Bottom's Up!!

And a Happy Saturday to ya!! Hope your weekend is off to a fabulous start! It's actually nice here today (finally) & supposed to be sunny & in the 80's all weekend (yippee)! Great weather for a pool party tonite me thinks! Lots of outside time--gotta do some grillin' too, love grilled veggies! My weight update so far is I've lost 9 lbs, 2" from my hips & waist, 1 inch from each thigh & .5 inch from my arms!! 13 lbs left to go--but I'm seeing a difference for sure, my arms & legs look more toned--Jillian Michaels "Shreddin'" me for sure, hee hee! Only have 2 more weeks before I leave for our beach vacation so gotta kick it in high gear (more than I was already doin'--ack)! Alrighty onto my projects for the day!

NewsBitz: Don't forget to check out my Magnolia-licious DT project for our Blog Hop on the post below if you haven't already. You can join in the fun & if you leave a comment on the below post you can win my Patriotic Project as well!!

If you stopped by looking for my "200,000" hits (now over that--wowzers) Blog Candy I've delayed it until Monday--sorry! I had to pick up a few more things for it cuz' I want it to be magnificent for ya!!
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Okie Dokie--this was a fun project for me to make yesterday even though I felt glum & foggy (probably due to the lack of sunlight on my body), hee hee! This will cheer ya up for sure. I got these fabulous body products from the Target $1 in yummy flavors like Mango Colada, Limeade & Strawberry Sangria & they smell delish!! So of course I bought a ton (hee hee) so I could make gift sets with them.

I designed my own template for the body products using only 1 sheet of 12x12 cs to make this cute tote/bag--I hate lots of cs cuts & such! (If you'd like me to do a tutorial/instructions for the template let me know--if I get enough requests I will) It's super easy to make & can be adjusted for size easily! And where did I get my idea from you ask--its kinda funny--but I was throwing away an empty orange juice carton in the recyclin' bin on Wed. & thought I could use this, hee hee. But it didn't wash out very well & I figured I could make my own version--which I did & eliminated the sides which makes it easier to build. So ya never know where inspiration might come from--LOL--obviously I need to go thru the recyclin' bin more often!

**If you love this it's for sale in my Etsy shop (link on sidebar) & there will be more**

I used my fabulous new set from PTI called "A Day at the Beach"--lovee it!! I paired it with this fun & fabulous dp from Flair Designs--isn't it perfect for these stamps? I cut out a circle from the front w/ my circle Nesties and then put a transparency over the backside as a lil' window and embossed the top panel only.
Side view of the tote--I made a lil' band for each side so the bottles inside wouldn't fall over & attached them (on their bottoms) with Scor-Tape to the bottom of the tote. I attached everything with Scor-Tape cuz' I lovee that stuff--I swear you could build a house w/ it & it would withstand hurricane winds, LOL! And the fact that you can just rip it w/ your hands & not have to gunk up your scissors--fabulous I say! The tote also ties together with a PTI ribbon bow--2 small holes punched at the top--easy peasy!

Close up of the front images--how fun are these drinks? I stamped them & then colored with Copics. The straw/icecube is a separate stamp that you can stamp over the image--fun! I put some coarse glitter on the edge of the margarita glass & stickles on the ice cubes! (yes I see I went out of the lines twice, but it's now fixed, lol). I bent the sentiment on my block so that it followed the curve of the oval--great thing about acrylic stamps!

Of course I had to do a matching card! That yummy lookin' drink has stickles on top to make it shimmery! This time I added a drink umbrella and some fun Flower Petal embellies!

Inside of box & what the yummy Mango Colada products look like!
If you're looking for them in Target--here's a pic of the Strawberry Sangria products. I also picked up body lotions, lip gloss & nail kits to match!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my summer projects today! If you want instructions on how to make this tote please let me know--and I will post them soon for ya! Don't forget to enter for my project prize on the post below if you lovee it!

Have a fabulous weekend & I'll see ya back here on Monday with some yummo BLOG CANDY!

hugz,
Suzanne

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

By The Seashore...

Good Wednesday Evening everyone! I am doing a double post because I'm so excited to have finished this card that I couldn't wait to share it. My card that I posted earlier was not up to my own usual standards--not that I think its bad, just average for me.

My mojo was not flowing this morning because I did not get any sleep last night. After having dinner with my girlfriends last night, I returned home around 11 pm to find my husband having chest pains. So off he went to the emergency room, white as a ghost and in pain--I couldn't go because we couldn't leave the kids alone. So I sat up until 4 am when he came home--apparently he is just under too much work stress and that's what they think it was--whoosh, I finally exhaled. Unfortunately, my hubby's family has major heart health issues that run in the fam and his Dad died 2 years ago of congestive heart failure--so we were scared! Thankfully all his tests came back fine, so he just needs to de-stress a little. We're going away for the week w/o the kids so we'll have some relaxing time to de-stress ourselves. So...anyways I'm sure you've heard enough of all of that, but I just wanted to explain my "stressed-out" mojo issues!

This card was an idea I've had for about a week and I finally found all my supplies to complete it. I keep a notepad in my room of layout ideas and card ideas--let me tell ya', that notepad is packed. My brain works overtime, but my body does not--lol! I love this dainty Tilda in her sundress wading in the ocean--just so summery and melancholy to me. I do love the ocean and the beach! I wanted to keep the colors soft, so I watercolored her and the sandcastle with my SU inkpads and Twinkling H2O's (and some soft sponging on the sky). The soft and lovely dp is from Crate Paper's "Blue Hill" line--love it, been hoarding it!!

My card base is made w/ PTI's kraft cs and then I cut out ovals from my 2 dp's to create a double frame for her. This was double--mounted (2 stacks of dimensionals on top of each other) to my card base, so it could act as a frame with my image underneath. I then used one of my Fiskars border punches to cut a strip of dp and mount that on top of the frame to create a topper for the card. The fisherman netting I found at AC Moore along with all of the shells. I just wrapped the netting around the frame and attached w/ glue dots--the shells were attached w/ glue dots too. The sandcastle image is from Gina K's "Just Be-Claws" set--I added some stickles and popped it up w/ dimensionals. The sentiment "cherish" is from SU's "Warm Words" set and I stamped it on vellum with SU's sage shadow ink. I backed it w/ white cs so that the words stood out and bent the vellum slightly so that it kinda bubbles out a little.

For final touches I added stickles around the oval frame, bottom of her dress and the bottom of the sentiment. I also added one more pearlized shell to the very top of the oval frame. I am so pleased that it actually turned out like I had envisioned in my head. You know how sometimes you have the greatest idea, but the interpretation does not always turned out the way you planned. Hate that :) I hope you like it as much as I do!

PS--This card is 5x6" and if you were to mail something like this, I would mail it in those clear boxes you can buy from ClearBags (love them) so it wouldn't get smooshed or damaged.

Have a great evening! I'm off to the MFT release party from 9-11 EST pm to buy more goodies!!

Suzanne

Edit--Thanks to all who asked about my hubby--he is good and has an appt w/ a good cardiologist after we get back just for another checkup. thanx

Hang 10!

Good morning fellow stampin' addicts!! Hopin' your having a good summer weekend so far. I'm not sure what we're up to today, because we're supposed to have storms and torrential rain all day--yucko! Guess that leaves the pool out, huh? We might go check out the 3-D "Journey to the Center of the Earth" movie, see if its any good. If not I'll be hangin' 10 (lol) in my craft room!

I made this card yesterday (along w/ a few others) for 2 more Dirty Girl challenges on SCS. One was a sketch and the other was to make a "scene" with your stamps. I really liked the sketch and I wanted to use another CC Designs stamp--this lil' surfer doggy is from the Itzie Inkies "Summertime Fun" set. All of the stamps in this set are super-cute!! The dp is from Autumn Leaves and I liked the softer tropical colors in it, not like the usual bright colors. I paper pieced his lil' swimmin' trunks w/ the dp and the rest of the image is colored w/ my Copics. I cut the image out and mounted it on dimensionals and created a "scene" by making an ocean w/ my Copics on another sheet of white cs. I coated his "wave" and the ocean with diamond glaze, and then once dried I added diamond stickles on top with my finger for a nice sheen. The dk organge cs is by Bazzill and the other cs I used is SU's soft sky, which I embossed with my CB embossing folder. I like this CB emboss. folder (D'vine Swirls) because it reminds me of waves. The sentiment is from Eclectic Paperie's Sushi's Favorite Words stamp set (check it out, they're cute)--I just put 3 together to make the phrase I wanted, punched it out and mounted it w/ dimensionals and added orange stickles around the circle layer. I wanted to add some fish to my "scene" so I stamped 2 different fishies from PTI's "Pond Life" stamp set in SU's pumpkin pie ink and then added orange stickles to their bodies for more shimmer. For a final touch I looped some ribbon from Michaels around the center and tied off. My doggy friend is "hangin' 10" for sure! I think this would be a "cool" birthday card for a young boy (have to check w/ my son on that--he he). Hope you like it!

All right, I'm off to enjoy the day, rain or no rain. See ya tomorrow!

Suzanne

Sweet Summertime!

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope your weekend has started off good. We had a wonderful time at dinner last night w/ our friends and it was nice to have adult talk and no kiddos at the table!! Lots of good food (including dessert) and lots of laughs--a great time. I have had quite a bit of time in my craft room today and it's been wonderful--lovin' it!

My first card today incorporates 3 challenges if you can believe it--told ya I'm a multi-tasker!! I'll name them real quick for you-- 2 of these challenges are from the Dirty Girl**challenges over on SCS (one by Julia to sew on your card, the other by Christine to watercolor) and the other is for the challenge blog Caardvarks --this is a sketch by Kazan. This card uses my newest Sarah Kay stamp called "Picnics of Daisies" that I ordered from 7 Kids College Fund and to me it just personifies summer! I watercolored her with my aquapainter and SU reinkers/pads--I haven't done this in awhile & I forgot how much I enjoy it, such a softer look. The larger patterned dp is from DCWV "Pocket of Posies" stack mat and the smaller, red dp is from SU paired with SU cs. I punched the corners of the main dp then I actually stitched it to the card w/ red thread in all the corners. Now if you know me well, you'll know I hate to sew (I know how, but I don't like to do it)!! I also sewed 2 Prima flowers along with an SEI button to the card. The sentiment I stamped directly on my main image and it's from PTI's "Mailbox Greetings" set. Everything is layered and popped up with dimensionals. The scalloped border is made w/ my Fiskars "threading water" border punch. It doesn't show up well in the picture, but I added a lil' sparkle to the flowers, hat bow and picnic basket cover w/ my clear Spica pen. Ta-Da, she's all done and I love it!

If you haven't checked out Gina K's new stamps, get on over there. There's a super cute one by Melanie Muenchinger that I love (and ordered).

I have lots more to share with you and I'll be back tomorrow to share another project. Until then have a great Saturday evening!

Suzanne

** You can only participate in the Dirty Girl Challenges on SCS if you are a fan club member. You can join at any time over there.