Tropical Paradise!!

Good morning everyone! Hope you've had a good weekend so far. I'm feeling somewhat better today, just a little tired I guess. We have a funeral to go to later today, so I'm taking it easy until then. I'm feeling a little sad that summer is coming to an end too. Back to school routines for kids, evening activities and cold weather to look forward to---I just love the slower pace of summer and of course the warm weather. Me and winter do not get along--lol!

This card reminds me where I will be "wishing" I am come wintertime for sure! I have yet to get to Hawaii, but Maui is in the top 3 vacation places I'd like to go (Italy first, Maui second, Australia third). I might get there one day, but you know how I have a severe fear of flying--and all of these places are a long ways away from VA--I will definitely need meds for those flights :) Anywhoo, onto the card--

This Tilda goes by many names I think, "Hawaiian Tilda" and "Hula Tilda", but whatever, I just love her! The palm tree/beach stamp is from Magnolia too (I made the "sea" myself) cuz' I love the ocean. If you'd like to get some of these Magnolias you can contact Diana Crick directly for ordering info at magnolia.us@shaw.ca . BTW, I got a sneak peek at her new online shop that's coming called Magnolia-licious and it is PRETTY COOL--cannot wait, it will be finished soon, so stay tuned!!!

Ok, I stamped the images, colored them with Copics and cut lil' Tilda out. I colored Tilda a little darker than usual because I wanted her to look sun-kissed. And this sounds gross, but I actually cut her legs off (believe it or not, I actually felt bad--lol--me crazy I know) so that I could cut her grass skirt and fray it for texture. Then I "reattached" her legs with tape--all done by Dr. Suzanne (hee, hee). The tropical flowers are from Inque Boutique's "Cabana" stamp set that I stamped w/ SU inks and cut out, added Doodlebug glitter brads to the center and popped up w/ dimensionals. I stamped an extra palm tree so that I could cut out the top leaves to layer with the flowers. WARNING--LOTSA STICKLES AHEAD!! (I am in a crazy mood--me thinks I had too much rest)!! I loaded everything up with diamond stickles for lotsa sparkle. The dp is from SEI "dill blossom" line. I cocked the "scene" to the side, because I wanted it to look kinda like a vintage, travel postcard behind her. I also liked the dimension of having Tilda standing outside of the scene. The sentiment is from PTI's "Mailbox Greetings", and I used my oval nesties to cut the oval layers out. The last picture gives you an idea of the layering and dimension on this card--sometimes its hard to tell in a picture, so I took this from the side to show you.

Well, I hope you liked my lil' "Hula" Girl today. Have a great Sunday! Till then...

Suzanne

PS--If you like me, love me or just wanna vote for me (lol)--head on over to the JustRite Stampers blog thru Tuesday evening. I made it to the top 6 for my teacher notecards & box (see a few posts below) and you can vote for me on their blog. I appreciate it so much if you do!!

Jumpin' for Joy!

Happy Thursday afternoon everyone! I hope your week has been swell so far. I am really looking forward to some time away--the kids go to my mom's tomorrow for a week and my dh and I are headed to Phillie on Sunday for 5 days. Since it was kind of a last minute trip we didn't want to go far and we're bigtime history buffs so we're looking forward to all the historical sites Phillie has. We're staying at the Ritz Carlton and I have big plans to spend a few hours at their spa for my treat--can't wait!!! After the past 6 months we've had with my "cancer" scare, relatives sick, pets dying and then my hubby's scare the other night--this will be well worth the money spent for some relaxing and enjoying each other.

I'm on a Magnolia "kick" right now and I'm inking up some of my Magnolia stamps that have been lonely! This little "tomboy" Tilda reminds me of myself when I was little. I was such a tomboy and always wanted to be like my big brother (who is 9 yrs older)--the dirtier I was the better :) (If you want to order some Magnolia's, please contact Diana Crick at magnolia.us@shaw.ca )

This fun and cheery dp is by Cloud9 Design (Sunrise Buds) and I paired it with some Bazzill cs I had. I always like to pick out my dp first and then match my Copics up with it to color the images. I stamped both Tilda and the fence, colored them w/ Copics and then cut them both out. Now on the Tilda stamp she is holding a jumprope, but I cut it off and attached embroidery floss for a more "real" looking jump rope effect. I used my Nestabilities to cut out the scalloped squares, and embossed the rust cs with my CB swiss dots folder for some texture. All of the images were attached w/ dimensionals for a nice 3-D effect (ya know my usual stuff). The sentiment is from SU's "Sweet Serendipity" set and I thought it was perfect. I punched out 2 butterflies w/ my PaperShapers punch and layered them together and then spiffed it up with some dots and stickles on the wings--then it was attached to the sentiment. The ribbon is from PTI (lemon tart) and the brads are Basic Grey. I added a few more stickles to her wings and some highlights with my Inkssentials pen. Just a fun, cheery summer card---Just what I needed!!!

Thanks to everyone who asked about my hubby--he's doing well and hopefully this will be a warning to him to slow down a little (better said right). We'll be enjoying some downtime that's for sure.

BTW, can you believe I'm almost at 10,000 blog hits already!! Seems like I just hit 5,000 and gave away blog candy. So when I get back from my mini vacay it will definitely be BLOG CANDY time--so stay tuned!!

And if you haven't checked out Diana Crick's new Scor-Mat for your Scor-Pal, ya really should. I have it and it's fantastic--allows you to work right on top of your scor-pal--lovin' it!!! And if you don't already have a Scor-Pal (gasp), whatcha' waiting for!!!! Also check out all the new stamps MFT released last nite, wickedly cute and into my cart they all went (sigh...when will I ever have enough...sadly, never--lol)!!

I'm taking the kiddos to my Mom's tomorrow so I don't know if I'll post or not. I'm trying to have some posts done for while I'm away, so we'll see...

Suzanne

Beary Happy!

Good Wednesday Mornin' to ya! It's a bright, sunny day here in VA and we are off to the pool today. We didn't get to go yesterday because it was so overcast and drizzly, but I'm getting my "sun" on today! Not too many more days left to spend at the pool with the kids getting ready to go back to school after Memorial Day, so I gotta get it in now! Hope it's sunny where you are today.

Just a quick card today that I made for a good friend of mine that I haven't seen in awhile. I know she's been going thru some tough times, so I thought this card would cheer her up a bit! This is a "Gruffie" stamp from House of Mouse called "Digging Up Dirt" (sentiment is from them too) which you can see here. I think these bears are so cute and fun and the sentiment is perfect! I colored my image with Copics, and the background is watercolored w/ SU inkers. The cheerful dp is from DCWV's "Blossoms & Butterflies" paper pack paired up with some Coredinations cs. I added some stickles to the plant, dirt and sentiment flowers for lots of sparkle and the shovel has diamond glaze on it. In the corners are some of those yummy, sparkly Glitter Dots that I got from Gina K--love them! The flowers are Prima w/ a Doodlebug brad in the center and the ribbon is from Michaels. Like I said, just a quick & easy card today. I have a more time consuming project to show ya tomorrow that I know you'll love.

Don't forget that MFT (My Favorite Things) is having their release party tonight at 8 pm EST on SCS--always a fun time and there will be 5 new "fall" stamp sets released tonite. I've seen all the sneak peeks and they are "wicked" fun!! Make sure and check them out.

Also, Pink Cat Studio released 2 new stamp sets today (mine have already been ordered-lol). Melissa really outdid herself w/ these stamp sets and packed tons of stamps into each set. You really should check them out!

Ok, enough chit-chat and enabling for ya--we're off to the pool for the afternoon. Hope ya have a great day! Until tomorrow...

Suzanne

Red Alert!

Good Monday afternoon fellow scrappers! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Ours was really good--not much going on but some chilling. We didn't get to the zoo yesterday because my dd was invited to a sleepover so we'll go another day. I did get to go shopping and get some new things!! I got a brand new leather chair for my craft room that is extra cushy & comfy--so much better than my old one (now my hiney won't all asleep as much-lol)!! I also got 2 roll-ee carts w/ bins for my craft room too--I now have all my acrylic stamps in drawers separated by company and labeled. Oh how I love good organization. I also treated myself to the rest of the Copic markers I was missing so now I have them all except a few of the grays--yippee!!! I love shopping (for me stamping)!! :)

Onto my card today--I realized that my last few cards have all been in the blue family so I didn't want to be redundant. So I whipped out my favorite color--RED!! When all else fails, just use red to liven things up--ha ha!! This is one of my new Sugar Nellie stamps called "Letter Box" from FunkyKits by Elisabeth Bell--I just love her images. If you get a chance check out her blog and store--beautiful things to be found there. She's also designing stamps for Whiff of Joy that should be coming out within the next month or so. You can visit her blog or Katharina's for previews of these luscious stamps!

This sketch was created by Katharina Frei (Whiff of Joy) for the Papertake Weekly Challenge. I used my new Cosmo Cricket "Honey Pie" dp for this card paired with PTI's vanilla and kraft cs. The image was watercolored with my SU inkpads and the background/sky was done with my Yasutomo shimmery watercolors. I double stamped the mailbox and envelope so that I could pop them up w/ dimensionals to give the image a 3-D appearance. I added a few stickles to some of the flowers and diamond glaze to the mailbox, some leaves and the butterfly. I distressed the edges with Memento ink in desert sand. The sentiment is from SU's "circle of friendship" set and just layered with cs circles cut out w/ my nestabilities. I paper pierced the corners of the card and around the sentiment to match the "cross-stitch" look of the dp. I also added a few highlights w/ my Inkssentials pen. The scalloped border was done w/ my Fiskars "threading water" border punch.

That's it! Hope your week is starting off well and I'll see ya back here tomorrow!!

Suzanne

Cowgirls!

Good Tuesday afternoon everyone! I hope you're having a good one. Unfortunately, I had no "card" dreams last night to guide me today--ha ha! We did have storms here around 1 am that kept me up for awhile. I'm not really scared of storms, but my older dog Casey is and she insists on hiding out on top of my head in bed when it storms at night. Of course, I'm not the greatest sleeper anyway and her panting on top of my head did not help with my sleep issues last night. I know this is a probably funny image to you (I might laugh later) but lack of sleep keeps me from laughing right now-lol!!!

My card today is for a guest DT challenge/call for a new line of stamps by Katharina Frei whose new line will be called "Whiff of Joy". You have to use her sketch for the card. I decided to ink up my Sugar Nellie/Sweet Ebony "Giddy Up" stamp which hasn't been used yet. I love little cowgirl images--too cute (although my son is hammerin' me to make a BOY card--maybe tomorrow). The dp is Marcella by K&Co (ancestry) and the cs is SU's choc. chip & blue bayou. The kraft cs is from PTI. After coloring her with my Copics I inked all the edges with my cream and brown ColorBox chalk inks for distressing. I added a few platinum stickles to her belt buckle--cuz every cowgirl needs a rhinestone buckle!! I also added lt. pink liquid pearls to the center of all the flowers. The "Howdy" sentiment is from MFT's "Ride Em Cowgirl" stamp set and the circle stamp around it is from PTI's "borders & corners" set. I used my nesties to cut the tag and the bg scallop out. I added an eyelet to the tag and threaded twine thru and around the card and tied off then roped around the edge of the card and attached w/ glue dots. For a final touch, I added Prima flowers that I layered and attached with Basic Grey brads. I am quite happy with how it turned out and I really like the soft colors--hope you likee too!

I'm going to try and make a boy card tomorrow (to appease my ds)--I haven't made very many of them, so it should be challenging for me :) See ya tomorrow!

Suzanne

I Scream For (Ben & Jerry's) Ice Cream!

Happy TGIF everyone! Hope you all had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend--I know I am. I mentioned to you yesterday about my "obsession" with my Ben & Jerry's ice cream "One Brownie Cheesecake"--which I had last night & was yummo! So today I'm rewarding myself with a "no-calorie" treat (my butt thanks me :)) to share with you.

***BLOG CANDY ALERT***If you haven't entered for my blog candy yet you still have until 11 pm (EST) to do so. You can enter for it here.

This first card uses Pink Cat Studio's "Sweet Treats" stamp set which I love because it has lotsa desserts in it & who doesn't love a great dessert every now & then (or everyday, twice a day...)! I used a sheet of Basic Grey's dp from their "Two Scoops" line--how appropriate, eh (oh no! my Canadian friends are rubbing off on me-lol)!! All of the cs is from PTI (aqua mist, sweet blush & lemon tart). I used my most favoritest CB embossing folder evah'--swiss dots, on some of the bg paper. Of course it's colored with my Copics and I added diamond glaze to the sundae glass for a nice shine. I added liquid applique for the cool whip and heated it to puff it up and lastly I added some cotton candy stickles to the cherry--yummo-licious!! I'm entering this card in a "tool challenge" over on the Mothers and Daughters Creations blog that you can see here. Check it out when you get a chance--you have to use Nestabilities somewhere on your project--easy, peasy for me cuz' ya know how much I love 'em!!

**Enabler Alert--CutatHome has all the new CB embossing folders in; I ordered mine yesterday so if you're interested you better get a move on, cuz' they're going fast!***

The second card of the day is for the All That Scraps sketch challenge that you can see here. I flipped the sketch around to fit my needs as usual! I used my stamp set from CC Designs called "Froggie & Friends" that you can purchase at All That Scraps. This set is very versatile, allowing you to mix and match the stamps together. For instance the frog, turtle and birthday hats are all separate stamps that I used together. I wanted my froggie to leap-frog over his turtle friend! They're all colored with Copics and I added a few stickles to their hats. The dp is from SU's "spring fling" line that I paired with their certainly celery & barely banana cs. I used one of my other CB embossing folders on the background (don't know the name of it) and used twill ribbon from Taylored Expressions (this stuff is great & comes in a rainbow of colors). I added a few baubles from Stamping Bella & it's done. A fun birthday card for someone!

All right, we're going to the library and then I'm taking the kids out to lunch today for a treat--then hopefully some stampin' time. Hope you have a great Friday!

Suzanne

PS--Lots of times I type my blogs the night before and have them post at 12:01 am the next day, so if you subscribe and get this in your box very early that's why. We're on EST here--I like to stay ahead of the game sometimes if I have my chicks all in order, that way it gives me more time to stamp :) Just to explain the time stamp!

My Top 10!

Happy Saturday everyone! Hope everyone had a safe & fun 4th of July! I am feeling better today, but still moving a little slower than normal. Tonight we're going to dinner and to see fireworks at our Club so hopefully the weather holds out. We went to see Wall-E last night, and if you haven't seen it--GO--its so cute and fun, I really liked it and so did my dh and kids. I am having quite a happy mail day today. I got all my new Magnolia stamps from Diana (thanks Diana), my Magnolia summer stamp club stamps, my new MFT stamps and last but not least I got all my new "Sarah Kay" stamps. Doesn't get better than that!! If you're interested in the Sarah Kay stamps you can check them out at Sweet 'n Sassy. If you want to order some Magnolias and can't wait for Diana's (from Scor-Pal) webshop to open, you can email her at magnolia.us@shaw.ca and she will tell you what she has in her inventory (she will also be carrying Copics--yippee).

I finally finished my card that I've been working on for the past 2 days--I won't even tell you how long it took me :) All stamped images (girl, clouds, house) are from Magnolia and the sentiment is from Verve Visual's "Wonderful Wishes Remixed". The lovely dp is from Heidi Grace called "daydream believer" and I lovee it, chocolate brown is my "new" black--lol! I paired it up with SU's choc. chip and ballet blue cs. Of course there are many layers in this one--I cut and stamped the girl, clouds & house separately and then restamped the stairs and door, cut them out & colored all w/ my Copics. The stairs, 1 cloud, girl and the house are popped up with dimensionals. The second door image( the cut-out one) I glued 2 paper door "hinges" to it and then glued it to the door on the house image--I then cut a piece of choc. chip cs to size and glued it over the hinges for the inside of the door so you don't see the inner workings-lol. If you have or have seen this house stamp you will know that over the door is a house number--I wanted my sentiment to be there instead so I stamped it out separately and popped it up there. The windows and door handle have Diamond Glaze on them for a nice glassy shine. There are stardust stickles on her wings, flowers and clouds for lots of sparkle! I added some design dots to the girls dress and highlights to her shoes, cheeks and windows with my Ranger Inkssentials pen. I am pleased as pie on how it turned out, hopefully you think so too!

Now for my Top 10 List--I have a lot of people email with questions concerning my favorite, can't live without products--so here goes (in no particular order):

1. my Carl RT-200 paper cutter from Staples

2. stickles (easy to use and under $2 a bottle)

3. Ranger Inkssentials white pen (the best)

4. Copics (love 'em-expensive but worth it)

5. Nestabilities by Spellbinders (use 'em everyday)

6. Cuttlebug (can't do w/o it)

7. Diamond Glaze (great for shine and as a clear adhesive)

8. Scotch's Quick-Dry Adhesive Glue (the only glue I use-I get mine at Michaels)

9. Ranger's Adirondack inkpads in Espresso & Pitch Black (quick dry & great w/ Copics)

10. Paper Trey Ink's White Cardstock (the best quality for stamping & coloring w/ Copics)

Of course I have other products I use regularly, but these are my most beloved and recommended!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my "long" post and have a great weekend!

Suzanne

Magnolia stamps (girl, house, clouds), Basic Grey brads, Heidi Grace dp (daydream believer), stardust stickles, Diamond Glaze, dimensionals, scalloped square nestabilities, Fiskars threading water border punch, Verve Visual "Wonderful Wishes Remixed" sentiment, SU cs in ballet blue & choc. chip, Ranger Inkssentials pen, Copics

Bee Happy!!

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a good, restful weekend (like me)!! I had a relaxing weekend at my mom's just hanging out and chilling--felt good, but doing nothing tires me out--lol!! I'm used to doing something every minute it seems. I got to eat my yum-o crabs w/ lots of Old Bay on them too and we celebrated my "older" brother's birthday (he's 43) & I'm a much younger (34)-lol!! I couldn't wait to get in my craft room today and work, I really missed it. I'm like a strange addict ya know--when I've been away too long it eats at me until I can get back in there and work/stamp :) Anyhoo....

The first card up today is just a fun little card I made with one of my Stampendous bee's from their "Bee Happy Collection". I thought this was a great summer stamp especially this week when everyone is gearing up for Fourth of July picnics and barbecues. I think it's a great image of summertime cuz' most people love watermelon at their summer picnics (except me--I hate all melons, weird, I know)!! The cs is from Bazzill and the dp is from DCWV's "summer matstack" which I thought had just the right "watermelon-ee" colors in it. The tag sentiment is from Sweet 'n Sassy's "Bee Happy" stamp set and the tag is from my new nestabilities tag set that I got from Cut@Home. I cut and popped the watermelon and added Diamond Glaze to it for lots of wet shine and their are some stickles on the bee (of course). The actual sketch layout is from Lauren Meader's Saturday sketch which I usually try to do cuz' they're always fun!

The second card is made with PTI's "Boards and Beams" stamp set--which I LOVE!! You probably remember the pop-up card I made with this set before but with the farmhouse instead. This is the "city" house which reminds me of homes in Old Town Alexandria, VA--historic row homes that are so elegant & quaint. I really wanted to use this new dp from Basic Grey called "Lily Kate" that I just got. I'm posting this card over on the OCC blog (Our Creative Corner) whose challenge this week was to use Basic Grey paper. The cs is Groovy Guava from SU. The images are colored with my Copics and I stamped the topiary trees and dormer twice, colored them and then cut one set out & popped it with dimensionals. The trees have some stickles on them and the windows are coated with Diamond Glaze again. The sentiment (which I adore) is another one I got from Rosie's Roadshow. If you haven't checked out all her great stamps, especially sentiments, you definitely need to. I used my Nestabilities tag dies again to cut the sentiment out and the satin ribbon is from Offray. These two cards didn't take too long to put together--which is good because I'm working on some other things I want to share this week.

Don't forget that Wednesday night is the release party for My Favorite Things--you can check out the forum on SCS for sneak peeks. I love the "gotta have it all" package you can get that includes all the new stamps--I'll be getting that on Wed. nite!!

See ya tomorrow!

Suzanne

Bee Happy card--Stampendous bee stamp, Sweet 'n Sassy sentiment (Bee Happy), DCWV dp, Bazzill cs, Copics, Diamond Glaze, Michaels ribbon, Nestabilities tag die, nestabilities circles, stickles, dimensionals, Ranger Inkssentials pen

City Home card--PTI "Boards & Beams" stamp set, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment, Nestabilities tag die, Offray ribbon, dimensionals, Copics, stickles, Diamond Glaze, Basic Grey "Lily Kate" dp, SU cs, MM brads

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