Red, White, Blue & Cute!

Hello Friends!  Hope your week has started off well so far!  I got my Invisalign braces today and I must say my mouth is SORE and my jaw is throbbing...makes me not wanna eat...guess that's a good thing huh? LOL!  I had braces in high school but when my kids were very small my dentist took out my permanent retainer I'd had in since the braces had gone away.  Well in 15+ years time my teeth have mostly moved back to where they once were...the top isn't so bad but the bottom...oy vey.  So 9 months of these babies...new ones every 2 weeks and best part is you can't really tell I have them in.  So I figure I carried 2 babies for 9 months right...I darn well can do this for 9 months LOL!  After I'm done I will wear a permanent retainer at night for the rest of my life....so I NEVER have to do this again ugh!

In other news its a busy week...when isn't it right LOL?  Alexa's birthday is on Thursday and we are headed up to Baltimore's Jimmy's Seafood Restaurant for the Raven's Draft Party...we get in early, meet the players and eat some yummy crabs.  Did I mention the part where I embarrass the CRUD out of Alexa while we are there...oh yeah baby.  Her fave player is Torrey Smith and he will be there...so I'm gonna ask him to sing Alexa "Happy Birthday"...shhhhhh don't tell hee hee!  I will be videotaping that :)  I still can't believe she will be 17....where does the time go huh?

**And starting on Friday the CMC Classroom kicks off its 3rd Birthday Bash festivities as well.  So all can join in on the fun....lots of fun challenges, games, a blog hop and awesome prizes!!  I will have more details on Friday for ya!

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Red, White, Blue & Cute!!

Today I'm using another cute NEW Elisabeth Bell for SCACD from the "Fairydust Collection" and this one is called "Little Acorns, Big Dreams'.  Isn't she a lil-wittle-cutie?  My papers are a mix of PaperMania's blue pack and Bazzill Basics in red which is 15% off now (this Doodlebug Stars & Stripes paper would be a great alternative too).  I got new dies...I got new dies...lemme do the happy dance now ok hee hee AND I used them.  I used two of them anywho and both are Memory Box dies "Prized Chrysanthemum Outline" and "Lavish Branch"... I added some Stickles to the branch's flowers as well as inking them.  The sentiment die and sentiment are both from PTI.  Then I used some fab PTI ribbon to tie it all off.

I'm entering her into the following fab challenges:

Challenges 4 Everybody (anything goes)

Dream Valley Challenges (things w/ wings)

Penny Black & More Challenge (bows & flowers)

Card Makin' Mamas (ribbon)

QKR Stampede (punches/dies)

She's colored with Copics:  B39, B34,B21 / R29,R24,R22,R20 & W5 / E11,E00 / E50,E25,E31.  Stickles on her wings and trim and leaves.  I paper pieced her apron with matching paper I used on the card and then shaded it a bit with W3.  Diamond Glaze on the bucket for shine.

That's it for me today...see ya on Wednesday!

Two Small Words!

Hello friends and Happy Thursday to you all! As usual I'm in a mass panic to finish off my to-do list before I hop on the road tomorrow morning to drive to Michigan! Lots to get done--gotta stamp images, pack and finish laundry while managing kids schedules and house duties, lol! Aye yi yi--it never ends does it? LOL! But I'm super excited to get there and teach and meet everyone but I wish I could blink my eyes and be there already, hee hee!

My post today features 2 small words "thank you"--both words are simply special when put together don't you think?  Sometimes I wonder if we all use these words enough for the people in our lives or that touch our lives in some?  And how do you say "thank you" when words don't seem enough?  How many people have passed through our lives helping us in some manner along the way?  Even if it that moment only lasts 5 seconds, it still matters.   I ask myself that almost every day and I think generically we've gotten used to handing out phrases quickly because it's easy, or we don't know another way but I think it's good if we really can think about what we're thanking for!?  Words mean a lot but to me actions speak more and one of my resolutions is to really SHOW someone my gratitude, my thank-you's and my love.  That's something I will continually work on, some days I struggle and some days I'm happy with how I've expressed myself but I think it's all something we can ponder on.  As I always say "We only get so many days on this earth, make them special, make them count and have no regrets along the way"!  So my card today is for EVERYONE who has blessed my life, helped me, befriended me and loved me---thank you so very much for having had a positive impact on my life!

I will have a fun post for you on Saturday and then another on Monday so please stop back by on those days to visit--I might have something sweet for ya!   Ok now, I'll keep my chitter chatter short for ya!

NewsBitz:

-Blog Candy Winner of the "Shop Til You Drop" is Chris Hawley of Cutie Patootie Creations who said "My most recent "ouch" purchase was my copic ciao markers. I bought the set A from JoAnns. I did feel a little guilty, although I did use my own money from my sold projects!!!! And am so glad I did now!!!!"  Congrats Chris---email me for details!!

-Only a Few more days left for my Fall Back 2 School Copic Class Special!  Take any two classes at the Color Me Creative Classroom and get $10 back!  Take any one class and get $5 back!!  And see where I'll be teaching next at the CMC On The Road website www.cmcroad.com!!

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2 Small Words

Isn't she just a cutie?  This is a new fairy stamp from a set by Pergamano called "Flower Girls"--I got my set while I was at CHA because I just fell in love with them.  But SCACD is now carrying them all HERE and you will want them I know--fun to color and squeezably cute!  My card is for this week's TIOT for SCACD--our challenge was to create a card that wasn't square!  Well I semi-obeyed the rules, lol by making an easel card with the main part of the easel round (that counts right?lol)! You can see all the DT's challenge projects at the store blog HERE!

I used some stunningly beautiful Prima papers here for the bottom of my card--I love the dreamy, watercolor effect they have.

She's colored with Copics (R05,R02,R00/G02,G00,G0000/YR24,YR21,YR20/hair E35,E31,YR20) and I added a few stickles to some of the flowers, her shoes and the large die cut leaves.  The leaf die cut is from another Marianne Designs die here that I just got (omg how I lovee these)--if you have problems getting these delicate die cuts out of the die use WAX PAPER between the die and the paper so they pop out easily!  I used some flowers from Wild Orchid as well.  The large round die cut is by Marianne Designs as well and then I ran it thru my Cuttlebug Folder.  I love this new folder and everyone has asked me what it is but I have NO CLUE, lol!  It is a larger folder by Cuttlebug but I can't find it on the web anywhere--so if you know what it is, please clue me in so I can tell everyone 'kay?!!

The sentiment is from a beautiful PTI set called "Inside & Out-Thank You" and I just stamped half in my yellow ink and the other half in my dk orange ink to make the dual colors.  I love the mix of pastels, watercolors and fallish colors on this card and I hope you like it too!

BLOG CANDY:  "If you had to go back and thank only 1 person in your life who would it be and why?"   Tell me your answer on this post and someone will win a Pergamano set of your choice from SCACD AND a pad of this Prima paper!  You have until Monday to answer!!

See you back here on Saturday---have a good one!

Pink Lemonade!!

Hi friends & welcome to Tuesday, hee hee!! Hope your week has started off swell--I'm having fun with my relatives eating good (re: fattening, lol) homecooked meals like pie & biscuits, oh my! Today we're off antiquing and I'm hopeful to find some good stuff--I collect depression glass & any kind of pitchers so cross your fingers for me!! I also bought the new "Jackie & Bobby" book about the affair between Jackie (Kennedy)Onassis and Bobby Kennedy--wooheee is this a doozy of a book, very interesting. I've always had a weird fascination with that family (who knows why, hee hee) and this book is very telling & juicy!! LOL

NewsBitz: The brand NEW SMOOCH (metallic paints) are now IN at Susana's store right HERE--awesome new colors I must say! And if you buy them as a set you get the 8 for the price of 7!!

Today is Tuesday which of course means its also Try It Out Tuesday for Susana's Custom Art & Card Design. I challenged the DT to create a thankyou card using one of the new Elisabeth Bell for SCACD images! I've used sweet lil' "Emma" for my card and paired her with this yummy BoBunny dp--love the summery colors, they remind me of pink lemonade! The border was made using the NEW Lattice Borderability--lovee it! The sentiment is from PTI's "Vintage Picnic Sentiments" and those gorgeous crocheted flowers were a wonderful gift from my friend Wynneth over in the UK (she made them for me & aren't they beautiful). They were white & then I spritzed them with Shimmerz Spritz (terracotta & tuscan yellow)--lightly spritzed so they stayed soft in color. I think she's just precious!

Now make sure & hop over to the "Follow Your Heart" store blog to see the rest of the DT's fabulous creations today!!


hugz,

Suzanne

Lovin' Lockhart!!

Yayyyy---Happy Friday everyone! Hooray for the weekend!! Hope you have some relaxin' in your plans for the weekend cuz' I know I do, LOL! I'm taking my daughter and her friend to see "Confessions of a Shopaholic" on Sunday; I read the book a few years ago & it made me laugh so I'm anxious to see if the movie is any good (books are always better ya know)! But other than that we don't have any big plans (love that) except running to the grocery store, oh not fun! But whatever you do this weekend I hope its a great one for ya!

It's no surprise that I really love my Lockhart Stamp Co. stamps---simple, elegant & so many to choose from--how can you not love 'em, lol!! For this card I used the Lockhart stamp "Hydrangea" and I lovee hydrangeas; second only to my love of tulips. I made my hydrangeas fluffy white with Flower Soft--I used to have a beautiful Snowbell White Hydrangea at my old house, it was soooo beautiful & I miss it (I heard the new owners ripped it out, dumb people, lol)! To make the berries pop I added Liquid Pearls in ruby red too.

***If you buy 4 regular Lockharts from Susana's store you get a free Itty Bitty stamp of your choice---more to play with, lol!!**8

This card was done for yesterday's SCS "Ways to Use It" challenge which was to use stripes on your card. I decided on subtle stripes by embossing the background with my Scor-Pal--simple but elegant! Love the bright pop of red against the bright white too! That fabby ribbon is from I gift I got at Christmas on a present & of course I saved it, who wouldn't right, its gorgeous!!

Okay, I don't know if anyone has made these before but I came up with this thank-you card idea in bed the other night when I shoulda been sleeping, lol! (best ideas come to me at nite) I needed to make some fun thank-you cards for my son to send out for his birthday gifts and came up with these. I call them my Swivel Round Abouts, hee hee, and I made (4 of them) using the Lockhart stamps "Chinese Checkers", "Checkers" & "Gumball Machine".

Easy peasy to make---I just used my circle Nestabilities to cut all my shapes out and then attached the two largest together at the top with a brad so they swivel open--cool, huh? I can see making these as fun invitations or cards for someone---I'm sure you'll see me make these again soon :o)

Just a little close-up of the cute gumball machine--it was a ton of fun to color in! I gave the glass part a nice thick coat of my favorite Diamond Glaze.

Make sure and check back tomorrow and Sunday cuz' I'm a Guest Designer for Pink Cat Studio this month---yay! And I'll have sneak peeks all weekend of the new stamps for you to see--they are darling and super cute!!

hugz,

Suzanne

Last Days of Summer!!

Happy Saturday to everyone! I will keep my monologue short for you today. I am still sick and laying low today again, hopefully I will be up and running soon. My sister-in-law's father died yesterday, so we have a funeral to go to on Sunday, so I'm resting up today. Although he'd been sick for awhile it's always hard to lose someone you love.

Since I did so many fall and winter cards this week, I wanted to end the week with a summery project. Since we're in the last days of summer, sadly. I'm gonna miss it, that's for sure--I love the warm weather!

All of these projects use the new stamps from CC Designs--these two are called "Olivia's Birdies" and "Scenery Set". Isn't this little girl and her bird friends just adorable? The first card uses Crate Paper (Kaitlyn Collection) dp and PTI's plum pudding cs. I paper pieced her shirt and the rest of the images are colored with Copics. I used the ATS Wednesday Challenge Sketch #14 for this layout. The girl, birds and flowers were cut out and popped up with dimensionals. I added a few stickles to the leaves, her barettes and flowers. The ribbon is Martha Stewart and I used some purple Robin's Nest dew drops.

The second project is a thankyou card and gift. I wanted to do a square scalloped card using my scallop nestabilities (if you don't have these, they are a definite must have--I use them all everyday). I based this entire set on this yummy dp from Autumn Leaves called "MOD"--lovee the colors! I paired it up with SU cs. Everthing in this circle image was cut out and popped up with dimensionals (birds, flowers and birdbath). Aren't these birdies the cutest--I just am lovin' them (I know, I love MANY things). All colored with Copics again and some stickles on there for more sparkle. I sponged blue ink around this image and the first card to make a soft, blue sky.

The little gift is a "Ghiradelli" chocolate holder--I got this idea from my SU upline Kristin Knapper (do not know the original inventor--whoever you are, thanks for the great idea)! The dimensions for this are:

-1 pc of cs sized 2.5 x 8.25"

-score this cs at 2.25, 2.75, 5.5 and 5.75" (use that Scor-Pal if you have it)

-on the square that measures 2.5" you will need to make a slit for the candy (I used my SU word window punch for a nice long oval opening)--you will punch .75 from end of cs

-use a strong glue or tacky tape to tape this end down (see above photo) to make a pocket for the candy

-decorate outside however you'd like; mine closes with the ribbon band

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Wouldn't this make a great party favor or small gift? I think its just precious. The ribbon is SU's groovy guava and the sentiment is from PTI's "Remember" set by Lisa Johnson.

Ok, I'm going to lay back down on the couch and watch some more Olympics and rest up!! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Suzanne

PS--If you liked my earlier project this week that you can see HERE, you can vote for me over on the JustRite Stampers blog (You can vote thru Monday). I made it into the top 6--yippee!! I was totally surprised and had entered on a whim, never thinking I'd make it to the finals. If you voted for me already--thanks so much, I really appreciate all of your support!!!

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****

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

Good Mistakes!

Hi again everyone! Yes, it's a double-posting day I guess (doesn't happen often) but I was really pleased with how this creation turned out and wanted to share, since I have something else planned for tomorrow.

This card started off as a triangular-fold card from Beate that you can see here. I wanted mine to be much larger but after cutting & scoring I realized that my measurements were off--not surprising. But I liked the look of having my triangles not reaching the end of the paper so that you can see more of whats behind it. In case you want to try it, my measurements were 5 3/4 x 12 ", after scoring and folding you will have to trim the sides of the triangles a bit. I'm calling mine the "off center triangle fold" card--lol! I make lotsa "good mistakes" that turn into something different from what I planned but sometimes I like it even better!

I used one of my new Sarah Kay stamps called "Rose's Garden" that you can get from Sweet 'n Sassy. I based all my colors off of this yummy paper from K&Co. (Marcella) and used my Copics to color her. I colored the background w/ a soft cream to mimic fabric which is why you can see some lines, it supposed to be that way--everything else is blended. I used my oval nesties to cut and emboss the image. I added some new flowers I bought by Prima which I love--I just layered 2 together and added a jewel to the center (from Doodlebug Designs)--I also colored/blended the edges of the flowers w/ my Copics for some contrast. I pretty much change up most of my embellishments with ink, like brads and flowers--makes what you have go farther. I've had these great metal sentiments hanging around in my embellies drawer for awhile and forgot about them and came across them while digging for my jewels (obviously I need to organize this drawer-lol). These sentiments are from Making Memories and I believe I had bought them at Michaels, the ribbon is from them too. I just shabbed the metal tag up with some ink so it wasn't such a bright white.

I also added a lacelike trim to the edges and inside with my Fiskars border punch (don't know the name of it) but I got most of these Fiskar punches at Target. To finish the inside off, I stamped the side panels with Verve Stamp's "filigree fantasy" set w/ SU's river rock ink. I made my card so it uses the ribbon as a belly band but instead of tying the ribbon I added Scotch's velcro circles to the ribbon to make it easier to get off. I made this card for the Limited Supply Challenge #177 on SCS (although I didn't limit my supplies, ha ha) but I did do a folding card. I also made this for Ismaki's Challenge #28 that you can find here.

All right, I'm outta here. I'm taking a field trip to AC Moore's and Borders tonight, so hopefully I'll come home w/ some goodies. My PTI package should be here tomorrow--yippee!! Until then...

Suzanne

Flower Power!

Good Thursday to everyone! One more day to the weekend-yippee! We have a few things planned for this weekend but not anything major. My dd, Alexa, is taking a 5 hour babysitting/cpr course on Saturday and then we have a pool party to go to. On Sunday my dh and son are playing in a parent/child golf tournament at our Golf Club--my son is so excited about it. Afterwards they give out the prizes and have an ice cream sundae bar set up (hmm..I might have to go that part-lol)! Speaking of ice cream, I don't know if any of you like chocolate brownies & cheesecake (my two faves), but Ben & Jerry's has put the two together and it is fantabulous!! I buy 3 pints at a time---my butt is showing it, so more walking/jogging for me :) If you happen to want some it's called "One Cheesecake Brownie"--hope you can find it cuz' I might have bought them all out--LOL!! Hmmm....maybe I should have done "dessert" cards today---maybe tomorrow :)

***BLOG CANDY ALERT--If you haven't already entered to win my blog candy, you can do so here until this Friday at 11 pm (EST)***

Ok, onto my stamping projects for today. My first card I made was using this week's "new technique" spotlight over at SCS which was making a grid on your cs (they have a tutorial too). Now, I have seen it on others creations & just loved it, but had never tried it for myself--how dumb is that? It's super easy and if you have a scor-pal it will only take a minute to do (if you don't you can use a ruler & bone folder too). This stamp set was the "free with three" over on Gina K's this past month and I just loved this vase of flowers. My mom always had fresh cut flowers in the house in a milk vase similar to this, so I had to get it since it brings good memories. I used this yummo-licious paper (which I'm hoarding cuz' I love it so much) from Daisy D's called "Autumn Collection-Fall in Love" and paired it with SU's really rust cs. I scored a grid onto the cs and then added the dp to the card. The image is colored w/ Copics and I then added 2 coats of diamond glaze to the vase for a nice, glassy shine (ya know I love that stuff--wish I could buy it by the gallon). I used my square nestabilities to layer it and popped it and the sentiment up w/ dimensionals. The ribbon is some that I had gotten from Michael's $1 bin (don't ya love those $1 bins) and it paired well with all the colors. I love this color combo and I definitely will be using it again (kinda fall like which I'm not ready for yet-lol). I inked the edges of everything & the grid pattern with my cream chalk ink from ColorBox to shab it up a bit and ta-da it's done!

The second card is using my Stamping Bella "Gardenia Greenthumb" stamp that my bella Sistah Cathy sent me (thanks again). This is the first time I've inked her up, I haven't used any of my bellas in awhile, they must be lonely. Have you seen some of their new stamps--I really want that bella on a bike w/ her dog, eventually I guess I'll get it. I used dp from Basic Grey's "Sultry" pad and the cs is SU's pixie pink & purely pomegranate. She's colored with Copics and I added stickles to some of the flowers and her lil' fairy wings. The sentiment is from PTI's "flower garden sentiments" and stamped w/ SU's coordinating ink. I added a faux bow with the matching SU ribbon and placed the sentiment (which is glazed with diamond glaze for a glass pebble look) on top. All of the edges were punched with my SU ticket corner punch, which I love to use. Lastly I added 3 rhinestone flowers from Imaginisce and she's done--all pretty in pink and dressed up to garden--ha ha, like any of us evah' look like that gardening!

Hope you have a great afternoon--if the weather stays nice we are headed to the pool for awhile!

Until tomorrow...

Suzanne

Slammin' Kinda Day!

Good evening everyone! Sorry this is a late post today, but I have been crazy busy trying to finish up some projects and preparing to go away for 4 days. Lotsa laundry & whatnot to do, plus I've been taking care of my neighbor's pets while their away so I've just been slammed today. Alexa started her first babysitting job today also. Funny lil' story for ya'--while we were in Disney this past May we met another couple on our Disney bus who lived in our neighborhood here at home (we have a large 'hood here). They had 2 lil' girls and asked if Alexa would be interested in babysitting. So long story short she started today as kind of a "mother's helper" until she's more comfortable, plus she's taking a babysitting/cpr course next week too. She'll be helping out a few days a week for about 3 hrs each--she just loves lil' kids and is really great with them so this will be good for her (and keep her from telling me how "bored" she is--lol)!

My card today is one that I submitted to a sketch challenge blog that is looking for design team members (when they announce who won I'll tell ya what blog its for). We had 2 make 2 cards each with a separate sketch. The simplest one of the two took me the longest--go figure! It was a little out of my comfort zone for sure, but I do like how it turned out (I'll share it in the future).

This was the other card I made and it came together very quickly. Of course I used my Magnolia stamps again today. Diana Crick (who will be opening the Magnolia-licious store for the US/Canada sent me this swing--you can contact her at magnolia.us@shaw.ca for ordering info) and I just love it. I have a lot of sitting Magnolia girls & boys so I can mix and match with this swing. The dp is from K&Co. (Brenda Walton's small wonders girl) and all the cs is from PTI. I used SU's "Always" stamp set to do the heart, the background leaves on the swing circle and the dp strip going horizontally. I inked the heart up with my SU markers and lightly stamped it then cut it out and layered it onto the green cs and cut it out again. The strip of dp and the leaves behind the swing I made by "stamping off" the ink to make it really light. The sentiment is also SU (Lovely Labels). I then rubbed my Colorbox chalk ink (lt. cream) over all the white cs to soften it so it wasn't so bright. My little Tilda is colored with Copics and cut and popped up for dimension. I used my nestabilities to cut out all of the circles. Finally I added diamond glaze to her hair bow and around the edge of the heart for a nice shine--there's just a few cotton candy stickles in the flower centers. So there you have it--we'll see if its good enough to win!! (cross fingers & toes)

I will be finishing up some projects tomorrow so that I can type up a few posts and have them post while I'm gone (now that I know how to do it). Hope everyone has a nice evening!

Suzanne

Thank-you sets

Happy Monday afternoon ladies! This post will be pretty short & sweet. I'm not feeling up to speed today, just tired & stressed I guess (worried about my kitty-see last post). I've been working on my thankyou cards & gifts and I'm almost done. This week we have lots of dance practices for my daughter--both of her recitals are this weekend, so I pretty much have to get my craftin' done before they get home from school. Not to mention my son's field day, end of year school picnic & teacher gifts to finish up (overwhelming when you type it out--lol)!

I got my new stamp sets from MFT and I just love them. I thought this set (Here's The Scoop) was so appropriate for my "lunch bunch" gal pals thank you cards/gifts. They were so sweet to make us dinner every night after I had surgery and sent me the most beautiful smelling flowers and a case of Cherry Coke!! We go to lunch the last Wed. of every month and most of us usually try & get some yummy dessert--we all like our sweets, so this stamp set in particular works great! I'm making 4 versions of this card with different colors, but this is the first one I finished. The dp is from Memory Box(Sugar Collection)--love the colors! I of course had to paper piece the chair--it was just calling out for it-lol! The sentiment in the set is actually straight, but that's the great thing about these clear stamps--you can bend them around for your needs. The solid cs is from PTI (lavender moon & spring moss)--they work wonderfully with this Memory Box paper which I also got from MFT. This layout is from a contest on Jen del Muro's blog--it's really cute, I love the half circle element. The little gift bag is from PTI and it's filled with Ghiradelli & Dove chocolates--fitting for the "sweets" theme dontcha think? The ribbon is from Michaels and the dp is from the same "sugar collection" and of course some of my favorite Prima flowers.

Ok--gotta go finish up some more projects and then I'm off running around for the evening. See ya tomorrow!

Suzanne

My Favorite Things "Here's The Scoop" stamp set, PTI glassine bag, solid cs (spring moss, lavender moon), Michaels ribbon, Memory Box "Sugar Collection" dp, stickles, dew drops, SU rhinestone brad, nestabilities, Copics, dimensionals

Alone Time

I'm back ladies, better late than never I guess! I've been working on a few projects that I hope to share in the next couple of days and in between had to run the kids to activities. I'm so happy to see that people are entering for my blog candy! I'm so glad that the winner will be picked randomly, because I wouldn't want to pick a favorite out of all the responses:-) I'd have to be totally selfish and say I'd want to be deserted on an island for a few days by myself just to read a great book & eat some good food (hopefully my island would have a resort just a hop, skip & away-lol). I like my alone time too much. Don't get me wrong though I love my dh & kids dearly and love to be around people. I'm a very social person and I love to have get togethers and all that, but I also like "me time" when the kids are at school and the house is all quiet. I love that time--I can get so much done and I love to pop open the windows and just have the outside sounds as my music--its very calming. Anyway, I'm having such good fun reading everyone's responses that I might have to ask a random question once a week just to see the answers--LOL!!

Ok, onto my cards for the day. I have a mountain of thank-you cards to make for all the kindness sent my way last week while I was sick and I thought I'd get a good jump on them. Both of these are thank-you gate fold cards that I will be sending out. They are so easy to make and so much fun for the recipient to open. The dimensions for these cards can be found on the Scor-Pal website (under the April/May edition, Mothers Day gatefold). You of course can change the sizes of these to fit your needs. The red card's dp is from Me&MyBig Ideas and the polkadots are from PTI's "Polka Dot Basics" set which I adore almost as much as my "swiss dots" cuttlebug folder--lots of uses for this stamp set! The flower is from Verve Visual's "petal & stems" collection which is one of four of their new stamp sets (I of course had to had all four)--I love that this set has plain images and then the same image but with polkadots (love em).

The second card is with Crate Paper dp which I've been hoarding (do you hoard supplies too?--more on that tomorrow). I love the colors and designs of all their papers. I paired it up with PTI's "spring moss" cardstock. The stamps on the front and the inside are from Inque Boutique's Savoir Faire collection--this is the "Nightingale set "(mine are from A Cherry On Top, one of my favorite online stores). I have a few of their stamp sets here that I haven't opened, so this was my first time inking one up. I'm really impressed with the quality of stamp and their beautiful designs--I will definitely be using these some more. I colored the stamps with SU markers and the inside sentiment is SU too. The front flower has a dewdrop in the middle and just a little bling on the leaves (stickles ya know, come on you know that's my favorite kind) & its popped up w/ dimensionals.

Well, hope you liked everything! Remember if you haven't entered for the blog candy-please do so before 11 pm on Thursday nite so we can get a winner on Friday. See ya tomorrow!

Suzanne

**CC Designs** new stamp sets are being released at midnite tonight on All That Scraps -- I will be first in line to order both sets!! Make sure to check them out--really,really cute!