Happy Turkey Day!!

Happy Wednesday everyone & Happy early Thanksgiving to you all as well! I know, I know---I've been absent but I promise I will be posting at least 4-5 times a week from here on out except maybe a few days over Xmas break!! LOL! But the 2 weeks off was much needed on my part--I was feeling a bit burnt out and really needed the time off to recharge my creative mojo and spirit (not to mention rest a bit, hee hee)! But I'm back and ready to go and craft and finish up my work!! So I hope you didn't mind me missing for awhile, lol! Hubby and I got back yesterday from our getaway and it was soooo very nice! We just went to Alexandria, VA for a few days--it's one of our favorite getaways and the weather was beautiful. We really just relaxed, ate some yummy food and enjoyed each other with out any hustle & bustle of holiday stuff, family and work commitments KWIM!! We went to Mt. Vernon on Monday and the weather was in the high 60's so we spent a lot of time walking the property and enjoying the fresh air and beautiful scenery (see some pics below).  I also snapped up bunches of pics of the Mt. Vernon Xmas trees--never know when you might need some great ideas, hee hee!

I'm home working most of today, then I have to hop over to Wegmans for some groceries and I know its gonna be JAM PACKED, yikes! I must wear my steel toed boots their as the crazy cooking shoppers will RUN YOU OVER (I kid you not) LMBO! But I gotta get some things for a few dishes I'm making to take to my parent's house on Thursday and I'm MAKING hubby go with me, hee hee! He's my protector and cart pusher thru the crazy masses of peeps :)

For those celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday I hope it's filled with fun, warmth, good food and lots of love with friends and family! And for those who are shopping early on Black Friday------welllll...........I'll just pray for you, LOL!! I won't be joining you but hope your shopping travels are safe, fun & full of great deals!!

**Blog Candy winner will be announced on Saturday---don't worry, I didn't forget!! **

Slideshow Pics for ya: (if you get this by email, the pics are only viewable on the blog site www.scrapbitz.blogspot.com)

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SUPER
HOLIDAY CLASS EXTRAVAGANZA!!

Want to take another Copic class or want to GIFT a class or two to a

friend this holiday season from Color Me Creative Classroom? This special starts 11/20 & will run thru

January 2nd, 2011!!

-Take any one class (Copic or Cricut) and get $6 off
-Take any two classes (Copic Only) and get $12 off
-Take any three classes (Copic Only) and get $18 off
-Take ALL four classes (Copic Only) and get $24 off and 2 Copic Markers of your choice from ICopic.com  (**IF you decide to take all three or four, please email me for an invoice instead of clicking each one--its easier for us both)

GIFTS-- If you want to give the GIFT of a class or two to
friends you can get the same deals as above. So if you GIFT 2

classes then you'd get the $12 off even if it's for 2 different

people! Send a class to 4 of your friends and get the $24 off and 2

copic markers as well! Just let me know by email if its a gift and

who to send them too :)

**(Register for classes and the refund/discount will be sent back to you via PayPal within 48 hours of payment received. If you want to pay by check or money order just email me for info on that)
**NOT good on previously purchased classes!

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Thanksgiving Wishes

This card I made for my parents for the Thanksgiving holiday--my mom loves these cute Magnolia stamps!  I used an older Magnolia called "Standing Fall Tilda" from the 2008 Halloween & Autumn Collection that is one of my favorites--I love her cute hat and scarf!!  Magnolia-licious is out of this stamp but two stamps that are just as cute and perfect for fall are Tilda with Fall Bouquet and Dalecarlia Coat Tilda!! This is the last fall card of the 2010 Year (boo hoo) and the rest will be winter, Christmas and all-occasion for the next month or so.  Can you believe I'm already working on Valentine's Day cards/projects?  LOL--how time flies huh?

These soft colored papers are from Kaisercraft "Up, Up & Away"--I love the mix of rusts, sage greens and creams.  Perfect for fall and other occasions of course :)  The edges of my papers got distressed with my Zutter Distress Tool (love that darn thing) and then inked!  The mini scrolls are from Marianne Designs and then I attached small fall leaves to them--the leaves were made with punches out of my gold cs and then inked with rust ink.  I added some Stickles to the leaves for extra sparkle of course.  For the corner treatments I used the same leaf technique but added small PTI rust buttons with a gold rhinestone on top for sparkle.  The elegant sentiment is from the PTI set "Autumn Tags"--I stamped the leaf circle first and colored it with Copics and then stamped the sentiment over the top (stickles on the leaves too)!

She's got colored up with Copics as well in pretty fall-like colors! (E17,E15,E13,E11/BG93,BG96/YR24,YR23,YR21,YR20/E29,E25,E31-hair)  I added stickles to the heart on her pants, hairbands and flower on the hat (the flower got a rust pearl in the center).  Then I added Diamond Glaze on her shoes for some extra shine.

Hope you enjoyed this post today and I hope you enjoy the holiday weekend!  If you haven't had a chance to check out the NEW Magnolia-licious Challenge Blog here, make sure to hop on over there!  They have a new inspiration challenge up for you all!

See ya back here on Saturday :)

Peek-a-Pilgrim!!

Hello & Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! Our's was busy, busy finishing up errands & chores around the house. Alexa had a sleepover Friday night and I'm sure she's goin' to come home from school grumpy today since I let her stay up until 11 last night to watch the VMA's (Video Music Awards)! Which of course will make me grumpy too, lol! I did finish up a book, made 2 batches of soup to freeze and got some projects done so that's good. Anywho, I'm keeping this short today as I have lots more errands to run & then have to get my son over to the X-ray place so he can get another chest x-ray! He has his 2nd visit w/ the pediatric pulmonologist tomorrow and I hope all is well (crossing fingers)! I haven't had a chance to pick a winner for the 300,000 Hits Blog Candy yet (sorry, sorry) but I PROMISE I will have the winner up tomorrow for you. And let's just say a big "WOW" for all the fabulous replies & lovely comments I've gotten on that--almost 400 of ya stopped in for a chance, the most I've evah' had for a contest--wowza!! Thanks to you all & I loved reading everyone's favorite book selections--so fun!

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Today I just have one project card for ya to share but isn't he just a lil' pilgrim cutie? This is "Harvest Shy Bear" and he's available at I Brake For Stamps right HERE! (if you decide to order use my coupon code "SAVE10SUZANNE " to get 10% off your order 'kay) I just love these lil bears & sometimes I use my flock to make their fur furry but this time I did not. This is such a fun Thanksgiving/Fall card to send out--I really love the cheerful feel of this!! I colored the image with Copics and then made a frame around the image using that wonderful NEW "Autumn" Flower Soft--so pretty! The paper's are a mish-mash of scraps I had laying around, so not sure of the company names! I added some velvety lovely Prima leaves and a crocheted flower (from my friend Wynneth who so kindly made me bunches of these) and a few Robin's Nest dew drops.

Here's a close-up of this cutie & you can see I used diamond glaze on his nose and the apples. I used my gold Spica pen to add soft glitter accents to the wheat, hat buckle & leaves. Isn't that flower soft awesome--I just love it, looks like scattered leaves for sure!

Alrighty, I hope you have a great one & see ya back here tomorrow!
hugz,
Suzanne

Harvest Time!

Happy Saturday friends! Whatcha' got planned for the weekend? We're finishing school shopping today (ack) so please pray for me, hee hee! After that we have nothin' planned for the evening which sounds good to meeeee! Plus its supposed to be dreary & rainy here again today, so its a good day to snuggle in w/ a great book! Sunday, hubby & son are going to our local airport for an airshow of helicopters, bombers & other 'guy' stuff while Alexa & I stay home! Hopeful to get some craftin' in so my week isn't too crazy--the kids both have their 6th & 8th grade orientations this week and we might try and go away for a few days for the holiday. I want to go the the Maryland Eastern Shore and hangout for a few days & eat lots of yummy blue crabs (my favorite food evah') & relax before the new school year starts & holidays appear fast on the horizon!

NewsBitz:

-haven't had enough sun to shoot my Bow-Easy video & new Copic tutorial, but hopefully will get that done on Sunday! So stay tuned!

-In "Suzanne's Book Reviews" for ya (LOL)--I just finshed Karen White's "House on Tradd Street" which was FABULOUS--her new one will be out in Nov.! Another one I finished yesterday which was great too was Jennifer Weiner's "Goodnight Nobody"--I love her books! Her "Certain Girls" is a great one too! And I'm counting down the days until Sept. 15th when Dan Brown's new book comes--I will be taking the entire day off to read it, hee hee!

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Just one card for ya today--sorry no postie yesterday but I didn't have internet until 9 pm last night & wasn't able to get it done :o( (but I did finish my book, hee hee) This card uses the fabulous Lockhart Stamp Co. "Harvest Angel"--isn't she fab!? Karen has done a few of these angels for different seasons & they're all lovely. I colored her w/ Copics and used my new Nestabilities Labels 9 to cut out my angel & cs layer. I used my Bow-Easy again to make my bow, and the sentiment is from PTI's Autumn Abundance set. I punched scrolls out w/ my fave punch & added some fun rhinestones to the centers. And of course stickles on her leaf wings & diamond glaze on the hurricane glass! Perfect for fall holidays!

Alrighty, have a fabulous weekend & I'll see ya back here on Monday!


hugz,
Suzanne

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

Fall Fun!!

Happy Sunday everyone! Did ya miss me? LOL! My mom went home today :( but we had a blast while she was here. And can I just say again how much fun I had at the NKOTB concert---I'm begging my hubby to take me again this time in Philadelphia!!!! I haven't had that much fun at a concert in ages---just awesome! I'm working on a bunch of projects today to share with you this week so stay tuned, okay! Sorry I missed out on World Cardmaking Day, but hey, that's everyday here at my house, lol!!!



My cards today use the new stamps from Storage Units, Ink and More. I really have had fun with these new sets because they're so easy to mix and match and to make your own scenes with. This first set is called "First and Goal" and I had to make my lil' football player a Washington Redskins fan in the burgundy and gold,lol (BTW they bettah beat the Eagles today)! I stamped and colored him with Copics and I drew in a field for him to stand on and sponged the sky. The helmet and football were cut out and popped up with dimensionals. I added some diamond glaze to the helmet for shine also. I wanted to make a big statement on the card by using a large football image. I didn't have a template so I hand drew it and cut in half---if you can see the texture on the football, I actually did that with plastic canvas. I didn't have the right CB embossing folder so I used the plastic canvas (with square holes) and ran it thru my cuttlebug like a folder and it worked, lol! I inked it up a bit to show off the texture. The gold background on the card was also embossed, this time with an actual CB folder and then I rubbed ink on top too.



The second card uses the "Giving Thanks" set. Aren't these lil' Indian kids the cutest with their lil' doggie, love 'em! Pretty straightforward card---I stamped out the images and everything was colored w/ my Copics and the dog was cut out and popped up for dimension. I added lots of shimmer with stickles too. The leaf bg paper was done using the leaf stamps from the "Bountiful Harvest" set that I just stamped randomly in 2 different color inks onto kraft cs. The other dp is from Cosmo Cricket's "Mr. Campy" line. I used ribbon from PTI and added a leaf button to the knot. Such a cute Thanksgiving card, me thinks--hope ya like 'em both!

Have a great Sunday & I'll see ya back here tomorrow!

Suzanne

Candle Harvest!

Happy Saturday everyone & welcome to the weekend, can I get a "Yippee"!!!! I have finally gotten out of my jammies (gasp...yes I love my jammies when I sick) and I'm feeling a little better. Now if the weather would improve, I'd be set :) Lots of Cherry Coke in my system now and I'm cranking out projects, lol!

***Don't forget to head over to Jen's blog I{heart}2stamp today for her Sketch For You to Try. Today is my last day as her guest designer :( so check out my card if you get a chance!***

So I have some more news for ya today---I know you're like "gimmee a break" how much news can ya have, right, ha ha!!! Denise Wenzloff of Storage Units, Ink and More contacted me a bit ago and asked if I'd be interested in designing for her....and my response....heck yeah (you can visit her blog & the announcement here)!!! Not only are her stamps cutie-patootielicious (yes that is a word in Suzanneland) but she has a brilliant group of gals working for her too (check out my side bar for all their lovely blogs). The new stamps get released on October 1st so stay tuned for that. Until then members of the DT have sneak peeks everyday for ya. Today it's Lauren Meader's and Bethany Paull's turn, so take a browse thru their blogs when you get a chance---you won't be sorry!

Second news of the day, if you didn't catch it in my blog post yesterday....well.....you missed out on the brand spankin' new opening of Magnolia-licious. Ya know the webshop Diana Crick has been feverishly working on to sell all things Magnolia. The website is beautiful and unique, so take a gander, okay! The link on my sidebar is NOW working and will take you there anytime you'd like :)

Ok, onto my card of the day. I have to start off by saying that I love, love Karen Lockhart images. They're always beautiful and so unique--which is why I chose to buy this lovely fall image. I make 2 centerpieces very similar to this every year for my table and fireplace mantle in an old wooden bread bowl so I had to have this stamp. The image was colored with Copics and then I added diamond glaze to the glass hurricane and a few sparkles here and there with both stickles and my Copic Atyou Spica pens. The dp is from DCWV and it had some scrolls already in the bottom left corner, but I wanted to add more all around so I used SU's "Baroque Motifs" w/ choc.chip ink. I used my oval nesties to cut everything out and wrapped the card in PTI's chocolate ribbon--the sentiment is from PTI's "First Fruits" set too. I think it makes a simple, elegant fall card, whatcha' think?

Have a wonderful weekend wherever in the world you may be!

Hugz,

Suzanne

Pumpkin Party!!

Happy Wednesday everyone! I am back with a quick post for you--this will be short, as I am working on tomorrow's tutorial and other projects on my neverending to-do list!

This image is from Inkadinkado and I just had to have it when I saw it on http://www.addictedtorubberstamps.com/ (not sure of its name). Our family goes to the pumpkin patch every year since our kids were lil babies and its our favorite fall thing to do, so this stamp reminds me of all the hayrides we've gone on to pick our pumpkins. This was really fun to color with my Copics too. The dp is from K&Co's "Fall Harvest" mat pad and the deep chocolate cs and ribbon is from PTI. This card is pretty self-explanatory, just alot of layering. I distressed the image with some Colorbox chalk ink just around the edges. The sentiment is new from PTI's "First Fruits" stamp set--this is my favorite font ever, I wish I could get more sentiments w/ this font. I'm very fond of old-fashioned fonts. I thought this card just needed a simple word to go with it as not to take away from the main image. For a final touch, I added dew drops to the corner and tied a bow around.

Alrighty, I'm off to finish up things. Hope you have a great day--its beautiful here and I have all my windows open with a nice breeze floating in---nothing bettah' than that!!

Suzanne