OWH Hop!!

Hi everyone!  I'm not gonna take up much chatter time here since I'm participating in a very special blog hop today and I'd rather you spend the time hopping...or creating a project yourself!  If you need more to read from me (bwahahaha) I have a fun new post on my OTHER BLOG HERE as well!

Hello Hopping Friends! Thank you so much for coming by! 

We brought our creativity together in the hopes that we would inspire you to join us (DT members) in doing a good deed!

Most of you know our men and women from the armed forces are deployed all over the world. Sometimes these men and women are in places that make it very hard,or they’re far away from where they can pick up a sweet card to send a quick note home. Luckily,they have OPERATION WRITE HOME (OWH). OWH is a non-profit organization that sends special boxes filled with cards to soldiers all over the world. How can you help OWH keep the good deed going? By creating cards!!! Yes! OWH angels receive tons of handmade cards from crafters all over the world,then they check and organize cards to be sent out to our soldiers. 

Now we would love for you to join us to help OWH. We thought it would be amazing fun to do a blog hop to inspire you! Design Teams from Paper Temptress, Oozak and Color me Creative Classroom have joined together in one amazing Card Drive HOP. The fun just gets better! You can join in by making as many cards as you possibly can..the more you create the better your chances are to win one or more prizes.  Here are the guidelines on how to enter and win!  PLEASE remember that…IMPORTANT….OWH guidlines MUST be followed to be entered to win a prize.

 Once you create as many cards as possible enter a picture of ONE of the cards you have created on the hop inlinkz then mail all the cards you created  to the address below. Send as many cards as you can create so you have the best chance possible to win one or more of the 14 fabulous prizes by November 7th.

YES!! You do a good deed and you also can win a sweet gift!!!

Please visit the Hero Blog to see how much they appreciate the cards 

**WIN!!-You can join in by making a project (following OWH – size and safety guidelines), entering a picture of the project on the hop inlinkz (one project linked per person please) then mailing the project to us. We would LOVE it if you could send as many as you can by November 7th (we will screen them and send all of them to OWH) . You could win super prizes from amazing, super generous sponsors!!! YES!! You do a good deed and you also can win a sweet gift!!!

Thank you to our sponsors-

 ♥ Paper Temptress ♥ Oozak ♥ Color me Creative Classroom ♥

♥ Heartfelt Creations ♥ Gilli Stamps ♥ Bugaboo stamps ♥

♥ A day for daisies ♥ Through the Craft Door Room Magazine ♥

♥ Floppy Latte ♥ Sweet Pea Stamps ♥ Pizzaz Aplenty ♥

I created two seasonal cards with more generic sentiments.  I didn't want them to look too girly or too manly depending on who used them...in between works great!  I kept the layout similar so it was easy to cut and create both but make them each special in their own way.  This is about as CAS (clean & simple) as I get folks...I tried for less but I'm a more-is-more kinda girl but the layers all lay pretty flat and aren't very heavy.

Cardstock was a mix of Paper Trey Ink and Paper Temptress and I used a fall theme for this one.

The patterned paper is from BoBunny..I just used a circle die to trace and cut the round hills out.

Then distressed and inked them well.  The dark cream cs got embossed with D'vine Swirls embossing folder that I love and is great for fall/wintry backgrounds.  Sentiment is by PTI and then a few pearls and ribbon finished it off.  I glued everything done well and nothing on here would get hurt or damaged if smooshed flat which is important when creating for the OWH.

Inside both cards I created a "card within a card"...that way whomever gets this has plenty of space to write a letter or note home.  The cards can only be 4.5x5 so that doesn't give you a lot of writing space..this just adds a little more without making it bulky.  I stamped some leaves from a PTI set inside to decorate a bit more.

I changed the colors up for a wintry theme and added some snowflakes done with my punches. I embossed the aqua background with a CB embossing folder and inked the edges.  Sentiment is from PTI along with the ribbon at the bottom.

The beautiful white, shiny cardstock is from Paper Temptress and is called "Vintage Silver Lustre".

It KILLED me to not use glitter (a no-no for these OWH cards) so I went with a shiny, pretty paper instead, perfect for a snowy-wintry effect.

Isn't it gorgeous?  And its 25% off right now too...perfect for the holidays!

Hope you liked both and now I would LOVE for you to hop, leave comments and join in on the fun!

Its a great way to show you support and care for those overseas and missing home!

♥♥♥

Now it’s time to HOP around. Leave a little note as you pass by all these lovely designers’ blogs! Don’t forget to add your project to the Inlinkz at the end of the Hop! 

You will also find the address to mail your cards at the end of the hop. You can Hop throughout the month of October. This way everyone in their own time can hop and join in!

Make sure to add your card to the InLinkz (last blog on hop) so you get an entry for participating!

Find Address to Send OWH Cards to HERE

Blog Hop list directory

Anary 

  Sandy 

Allnock 

  Patricia St Martin

Steph Ackerman

Ann Fran

Dana Joy

Anita Autore

Danni Bindel

Lynne Haston

Monica Lowrance 

  Suzanne J Dean ~ you are here thx

Linda Payne 

  Amanda Reed 

  Nancy Jensen 

  Cathy Preissing 

  Vickie Kertz 

  Holley Barnhart 

  Karen Gautier 

  Samantha Casey 

  Christine Riley 

  Melanie 

  Paper Temptress  

Make sure to add your card to the InLinkz so you get an entry for participating!

Find Address to Send OWH Cards to HERE

Vintage Witchy!

Happy Wednesday...or in my house we repeat it the Geico commercial way.... Hhhhuuuuuummmmpppp DAY...if you have no idea what I'm talking about...check it out HERE! LOL!  My son can do a spot on impersonation of this that kills me every time ;)

Anywho this is a crazy busy week and I've been very sick with a fever, head cold, ear infections...and the blahs.  But I'm working madly on a bunch of projects to share on this blog and my other blog HERE.  And I have back to school nights, football games, doctor's appts, errands...you name it and its probably eating up my productive hours LOL.  If you feel me...say Ohhhh Yeahhhh...cuz its weeks like this that make us stronger, better, more capable people right?  Yeahhhh I don't know about all that!

We are sad to see the MLB baseball season ending and of course my Redskins, not so good .  Seems a lot of the capable NFL teams are struggling this year... Giants, 49ers, Packers...weird, sloppy season.  But I'm also happy that NHL season begins this weekend...my Caps...rockin' the red.  I'm a DC sports fan...always faithful to all my teams...but some years are GREAT and some not so much. But I keep hopin' and rootin' :)

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Vintage Witchy

Isn't this Wee Stamp "Hazel" adorable...so cute!  Today is "W"ednesday at the Magnolia-licious Challenge Blog!

Magnolia-licious now carries Wee Stamps, Wild Rose Studio, Penny Black and CandiBeans by Little Darlings. Go check them out...so cute!

I've always had a fascination with witches, I love to read books about them, watch movies...just the stories about them, the whole deal I find intriguing.  Pagan practices have a huge history in our world and no not the devil worshipping stuff...pagan beliefs are actually rooted in astrology and very fascinating if you take the time to learn about it.  One of my fave book series is "All Souls Trilogy" by Deborah Harkness..the final book comes out this winter and I cannot wait!

I used papers by Authentique and kept the colors to warm blacks, creams and browns for a more vintage feel.

All the papers got distressed and inked with both dark brown and gray inks.

You know me, I love vintage and distressed and the more TEXTURE the better.

Some burlap, creepy clock die, tulle, dew drops, diamond glaze all work well for me.

The sentiment is from PTI along with the spiderweb stamps.

The beautiful black tulle flower I love...they come in rolls but I clip them apart.

(links at end of post)

She was colored with TouchTwin Markers.
Marker List will be posted later today...sorry!

Then I added a Gold Liquid Pen on her buckles, clock and necklace.

Diamond Glaze on her shoes, hat band and clock.

Hop on over to the Challenge Blog to see what my DT friends made today as well!

Have a wonderful week everyone!  I'm back on Friday with an SCACD Release!!

Links & Embellishments List:

Tulle flower trim from "Lavish Laces"...for unique & beautiful trims and flowers!!

SCACD Die - "Alice's Clock Statement Corner

Burlap and burlap flower by 7Gypsies

Paper by Authentique "Irresistible" (15% off)

Bella Baubles in Gold

I'm entering this into the following Linky Parties/Challenges:

Savvy Southern Style

Candy Monsters!

Cute right?  Easy as a blink to make and cheap to make...a win/win!

I've made these in the past for the kids and their friends. I never made 100's to give away on Halloween just because where we live its NUTS with how many kids come by. That's wayyy too much work LOL!  But I would make these for a few of the kids besties or for sleepovers.

Supplies Needed:

-long, thin candy bars like Hershey bars

-a great craft glue (I like Best Glue Ever)

-Googly eyes

-Scotch Tape

-crepe streamers in colors (black, white, orange, green, etc)

-optional ink pads

I usually would buy my candy bars in huge packs at Costco..if you have lots to make its more economical. 

However our grocery store had a Buy 2-Get 1 Free Deal last week...so that worked for this project well.  Only thing I bought was google eyes (.89 cents) and candy bars ($3), the rest I had on hand.

Pick a candy bar and a colored crepe streamer to start with.

Obviously you can do this in many colors...use orange streamer for a pumpkin face...hot pink for a fun girly monster..whatever your mind dreams up!!

Tape the streamer onto the candy bar..doesn't really matter where...and then just wrap the candy bar as much as you'd like but make sure to wrap in different directions for a fun look.

I like to ink the edges of the crepe streamers to add a bit of dimension to them.

Easy Peasy..take an ink pad in your color of choice and rub around the edges as much as you'd like.

Dirty 'em up a bit!

Glue their eyeballs wherever you'd like...more than one pair if you want to go crazy with it :)

I like to tuck some of the eyes a bit under the streamer wrap too.  My green & black bar is my version of Frankenstein ahahaha, the black one is a Ninja and then some ghosties..but let your imagination SOARRRR and have fun with it!  

But remember to KISS...keep it simple so its fun and easy..and get your kids to help.  Mine "used" to help when they were younger...as teens, well...not so much anymore LOL!

Thanksgiving Blessings-- Pizza Box!!

Hi All and Happy Sunday! We are off to the Pumpkin Patch today--hooray!! I'm still pretty sick but I'm suckin' it up like a good Mom does and hopefully will not pass out along the way, lol!! I'll share some pictures of our trip w/ ya tomorrow. The weather has been spectacular here this weekend, really just perfect w/ blue skies and 75 degrees, love it and I'm sooooooo dreading winter! But the kids have off of school on Monday for Columbus Day so no early morning for us tomorrow--yippee--makes me happy!!

I really wanted to try out the Try a New Technique challenge over on SCS this week--you have to make a pizza box which I've been dying to try out. I will tell you this is super easy and quick to make, I love it cuz' it was so easy to make. I paired it up with my new Storage Units, Ink and More stamps and Coredinations cs and made a Thanksgiving Blessing Box. I thought it would be a great idea to make this box and matching cards to record our blessings or what we're thankful for this year and any hopes or wishes for the new year. This way we can read them at our Thanksgiving dinner table and pull them out year after year to remember them by (especially since my kids are growing up soooo fast)!

The cards for the inside measure up to be 3.75x3.75 with the stamped image protruding slightly from the top. I made 10 of these cards and they fit nicely in the box--you could also include envelopes and make this a cute notecard gift set for someone. I stamped out some of the smaller images from the "Giving Thanks" and "Bountiful Harvest" stamp sets and colored them w/ Copics. The front of the box got the same treatment this time using the wheat and the sentiment I actually cut in half (great bonus about acrylic stamps) and bent it on my acrylic block so it would wrap around the wheat. The dp is from SU and I also used my Fiskars threading water border punch for the edges of the box and some dew drops in the corners to finish it up. So whatcha' think? I'm thinkin' I'll be making more of these real soon, lol!

Have a great Sunday!

Suzanne

Candle Harvest!

Happy Saturday everyone & welcome to the weekend, can I get a "Yippee"!!!! I have finally gotten out of my jammies (gasp...yes I love my jammies when I sick) and I'm feeling a little better. Now if the weather would improve, I'd be set :) Lots of Cherry Coke in my system now and I'm cranking out projects, lol!

***Don't forget to head over to Jen's blog I{heart}2stamp today for her Sketch For You to Try. Today is my last day as her guest designer :( so check out my card if you get a chance!***

So I have some more news for ya today---I know you're like "gimmee a break" how much news can ya have, right, ha ha!!! Denise Wenzloff of Storage Units, Ink and More contacted me a bit ago and asked if I'd be interested in designing for her....and my response....heck yeah (you can visit her blog & the announcement here)!!! Not only are her stamps cutie-patootielicious (yes that is a word in Suzanneland) but she has a brilliant group of gals working for her too (check out my side bar for all their lovely blogs). The new stamps get released on October 1st so stay tuned for that. Until then members of the DT have sneak peeks everyday for ya. Today it's Lauren Meader's and Bethany Paull's turn, so take a browse thru their blogs when you get a chance---you won't be sorry!

Second news of the day, if you didn't catch it in my blog post yesterday....well.....you missed out on the brand spankin' new opening of Magnolia-licious. Ya know the webshop Diana Crick has been feverishly working on to sell all things Magnolia. The website is beautiful and unique, so take a gander, okay! The link on my sidebar is NOW working and will take you there anytime you'd like :)

Ok, onto my card of the day. I have to start off by saying that I love, love Karen Lockhart images. They're always beautiful and so unique--which is why I chose to buy this lovely fall image. I make 2 centerpieces very similar to this every year for my table and fireplace mantle in an old wooden bread bowl so I had to have this stamp. The image was colored with Copics and then I added diamond glaze to the glass hurricane and a few sparkles here and there with both stickles and my Copic Atyou Spica pens. The dp is from DCWV and it had some scrolls already in the bottom left corner, but I wanted to add more all around so I used SU's "Baroque Motifs" w/ choc.chip ink. I used my oval nesties to cut everything out and wrapped the card in PTI's chocolate ribbon--the sentiment is from PTI's "First Fruits" set too. I think it makes a simple, elegant fall card, whatcha' think?

Have a wonderful weekend wherever in the world you may be!

Hugz,

Suzanne

Spooky, Spooky!

Happy TGIF---wow what a long week and I'm soooo happy the weekend is here!! I'm looking forward to a night out w/ my hubby and friends and lots of laughs too! Hope you've had a great week and the "sickies" haven't visited your house yet--seems everyone in my house and my neighbor's houses have been sick, yucky! So I'm sending out hugs and good wishes to all my stampin' pals who are feeling sicky-poo too, no fun!!

Only one card for ya today, I have lots of things to run around and get done before tonight. Seems those naggy chores must get done (ya know laundry, vacuuming and picking up "kid" clutter)--ugh... And of course I have to figure out what to wear tonight---whatever makes me look thin will win, lol!!

This card uses all 3 new Halloween sets by CC Designs--I had to make a spooky scene with them (they insisted I swear)! Is this lil' doggie all scared not the cutest? The ghost isn't really spooky either, but certainly cute!! Basic card for ya, I layered everything on gray cs (most of the images were cut out except the bat and cat) and then I sponged a spooky "fog" before I attached my images. Everything was colored w/ Copics and I added some stickles here and there. On the moon I used my new Shimmerz paint (I ordered like 10 colors--I'm a sicko or something & can't stop ordering, ROFL). Love this stuff--I used it on a couple of other cards that I'll share w/ you soon too. It's very translucent and shimmery--easy to apply and quick drying too. The dp is from MFT and the glitterdots are from Gina K (lovee these dots).

Hope ya liked to be "spooked" today! Gotta run, I'll try and post for ya tomorrow. Don't forget to check out Jen's I{heart}2Stamp blog tomorrow for her Sketch For You to Try. My card sample as her guest designer is all about "giving thanks" so check it out when you get a chance!

Hugz,

Suzanne

PS- I have still not heard from Linda Deline so I will be back later with a new winner of the blog candy. Theresa, your blog candy will be sent out tomorrow--hugz!

What a Day!

Hello Everyone! And what a day yesterday was for sure! First I want to tell you that Katharina of Whiff of Joy asked me last week to become a permanent member of her DT--yippee!! I was so excited and ya know I said "yes" right away, tee hee! I lovvvvvvvveee those stamps so much and cannot wait for the new ones. BTW, she's having another challenge to look for the next Guest Designer so get on over to her blog and check it out! And my DT sistah Bev is having her Whiff of Joy blog candy giveaway starting today, so get on over there and check it out & enter (make sure and enjoy her gorgeous creations too)! And if that's not enough for ya, Elisabeth Bell is having blog candy on her blog too (yummilicious)! And for those of you here in the US who want some Whiff of Joy stamps, All That Scraps now has them for you to purchase (although Christine does not have all of them yet) or you can still order them directly from Whiff of Joy.

A quick funny story for ya (if you are a lover of snakes, skip to next paragraph). Yesterday afternoon there was a copperhead snake (venomous & poisonous) in my back stairwell (our basement has walk-up stairs to the yard with woods behind us). Unbeknownst to me I had let the doggies out in the yard and I almost stepped on it--yucko! So I'm totally freaked out because I don't want the snake to get up in the yard but I'm scared to death to go outside and kill it. Long story short, my good friend Sally came up for moral support and both us got armed w/ shovels to attack. My son took a video and if you are familiar with the "I Love Lucy" show--well we were Lucy & Ethel for sure (its comical now after the fact, lol). Anywhoo, after much screaming and jumping around we managed to kill it and bag it up (for my hubby to dispose of)! Sorry, but I just do not like snakes of any kind--gross-o! I thought I might actually have a heart attack or vomit at the same--for sure the grossest thing I've ever done! Hopefully no more snakes come back for vengeance to get me!!

Ok, onto to more pleasant things! This card was made with a new Magnolia stamp from the Fall Kit (Winter Kit is now available for pre-order here. It works out to about $45 for all the stamps and shipping so it is a deal). The background stamp is from Alota stamps--its actually probably supposed to be a summer bg but I colored it so it was fall. I paper pieced her shirt--the dp is new from SU's designer paper pack (hostess level). After coloring the bg w/ my Copics I used my pearlescent watercolors to color the clouds and sky for a nice soft shimmer. I also added stickles to the edges of the clouds and some to the trees. The ribbon and cs is from PTI and the sentiment is actually a clear sticker from Cloud 9 Designs that I attached to cs. I'm hoping Diana Crick's webshop for Magnolia-licious is close to opening, but until then you can contact her at magnolia.us@shaw.ca for ordering information (the fall kit stamp will not be available thru her).

All right, I'm off to work on some more projects. I got all the new JustRite stamping goodies yesterday so I have to try them out--lovee them! And I have another "secret" to share w/ ya this week so stay tuned...!

See ya--

Suzanne

**NOTE: My blog candy #1 has still not been claimed by Linda Deline--if I don't hear from you by Thursday I will redraw a number and award the blog candy to someone else. Thanks!***

Fright Nite!!

Good Saturday Morning to ya! First and foremost, I hope all my stampin' pals and cohorts in the Texas area are safe and dry with big ole' Hurricane Ike hitting the area last nite. We're all praying and thinking about ya!

We're off to the Octoberfest today with some of our friends--hope the weather stays nice and it should be fun. Then I'm teaching a Copics class at Marti's (Pez-a-doodles) house--we'll see how I do, lol! And boy do I have some news for you, but its still top secret right now (3 big secrets actually)--can't wait to share with ya'll!

Don't forget to visit Jen del Muro's blog (I{heart}2stamp) today for her Saturday Sketch For You to Try and my sample I made as her guest designer this month. Let's just say it will be a "bella-riffic" sketch for ya!!

I decided to make it a theme day again--so today is "fright nite" for ya, tee hee! I love Halloween and I love to decorate for Halloween. Every year I haul out my boxes of decorations and then of course go buy some new things and decorate the front yard for the many trick-or-treaters we get. I even fire up my fog machine so the front yard "graveyard" is spooky--I just love it! So when I saw this "Fright Night" stamp set from H&M Stamps I just had to have it! I love that you can make spooky scenes with it and ya gotta love all the different gravestones. Everything was colored w/ Copics and I added some stickles to the house's windows for a sparkly glow. I cut each of the gravestones out and popped 'em up w/ dimensionals. I love the sentiment too--so fun! The fence is a Martha Stewart punch and I bent the fence outwards and adhered it w/ tacky tape at the edges for a big 3-D pop! The dp is from Reminisce, isn't it fabby, I love it!

The second card uses stamps from MFT's "Totally Witchin'" set and I used the MFT sketch #47 from this week for the layout. Make sure and check out the MFT forum next week for their week of challenges-looks like fun! I stamped each of the "secret ingredients" out and colored them and then added colored stickles. I added some cobwebs using a Martha Stewart punch and then added black stickles to them. Pretty basic card, just frighteningly fun!

Hope you all have a great weekend! Until then...
Suzanne

Fall-ing For Autumn!

Happy Thursday everyone! I am happy and thankful today! My sinus infection is on its way out the door and I brought my kitty home too!! He's eating up a storm and resting--I'm so glad to have him home!! Maybe now I can get some sleep....ha ha!! Now if the "powers that be" could just get me out of jury duty tomorrow, I'd be set!! And I'm thankful to all of you in the "stamping blog land" of ours for sending me your well wishes and support--its so appreciated!

BLOG CANDY ALERT--If you have not entered for my blog candy, you can do so until 11 pm EST tonight right HERE!!
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I have 2 cards for ya today and both are fall themed again! I am loving all my new fall stamps and dp, I just gotta use them! My first card uses another Spiral Whisper stamp by Janet Roberts (Autumn Millie)--she's just a cutie-pie! I pulled out a new pack of dp from SU called "Sweet Always" (lovee the colors and patterns in this pack for sure) and used the sketch on SCS (SC193) for my layout. The sentiment is from PTI's "Mailbox Greetings"--love the versatility of that set (use it all the time)!




The second card uses a new stamp set I got from H&M Stamp Co. called "Old Fashioned Hayride"--this set has a ton of stamps in it and all of them are great! Heather Rolin is both a stamp designer and owner for this company--she's super talented and super nice too! I ordered a few sets from H&M and they are really great---I'll be sharing my projects with those real soon! I stamped out all 3 elements (the scarecrow does not have a crow on his hat, but the set comes w/ one and I thought it looked cute there) and colored them w/ Copics. I used my circle nesties to cut everything out. The dp is from DCWV "fall mat stack" paired w/ PTI cs. I punched my brown cs with my new Fiskars border punch and just layered away. The sentiment is the same one from PTI that I used above--I always cut my sentiments when I get them because I like to stamp them in different ways. This way you can make them fit to your needs too. I added a few stickles to make everything pop!

Hope you like the cards today! I will type up my post for Friday tonight with the winner of the blog candy since I'll probably be gone all day tomorrow doing my civic duty (yuck)! Hope ya have a great day!

Suzanne

Fall-i-licious!!

Happy Fallish Sunday! So the rain has passed and the sun is finally peeking thru. I think we got over 3 inches of rain yesterday--we definitely needed it, but I can do w/o the stormy weather that came along with it. I guess I'm starting to move out of my summer mood and fall (ha, ha) into autumn!! But I will miss the warm weather--winter and me do not get along!!

I have to tell you one of my dirty little secrets...well it's not really dirty and not really a secret to those who know me well!! I love New Kids on the Block (am I aging myself, hee hee) and have since I was a teen. I was one of those crazy, screaming girls (like today's Jonas Bros. fans...aka my daughter) who had posters all over my walls and went to every concert. My mom was and is the best ever--she waited in many long lines at ungodly hours in the morning to help get me good tix to their concerts and hauled me and my friends around to see them and follow their tour bus around (were we crazy or what). And guess who's going to see their reunion tour next month...ME and my MOM--yippeee (and this time I bought the tix)! I can't wait, alas we'll all be screaming women and moms now, lol!!! BTW, their new album is FANTASTIC--love it and listened to it all day yesterday while I was stamping. It got my mojo flowing! And my Jonas Brother loving daughter actually admitted she liked their new songs--aha, a future convert---ROFL!!!! BTW, this is not my "other" secret--that will be revealed tomorrow.

Ok, onto my cards as I've blabbed enuff about my obssessions (did I mention I'm also addicted to Cherry Coke, oh well that's a whole 'nother post, hee hee). Being in a fallish mood both of my cards today reflect that in case ya didn't notice--oh my, someone slap me cuz' I'm slaphappy!!


The first card uses a new Magnolia stamp that I got and I believe she's called "Tilda in Falling Leaves". If you are interested in buying any of these stamps you can contact Diana Crick at magnolia.us@shaw.ca for ordering information. Her new webshop, Magnolia-licious will be ready to go in just a few days--how exciting is that!! I used some new dp from Memory Box called "Twiggy". I couldn't help but to paper piece her sweater w/ some of the dp. I colored her w/ Copics and used my nesties to cut out the circle and scallop circle frames. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado and I used my fall leaf punch to punch out leaves and attach them around the card. A few stickles here and there and some raffia tied around completes the fall scene. Do you like?


The second card is using one of the new Whiff of Joy stamps called "Willow with Cookies"---isn't she just the prettiest lil chef? I never look this good when baking--ha ha! This yummo-licious dp is from a new company called Black Market (not BM you party people & you know who I'm talkin' about, lol). This particular pack is called "rhythm" and I lovee it. Of course I got all of them cuz' I'm a paper addict, and ha ha that's the store I got it from :) You can get it from The Paper Addict or Gina K--it comes in 6x6 packs so make sure and check it out! She's colored w/ Copics of course and the rest of the card is just lots of layering. I used flowers from Prima and the ribbon and cs are from PTI. The sentiment is from Verve Stamps "Feeling Groovy" set--I lovee this set so much!!

Alrighty, enough outta me--go enjoy your day doing whatever it is that pleases ya! I have errands to run and get done.

Until tomorrow...
Suzanne

Pumpkin Party!!

Happy Wednesday everyone! I am back with a quick post for you--this will be short, as I am working on tomorrow's tutorial and other projects on my neverending to-do list!

This image is from Inkadinkado and I just had to have it when I saw it on http://www.addictedtorubberstamps.com/ (not sure of its name). Our family goes to the pumpkin patch every year since our kids were lil babies and its our favorite fall thing to do, so this stamp reminds me of all the hayrides we've gone on to pick our pumpkins. This was really fun to color with my Copics too. The dp is from K&Co's "Fall Harvest" mat pad and the deep chocolate cs and ribbon is from PTI. This card is pretty self-explanatory, just alot of layering. I distressed the image with some Colorbox chalk ink just around the edges. The sentiment is new from PTI's "First Fruits" stamp set--this is my favorite font ever, I wish I could get more sentiments w/ this font. I'm very fond of old-fashioned fonts. I thought this card just needed a simple word to go with it as not to take away from the main image. For a final touch, I added dew drops to the corner and tied a bow around.

Alrighty, I'm off to finish up things. Hope you have a great day--its beautiful here and I have all my windows open with a nice breeze floating in---nothing bettah' than that!!

Suzanne

Gimmee Gimmee, Trick or Treaty!!

Happy Tuesday everyone! I'm posting early again today, cuz' I have tons of errands to get done. The kids need haircuts, new shoes and some more school clothes before school starts next week and my plan is to get it all done today (pray for me)!! My dd will be ok, but my son will start whining within the first 20 mins about how he hates trying on shoes, pants....etc.etc and he'd rather be playing and when are we leaving---ya know the usual stuff from a 10 yr old boy!! I will definitely return home with a migraine and exhaustion emanating from me--lol!

BTW, I finished organizing my craft room yesterday (took me 5 hrs) and I'm very happy w/ it now. I can find everything and everything has it's place--paradise for me!!

I've had this new MFT set for awhile and have been aching to ink it up. I know you all are probably tired of seeing my "gift sets", but I just love this one. I always make my kid's friends a "special card/treat" for Halloween every year and this will be the one I make for them this time. This stamp set is called "Monster Squad" by MFT and I used 3 of the images included in this set. Are these not the cutest lil' monsters you've ever seen? I based all the colors off of this fun Halloween dp by Imaginisce's "Hallowhimsy" line. I added some stickles to the trick-or-treaters and inked up the edges a little w/ some gray ink. I used my nesties to cut out the sentiment and the layers.

The little pail I got from the Target $1 spot--they were on clearance and I got 8 of them for $3; can't beat that! I just made a simple belly band w/ the dp around the pail. I stamped out the haunted house onto black cs w/ palette ink (new canvas) and then cut it out. I added a few strips of orange cs to the roof and some stickles in the windows. It's attached to the pail w/ dimensionals so that it pops a little. I made a matching tag and attached it with more Michael's ribbon. Didn't take long at all--which is good cuz I have 7 more to make, ha ha!!

Alright, I'm off to shop w/ the kids---wish me lotsa luck!! I'm working on the Copic tutorial, so hopefully it will be up on Wednesday. BTW, you can still vote for me (come on I need the votes badly!!!) over on the JustRite Stampers blog thru this evening. Even if you already voted, you can vote again today and I would soooooo appreciate it!!!!!!!

Until tomorrow...

Suzanne

How Does Your Candy Grow!!

Good Monday afternoon! I am in the midst of re-organizing my entire craft room and it is a disaster zone right now. I just got tired of stuff being everywhere and moving things to get to other things---YKWIM!! Of course my loving hubby had what he thought was a good solution--stop buying more stuff---Yeah right buddy-o, HA, HA--NEVER!!!! :) What I need is a larger room--but that's not happening!

I'm sharing a card I made last week with my new Pink Cat Studio stamps called "Limitless Limbs". Now my intent was to make another card with this set to show you the versatility and different ways to use it, but I haven't yet :( --I'll try to this week. I'm working on lotsa top-secret stuff....shhhhh....its a surprise!!!! I will have some tutorials this week on using Copics though. Ok...

I'll make this quick for you. Basically this set comes with different trees and all kindsa decorations for the trees. I chose to use the candy corn and pot for the tree to dress it up. I also added some dew drops to the tree for some added shine and dimension. The Halloween dp is from Heidi Grace (isn't it cute-a-licious), the brown dp and cs are from SU. The little ghost is a stamp I've had for awhile from Stampendous and the greeting is from MFT's "Monster Squad" set. I added some stickles (of course) to the candy corn, ghost and the o's in the sentiment. The brown twill ribbon is from PTI.

Hope you like it and I will make another card/project w/ this set again--its really fun to use! Ok, back to my mess so that hopefully later on today I can work on some more projects!

Till then....

Suzanne

PS--I still need your votes over at the JustRite Stampers blog for my teacher notecard box/cards--You can vote once a day. If ya wanna vote head on over there thru Tuesday evening--I appreciate it!!

Spooky Sweets!

Happy TGIFriday!! I'm so glad the week is ending--its been a long one!! I'm still feeling a little under the weather with this summer cold, but hopefully its on its way out! I never get sick in the summer--YUCK--go figure! We don't have any major plans this weekend--yippee--just hanging out (maybe some uninterrupted craft time)! The weather is supposed to be beautiful again, but no rain in site (3 wks & counting here). Hope you all have some great plans for one of the last weekends of summer.

Continuing with my fall theme this week I just had to use my new stamps from Paper Trey Ink. I also wanted to use some of those "800" coasters I have (read below post) too. This is a simple gift set to put together; the box took the longest to put together, not hard just time consuming. I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch holes in all my coasters and then covered the outsides with Cosmo Crickets "Haunted" dp line. The coasters are held together with black ribbon (Michaels). I love this new set from PTI called "Spooky Sweets 2" which coordinates with last year's "Spooky Sweets 1" stamp set. I used 3 stamps on the box (scrolly circle, bat and sentiment)--the bat is from set #2 and I stamped it, cut it out and popped it up w/ dimensionals. The entire circle was cut with my nesties and then I added black stickles to the bat and some parts of the circle scrolls for lotsa sparkle.

The circle card was made with my scalloped nesties out of SU cs. I added the same dp to the front and stamped the black cat into the scrolled circle this time and used a small sentiment from set #1. Again I added black stickles and popped the circle up w/ dimensionals--the lt. orange twill (from Taylored Expressions) was tied around the card and the bag of candy. I just love these round cards--fun to look at and fun to make.

I think this gift set is Halloween Elegance personified--whatcha think? I really love how it turned out and I used 5 more coasters--yippee for me--LOL!! Hope you like it too. Make sure and check out all of PTI's new releases--they are really fab and so versatile (no I do not design for them or work for them--but love their products, and have most of them--heehee).

That's all for me--hope you have a great Friday!! I will be back to post the winner of my blog candy at 2 pm (I hope I can get that random number generator to work for me w/o alot of trouble)!!

Suzanne

Autumn Greetings!

Happy Monday Morning everyone! I don't know about any of you, but I feel like summer just flew by! Oh where does the time go? Fall clothes and school supplies are out in the stores even though the weather is still in the high 80's. I really do like fall, I love the crisp cool air and Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Summer is my most favorite though as I'm not a lover of winter and unfortunately with fall comes the winter. And as much as I love my kiddos I'm very ready for them to go back to school, so I can have the days to myself again to get more things done. No more bickering or "I'm bored" comments--at least until they come home, lol!

Since I've been busy getting school supplies and clothes for my kids this weekend, I thought I'd break out my fall papers and colors. I love this new Tilda image with her bottle of wine and basket--very autumnal looking or as my stampin friend Susan said, she looks a little Tuscan. And of course, Italy is the place I want most to visit in the whole world so how perfect :) She's colored with Copics and I paper pieced her skirt to match the dp from Me&MyBig Ideas. I cut her out and popped her up with dimensionals onto the cream cs. The card bg and base is SU cs that I stamped with Verve Stamps "filigree fantasy" in versamark for some extra contrast. The sentiment is from SU's "Lovely Labels" set. Pretty basic layout, just lotsa layers.

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Ok, onto the big news!! I'm over 10,000 blog hits so that means BLOG CANDY!!!! To enter you only have to answer this question:

"What stamping/craft technique would you most love to learn about?"

Not a trick question--just curious--ya know how I like to ask my questions and read everyone's answers and maybe learn something new. So just leave a comment on this post by Thursday 8/21 by 11:00 pm (EST) with your answer!

Wanna know what you can win? Here's the list (picture above):

-a Brand Spankin' New, Whiff of Joy stamp called "Charlie and dog (I stamped it out on cs with my own stamp so you could see it in its full glory) very generously donated by Katharina Frei

-Me&MyBig Ideas paper pad (Cornucopia which I used on the card above, of course this paper pad is brand new, I used my own--don't worry)

-1 spool of Halloween ribbon and 1 pack of small fall ribbons by KI Memories

-1 pack of fall Primas

-1 Halloween(cobweb & spider) acrylic stamp

-1 Memento inkpad in Tuxedo Black

-15 stamped images (your choice of a combo of Magnolia, Whiff of Joy or Sugar Nellie images)

Sound Good--then enter!!! Thanks to all you wonderful blogging/stamping friends out there for always being super supportive, kind and wonderful to me--I appreciate and love you all!!!!

Suzanne

***If you are interested in buying the Magnolia stamps, please contact Diana Crick at magnolia.us@shaw.ca for ordering information****