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!!

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