Simple Pleasures!!

Hello friends & Happy Half-Way thru the week, hee hee! Oh my, am I tired and wishin' it was Friday already. Riley had his dr's appt yesterday & we had to be outta the house by 6:15 am for the long drive in rush-hour traffic. At least we got some semi-diagnosis & a treatment plan for him, so we're crossing our fingers that this works. I dropped him off at school at 11 am and when he got home at 3:30 he had a blazing fever of 102 degrees---oh my! So he is officially sick w/ something, probably the flu virus that I had last week--hope hubby & daughter don't get it too! Just a busy, restless few days & I'm trying to play catch up! And wow & thanks to all you lovely ladies who literally wiped my Etsy store clean, LOL--I think I have like 3 things left in there so I gotta get busy filling it back up, hee hee! So lots of work to get done, and I have my new Dan Brown book sitting on my nightstand just beggin' me to read it, but I have to get my stuff done first so I can read it w/o any guilt (so no tellin' me anything about it if you're reading it, 'kay)! And a disclaimer for you today--this is a totally enabling post full of goodies, hee hee!

NewsBitz:

-Check out these fun & fabulous NEW Robin's Nest Tear Drops HERE available at SCACD--they're super cute & easy to use!!

-And if you haven't checked out these new Gillian Robert's Holiday stamps HERE--they are so stinkin' cute that I just want them all, LOL!

-Paper Trey Ink had their NEW Monthly release yesterday and there are lots of fab Holiday sets & great sentiments that are fab for all the upcoming holidays! Of course I got my order in straight away (Love that 1-click "gotta have it all" button, hee hee--although my checking account does not)!

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Today I'm sharing a vintage-like Magnolia card I made for my Magnolia-licious Mingle partner! This lil' cutie is "Jam Tilda" and she's available at Magnolia-licious as part of the NEW "Yummy for Your Tummy" Collection HERE! There are soooo many cute images in this collection that it's hard to pick just one I tell ya! This yummy dp is from Cosmo Cricket's new Mini Decks "Earth Love" (they're smaller 6x6 pads which are fab)--love the fall like muted colors in this dp that I've paired up with PTI cs! The sentiment is from Verve Stamps & I used my Nestabilities Circles & Mega-Curved Rectangles--love me my nesties! I cuttlebug embossed the background and the flowers are from my friend Nikki's shop HERE (she has a brilliant selection of flowers & charms & quick shipping too)!

Here's a close-up of this lil' cutie--I used R02,R01,R00,R000 & YR23,YR21,YR20 on her dress & socks and of course some diamond stickles on her hairbands & ruffles! A girl's gotta have some glittah'!!

I'll see you lovely ladies back here tomorrow!

hugz,
Suzanne

Time for Autumn!!

Happy Thursday Friends!! How's everyone doin' today? I still feel half dead, hee hee--but I did go out to dinner w/ hubby last nite which was nice. I hadn't been outta the house since last Friday--I love my new craft room but I don't wanna be in it ALL the time, LOL! Glad you all liked my room too--if you had seen what my other room looked like, aye-yi-yi! No storage areas, no walls (only big windows) & everyday I was sure I would die a sad death being taken over by craft products (not too bad a way to go, hee hee--but I'm too young for that)! So now I breathe easier knowing I won't die a "death by stamps", LMBO!! :o)

Here are some answers to some questions I got yesterday about my room:

(1) My white cabinets came from Lowes & hubby built them (all of them were $650 together)
(2) Paint is Valspar from Lowes called "porch swing" (low VOC) matches SU's "soft sky" perfectly!
(3) The only stamps I have in CD cases are my PTI's, Gina K's & CC Designs, the white cabinet holds clear stamp sets and in my closet I have large sterilite drawers that hold all my red rubber stamps (separated by company) & my wood stamps (Lockhart & etc.) & of course all of my "Maggies" (Magnolia's & they are separated by theme)
(4) My ribbon in the pantry racks have stick pins in the rolls to keep the ends from flappin' off
(5) Yes, that is a fabulous Scor-Pal on top of my desk--it's what I stamp on & work on along with just use everyday! If you don't have one, YOU NEED ONE!! LOL!


NewsBitz:

-Tomorrow is a fabulous "Tricks-n-Treats" BLOG HOP from the Magnolia-licious DT for ya! There are some fabulous projects to be seen & prizes too!! So don't forget to stop by the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog HERE to see how to get started tomorrow!

-Today is the last day to enter the fabulous Victoria Case for SCACD Blog Candy that Susana is graciously givin' away!! Go HERE to enter (you have until tonight at 11 pm EST to do so)!

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So today Susana's Custom Art & Card Design DT is showcasing the fabulous NEW Victoria Case for SCACD stamps for ya! These stamps will be available to buy tomorrow (Friday) & they are C-U-T-E!! Make sure & stop by the DT's blog's today to see their projects--each DT member is showcasing a different stamp! (links on my sidebar or at the store blog HERE).

Today I get to show you my favorite of them all "Autumn"--isn't she cute & fabulous. I love her pose & her fabulous UGG boots with pom-poms! I colored her w/ Copics to match my dp by Chatterbox & Daisy Bucket! The layout is from this week's SCS Sketch #242 which was perfect for this image! The sentiment is a SU rub-on! And those are fabulous Bella Baubles at the top of the card too.

I added Diamond Stickles to her sweater, leaves & pom-poms for lots of sparkle! No card is complete in "Suzanne's World" w/o sparkle, LOL! Her eyes got some Diamond Glaze too--Victoria's images are perfect for this! I just adore her--she reminds me of my daughter when she about 8 yrs old! Of course she still wears UGGs though :o)

Now make sure & hop around the DT blogs to see all the fabulous stamps that will be released tomorrow!


hugz,
Suzanne

Pink Kiwi Kisses!!

Happy Hump Day everyone! We're halfway thru the week and the snow outside is melting thankfully! I am sick with a very nasty sinus infection and I'm hoping the antibiotics cure it soon--yuck, messing with my energy level big-time! My daughter is sick with a stomach virus too--I am sooo tired of sickness! Everyone seems to be suffering from something---this is why we need spring to come SOON (then I'll have allergy issues but I can deal w/ that, hee hee)! So sending out big cyber {{HUGZ}} and Chicken Soup to everyone who is sick right now!! :o)

Today is Whatchadoin' Wednesday Challenge over at the Storage Units, Ink & More blog! Today's challenge was to make your cards/projects "spring-y"---yeah, that was a real arm-twister for me, lol! We all know that I'm prayin' for Spring already! **EDITED--Apparently I can't read and mixed up the WW challenge today--it was supposed to be "Bling It On" and I royally messed up! LOL**

I decided to use the new stamp set "You're Somebunny Special" for both of my projects. These also were made for yesterday's Color Challenge #208 on SCS (kiwi kiss, passion pink, chocolate chip)--not a huge fan of Kiwi Kiss (note, my pack of this cs was still unopened until yesterday, lol) but luckily my Basic Grey "Sultry" dp fit the color profile perfectly! I've had this idea for awhile to make some Easter Egg notecards with my Oval Nestabilities and yesterday I finally took the opportunity to make some!

I used my Oval Nestabilities to make the cards and shapes--easy, peasy! Isn't this bunny the cutest--I left him white so he really popped against the dark colors!

For my second card I colored up the Easter Basket from the "You're Somebunny Special" set, colored and cut out the eggs and glued them on to the backside. I also added some hot pink Flower Soft for the basket filler--love that stuff! Paper piercing around the oval finished it off! I love how they turned out, so perfect for Easter & how fun to give these out! Make sure and stop by the SUINK blog to see the rest of the DT's delightful Spring projects today!

My next project uses the same dp pack from Basic Grey and I also made this for the SCS Color Challenge (208)! This new angel set from H&M Stamps called "Angelic Moments" is just beautiful--they remind me of those Willow Angels of which I have a few. They're colored w/ Copics and I colored some soft pink clouds for them to stand on---lots of diamond stickles on their wings and clouds! This ribbon by American Crafts tied all the colors together perfectly!

Hope you enjoyed all my projects today! If your mojo is runnin' low or you need some inspiration, SCS has challenges everyday that are always fun!!

hugz,

Suzanne

Flower Friends!

Good Tuesday afternoon everyone! It is HOT here today, no kiddin'--you will wilt if you go outside today :)!! At least it's sunny tho! I'm excited because I only have one more challenge to finish up today for the Dirty Girl Challenges on SCS--yippee!! There were 20 challenges total and boy did some of them take me out of my comfort zone for sure, but it was fun, now we'll see if I win (ha ha)! I am excited that I won a new stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy the other night randomly, so my luck must be turning (thanks Korin)! I also get to have a girl's nite out tonight--it's been awhile that I've gone out at nite w/ friends cuz' we're always so busy. I'm looking forward to a nice glass of wine and some "girl" talk!

Ok, my newest Sugar Nellie stamps by Elisabeth Bell came yesterday from Funky Kits and I had to ink one up today. This one is called "Planting Some Love" and I think its darling--it actually comes with a kitty chasing a butterfly stamp too, but I didn't add that on today. I colored her with my Copics and added a few stickles to the flowers on her hat. I added a few highlights w/ my Inkssentials pen too. The delicious dp is from Chatterbox's "Violet Dahlias" and I love the color combo--thought it worked perfectly with this image. I used the sketch challenge from the Dirty Girl challenges on SCS by Holly for this one (although she used a oval & I made mine a circle to fit the image in). The sentiment is from Gina K's "friendship blooms" set and I stamped it w/ SU's lavender lace inkpad directly onto the dp. For a final touch I layered a bazillion Prima flowers and leaves (lol) and adhered them w/ glue dots (the centers are Doodlebug brads). I'm pretty pleased w/ the turnout, whatcha' think?

Ok, onto my last challenge card and I will finally be done w/ all these challenges-hurrah!!! I'll see ya tomorrow--

Suzanne

PS--Jacqui over at Cats Wiskers is giving away some wonderful blog candy. Check it and all her fab creations out here.

Quilt Eye Candy!

Good Wednesday morning to you! I am just posting a quick post before I take my kids and their friends to the pool for the day. I am still working on my boy card and some other things--hopefully I will get that posted later today.

My card today features PTI's new "quilter's sampler" stamp set that was released this month. I love quilts--my mom and grandmother made many for our home growing up and I adore them. I wanted to participate in the Dirty Girl Challenge over on SCS (you have to be a fan club member to participate) and one of the challenges was to make most of your card white. I love how white just makes colors pop and I really wanted to use navy--one of my favorite color combos. And of course, Mr. Brown delivered my "happy mail" from PTI today which had all my new stamp sets, paper and ribbon inside---love that brown truck :)!! Make sure and check out all of PTI's new stuff this month--lovin' it (spent why too much money though-lol)!

So what could be better than a navy & white quilt. This set lets you create your own quilt blocks, so you can pretty much make whatever design your heart desires. I also bought the 3/4 punch that PTI sells that punches out the little squares perfectly. After coloring with one Copic Marker (I have never only used one marker--its a record) and punching them out, I glued each quilt block to SU's night of navy cs, then layered again on white cs and again on the navy cs. I made my card base w/ PTI's white cs (the only paper I use to stamp on & color w/ Copics) and embossed it with the CB swiss dots folder. I stamped the sentiment (this set comes with many good ones and they have a second set of sentiments that you can buy too) and layered that too. Both the quilt and sentiment are popped up with dimensionals. I just threaded some white satin ribbon under the sentiment and around the card and tied off to the side--ta da, it was done. Simple to do, but dramatic in effect I think. I'll definitely be using this set alot more!

Ok--I'll be back later to post my "boy" card for ya! Have a great day!

Suzanne

Good Old Countrytime!

Happy Thursday fellow stampers! Hope your week has been a good one so far! I should be upstairs packing but instead I'm still holed up in my craft room--I hate to pack & I really wait to do it. I've made all my lists, so I can just blow thru the house and round up everything--I have it down to a science now & it should only take me an hour...so in the meantime I'm finishing up some projects so you all have some "eye candy" this weekend while I'm gone. I don't want anyone missing me too much-lol!! We are headed up to Snowshoe, WV to my brother's vacation house for a few days--the weather is always cooler there which is nice. The kids run around with their cousins, we fish, sit around the fire and just visit. There's also a big chili cookoff up on the mountain this weekend & my hubby loves chili--its his favorite food & in the cooler months I make it at least once a week, so he's really looking forward to that. I'm just looking forward to no schedule and just chillin'--we all need that once and awhile!

I made my card today with the intention of using the weekly sketch over on SCS, but it took on a life of it's own & didn't end up like the sketch at all--oh well! I bought these Amish stamps from "My Heart Stamps for You" from a shop on Ebay called "The Clickit Shop" with the intention of making cards for my mom. Where I grew up in Southern MD there is a large Amish community, so seeing the buggies and kids walking to school barefoot in the morning was a normal thing for us. We always visited their local farmer's market for all of our produce and flowers (and my mom still goes every week)--they were just a part of my growing up. My mom collects Amish figurines from Jim Shore and has a few pictures around her house, so I knew these stamps would be perfect for cards for her. These stamps came on a large sheet and included quilts, hats, buggies & other Amish images. I really liked this stamp with the lil' Amish girl on it and used 2 of the quilt stamps too. The dp is from K&Co. (classic K Bailey mat pad) & I liked the worn, material look of it. I didn't want anything to detailed or fancy, as that is not the Amish way. Everything is colored with my Copics and I used my Diamond glaze on the water spray, the silo and the heart border. I added a little bit of diamond stickles on top of the diamond glazed water spray(after it had dried) so it sparkled like water in the sunshine. The sentiment is a rub-on from Cloud-9 Design that I've had forevah'! The buttons are just from an assortment that I get from AC Moore. Not too fancy, but I'm happy with the results...now just 5 more to go for the card set. So hope ya like it, Mom!!

Ok, I'm outta here to finish up my to-do list--we're leaving at 10 am so I must be in bed a decent time, no night crawlin' for me tonight :) Have a great weekend!

Suzanne