercer and some templates awhile ago, because I like seeing what everyone does with it on their cards, but had yet to try it. My templates I bought at Michaels and they are just the plastic canvas grids found in the needlepoint section (square & circle shapes for $0.49)--I read about this tip from someone's blog (can't remember who)--definitely makes it easier to line up! The cutie patootie dp is from DCWV "Nana's Kids-glitter" and cs is from PTI (lavender moon, plum pudding & lemon tart) and those wonderfully sparkly, glitter brads are from Making Memories--lovey them.

The second card (this is the one I lost-lol) is my beachy keen card as I call it. So wish I was there! This stamp set (You Are My Sunshine) was the "free w/ three" set at Gina K's last month (buy 3 stamp sets get this one free--although this month's free set is different)--now you can buy this set at her site. I like the stamps that came in this set & the sentiments are great too. I really wanted to use soft, beachy colors for this card. I used my Copics again to color and then went over everything with my C1 copic (cool gray) to tone everything down evenly. I put Diamond Glaze on the water (2 coats) to make it glassy and then added a little bit of diamond stickles to it with my finger when it had dried for some extra shimmer. The dp is from Cosmo Cricket (I think--I only had some scraps of it left) but I thought it looked like cabana stripes, so I colored the beach umbrella to match. The cs is from PTI (aqua mist,berry sorbet & lemon tart). The berry sorbet cs I embossed w/ my cuttlebug folder and then rubbed over it w/ a cream ink from Colorbox chalk ink (Cats Eye). I added a little shell to the beach and a starfish to the sentiment (both I got in a pack of shells from AC Moore). The beads I thought looked like sea glass and just add a little "somethin" to finish it off. Hope you likee them all!

Hopefully the rest of my day will go smoother & hopefully you all are having a great day! I'm off to craft some more...

Suzanne

Wishful Thinking....

Good TGIF to everyone! Hope everyone is planning on a wonderful holiday weekend--some of you will be traveling I know. We never travel on Memorial Day wkend, I hate sitting in traffic & I'd rather hang out and bbq in the backyard with friends. That's what we're doing & planning on seeing the new Indiana Jones movie & going to the pool (which luckily is heated) & it's supposed to be sunny & 80 degrees (yipee)!!

I made another Stamping Bella (kinibella) card today--this is the way I wished I looked when going to the beach/pool, but sadly it isn't (only wishful thinking)!! I had to get bathing suits with skirts this year to cover up those 12 lbs that won't go away!! No bikinis in site for me--No Way!! I really like how this card turned out & the colors are very summery & tropical. This new paper is from Sassafrass Lass (Secret Garden) & I just love it! I'm not sure where I got it from--I order so much that sometimes I don't keep track. I have a paper addiction to go along with my stamp addiction, soda addiction, etc.--I have so much paper and I constantly want more!!! The flowers are Primas and the center is a puffy brad from Making Memories that I got in a pack at Michaels (they're so cute)! Michaels is even carrying Primas now--they're really stepping up their inventory, thank goodness!! And of course I've added some stickles for sparkle & bling! I have a ton (and I really mean that) of new stamps that I am looking forward to inking up this weekend--be on the lookout! It seems that my new stamps are taking over in my craft room--it's nutsy! I didn't add a sentiment because I didn't think it really needed one--it would make it too busy for my taste! **New**Stamping Bella just added a "weightwatchabella" on her site and I ordered it to contrast with kinibella (maybe they can be friends)-lol! Maybe it will be included in the blog candy...we'll see....

I hope everyone has a great & safe weekend ahead of them & hope the weather is nice where you are too!! Don't forget:
***Blog Candy Alert*** Once I get past 2,000 hits I'm giving away blog candy of some of my favorite items. If you read regularly you'll know what some of them might be (stamps, stickles, cuttlebug embossing folders, dp & more)--You won't want to miss it :)
Suzanne

I'm Back--Finally

Hello scrappy people! I am finally back--it feels like its been forevah!!! We got back from our Disney trip this past Sunday and it has taken me all week to recover--lol!! We had a fabulous time, the weather was in the 80's and perfect the entire 10 days (no rain). I love Disney so much, but boy can it wear a body out--we were gone everyday from 9 am until midnite most days. The Magic Kingdom was even open until 2 am one night--we only made it until 12:30 am, but you wouldn't believe the crazies that were still there with their kids (like I'm not crazy, huh). My body is still recovering! Flying down to FL was uneventful if not nerve wracking for me, because you know I hate flying w/ a passion. But the trip back was SCARY!!! We flew on Mother's Day (what a non-treat for me) and flew thru all those horrible storms up & down the East Coast--what a hellish trip. I cried and hyperventilated the whole 2 hours (not kiddin') as we lost altitude, banged around and luggage was flying out of the overhead compartments--I thought we surely were going to crash--it was terrifying. The stewardesses never even got up from their seats, that's how bad it was. It was literally the worst Mother's Day of my life!! I don't think I'll be flying again for quite awhile. And then it proceeded to be cold & rainy here all week--I wish I was still in Florida :)

Anyhoo...enough about my time in sunny Florida! I had to finish laundry and the kids had tons of activities and schoolwork to make up this week, and now I am finally back in my scraproom and back to work! I made 2 cards today--yippee! The first card is a Bella card (bellarina to be exact) and I made this for my daughter who is having her ballet recital next month. She has been doing ballet since she was 3 and was recently asked to join the Ballet Company at her ballet school to perform in professional productions. She has been on pointe for 2 & half years and her feet are gettin' ugly (good in the ballet world, bad for the cute sandal world)! The stamp is of course from Stamping Bella, the SU black cardstock was stamped in versamark with SU's Baroque Motifs and then embossed in white. The pink cardstock & ribbon is from PTI. The quote is actually off of a ballet poster I had seen in Florida. I think she'll like, especially since it will hold a gift card to the mall--lol!

The second card is for my Pink Cat Studio challenge group--it was to use Pink Cat stamps that we hadn't inked up yet. I had gotten these "Beach" stamps before I left and since I'm still dreaming of the sunny Florida weather, I thought this card was appropriate. The dp is from Bo Bunny--I just loved the madra's kinda print and the colors of the paper. I had to paper piece these cute flip-flops w/ it, and stickles are involved of course. I had to color that "itsy,bitsy, teeney-weeney" bikini yellow--although you won't be seeing me in a bikini anytime soon. My bathings suits all have skirts this year--lol!! One of these days I'll lose these 10 lbs--wishful thinking! This sketch is from Taylor's Taylored Expressions blog from awhile ago, I really liked it and had printed it out waiting for me in my sketch notebook. She has a great blog too--go check it out!

I will posting a "smilebox" of pictures from our vacation soon--make sure to check it out. I promise I will be posting regularly for those of you who visit me. Hope your day is spring--y!!

Happy Scrappin--Suzanne

Ballerina card--Stamping Bella stamp, PTI pink ribbon & cardstock, SU black cardstock, SU Baroque Motifs,nestabilities

Beach Card--Pink Cat Studio stamps, Bo Bunny dp, SU solid cs, stickles, brads