Pumkins, Pumkins!

Happy Monday everyone! Did ya have an awesome weekend? Ours was pretty good minus the hurricane drenching rains & storms we got Friday & Saturday! Wow--we got 4 inches of rain here, we needed rain but NOT that much, LOL! Even with the rain we braved it & headed to Tyson's Corner Mall (our big, gigantic) mall with hubby, son, duaghter & daughter's friend! ACK! We figured everyone would stay away due to the awful weather, but OH NO--they were ALL there at the mall with me! ARGHHHHHH--I HATE CROWDS OF PEOPLE!! We did manage to get about half of our shoppin' done but I still gotta go again---lord help me & provide me with lots of ADVIL!! LOL--I hate school shoppin! So to recover the Dean Family had jammie day yesterday, hee hee---my favorite activity in the whole world :o) But I did manage to sell the majority of my SU sets (yay) & work on some new projects for this week! I've gots lots to share with ya this week that's for sure!

NewsBitz:

-A Happy, Stampendous Birthday Shout-Out to Diana Crick today!! She's a wonderful boss, stamp store owner, super talented (she invented the Scor-Pal ya know), kind & amazingly generous lady I tell ya! I had the wonderful opportunity to have lunch with her at CHA last year & she is EVEN nicer in person :o) Happy Birthday Diana--I hope it's a "Magnolia-Fabulous Day"!! Drop her a line at the Magnolia Store & give her a bday wish 'kay!!

-If you haven't gotten any of the NEW Victoria Case for SCACD stamps yet--whaddya waitin' for! These cuties are a steal at $7 a piece or the whole sheet of 8 stamps for $40 (that's $5 a piece--a total deal)!! They're a must have I tell ya!! Get yours HERE!

-And I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to those of you who buy from my Etsy shop!! Some of you are my "regulars" hee hee & I just really want to let you know how much I appreciate you buying my projects! I hope they give you as much joy as I have making them! It's great to have supporters buying handmade projects--if you haven't checked out Etsy you really should! They have so many fabulous goodies of all kinds (cards, shoes, fashion, housewares, etc.) & they're all handmade, which makes them even more special. You can see them all HERE!

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So today I have a fun project for ya! A bit ago, Christine of All That Scraps (& fabulous illustrator of the CC Designs Sugarplums stamps) had an early pre-order of their Fall Sugarplum Stamps & of course I HAD to have them, hee hee! Now these stamps will be available on Sept. 7th right HERE if you want them! I will have a couple more cards done with them this week--they are stop-ur-heart CUTE I tell ya! The dp on this card is new from PTI along with a sentiment from CC Designs Fall Sugarplum stamps their new set "Fall Elegance". I say "pumkin's" (not misspelled, hee hee) cuz that's what my son called them when he was little & it always cracked us up--so to tease him now every fall we always say we're goin' to get lotsa pumkins!! LOL

I used quite a few stamps on my card today & below is a slideshow w/ instructions showing how I paper pieced this cutie in case you don't understand or know how to do it!! I paper pieced her apron & headband and colored the rest of the images (girl & wagon, pumpkin & fence). Remember to color your image FIRST before adding the paperpieces--much easier & you can still add shading to the paper piecing with your copics so it doesn't look flat!

Another "Suzanne Tip of the Day"(LOL) is my nestability shapes--I used the largest Scalloped Square Nestability (7 Kids has these nesties HERE & others for sale for $16.99--a deal for sure) to go behind my image but I still wanted a darker color behind that but didn't have a larger nestie. So I cut the same size scalloped square out of my darker cs & then cut all 4 sides off in strips & adhered them to my scalloped square so they peeked out just a bit!! Now I have a 2-toned scalloped square!! This makes all of your flat-edged nesties much more versatile for ya!

I cut the main part of my image out & popped it with dimensionals in front of the fence and then added another cute pumkin! The pumkin's & her shoes got diamond glaze on them & her dress has diamond stickles for some sparkle! So cute!

Paper Piecing Slideshow Below w/ Instructions:

See ya back here tomorrow!

hugz,
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

Rainy Days

Good evening everyone! It's a blah, dreary, rainy Monday here in Virginia. I hate Mondays and I hate the rain--I just want spring and the sun to come! One day I will live somewhere where it's warm and sunny all of the time (dream...). After taking most of the day to finish catching up on my chores, I finally got to do some stamping. I thought this stamp set from My Favorite Things fit the bill today. I used my paper from Paper Trey Ink again--I just love the color combos, so soft and pretty. I like to paper piece my images from time to time to change things up. The rest of the image I watercolored and added some bling, umm.. I mean sparkles to the puddle with my favorite, stickles (see how much I love em'). I finally used some baubles that I have had sitting around--thought they made good raindrops. Nice big raindrops, like the ones that always seem to fall on my head from roofs and then drip down my face (see how much I love the rain):(

I hope you enjoy your evening and that it is nice and dry where you are.

Suzanne

(SU basic gray, black & soft sky, Paper Trey Ink spring moss paper & ribbon, stickles)