"Frosty" Merry Christmas

Hello again! :) Back with a Christmas card. Speaking of, are you ready? Just over two weeks left! I admit, I am WAY behind. I think this move has just totally thrown me off my time table. :P

This card was one of those 'go wherever your muse takes you' kind of cards. :) No plan or brainstorm, just went with the flow:


And I think I like it. :) I goofed on my stitching a bit, and the sentiment is crooked, but I definitely love these colors together for holiday cards! And I like that some snowflakes are embossed, and some are not... gives the illusion of depth. Hubby loves it! So much so, that he wants me to make enough for his entire staff! (about 20 cards total) Not sure about that... with all the sponging and heat embossing, glittering and stitching, this is not a quick-n-easy card to mass-produce. But, I sure love hubby for his sweet compliment and show of support. :)


Close up shot of all the glitter. There's some on the embossed snowflakes, some on the diecuts, some on the "icicles"... I went nuts. LOL This is definitely a sparkly one in real life! :D

And by the way... have you been checking out the Hero Arts blog lately?!

Some seriously exciting things going on over there, with all the 2010 catalog sneak peeks they've been showing lately! Check out this post HERE for details on how you can get in on the fun! ;) Can't wait for the new catalog, either!

Well, so much to do, so little time left. Thanks for peeking in today... see you soon!







SUPPLIES: kraft, vellum, red, and white CS.. SU stamps and pigment ink.. Cricut machine cartridges - Graphically Speaking for snowflakes and Plantin Schoolbook for icicles (it's actually GRASS turned upside down and welded with my GYPSY!).. Art Institute glitter and machine stitching.

first layout post

Hello there. :) To my fellow Americans, how was your Thanksgiving? Some of you may know that I have been without an oven since we moved into our house here in Tennessee (long story). Our new oven arrived just in time - Wednesday afternoon, to be exact! LOL We were able to enjoy a homemade Thanksgiving dinner after all. :)

Back with a layout, as promised. Like I said, I'm a simple scrapper... not a lot of fuss or anything complicated to my scrapbook pages, I just try to get 'em done. ;) Because of that, I'm always really insecure about sharing my LOs... big move for me, so please be gentle. :) Here's my most recent fave:



(Click to see larger.) It's a pic of my cute niece (L) and my daughter (R). They were born just two weeks apart and are great friends. :) I plan on filling in that empty area on the bottom right with white gel pen journaling... still editing the rough draft, however. ;)

Here's a closeup of one of the flowers. I used Glimmer Mist (in Pearl) to give the daisies their shimmer:



You could also use a waterbrush and some Liquid Pearls to achieve the same affect, but I had four large (3 inch) flowers to do, and the Glimmer Mist got it done lickety split. ;) I used my Expression here... Graphically Speaking (daisies) and Lyrical Letters ("friends" - LOVE this font cartridge). This page was done prior to getting my Gypsy, so the letters aren't welded together here. "Cousins" was made with my QuicKutz Grand Blossom alpha dies. The paper is some old Tim Coffey K & Co. paper that I've been hoarding forever. It seemed to work perfectly with this photo. :)

Trying to keep the chit-chat to a minimum (too late, LOL)... see you next time with a Christmas card. :) Thanks for stopping by!







SUPPLIES: K & Co papers, SU Wild Wasabi and So Saffron card stock, Cricut cartridges are Graphically Speaking and Lyrical Letters, Pearl Glimmer Mist, Hero Arts and other miscellaneous rhinestones, popdots.

just because

Hello, again! :) Back with another card... this one, for my lovely friend Sarah. She sent me the most adorable "new home" card, and I made this one to thank her: :)



Sorry again for the poor photo. The birds were inked with black chalk ink, then kissed with an uninked definition background stamp. Look closely and you'll see the letters on the birds are actually backwards! LOL That's because the technique causes a reverse the of the pattern with which you're kissing. But at casual glance, it's not that noticeable... I hope! To coordinate, I stamped the same stamp in white pigment ink, this time down the left side of the card base (click the pic to see this in greater detail). I think next time I might try kissing the bird stamp with the definition stamped INKED with white pigment ink, rather than uninked... the pattern might show up better on the birds doing it that way. Hmmm....

Anyway, I then cut out the birds with my (long rectangle) Nesties, and then leaving the image still in the Nestie, sponged blue ink around the edges. The result is a masked and embossed border that helps to "ground" the birds, yet ties in with the blue card base as well. The sentiment inside reads, "you're so special." And that she is! Thank you again, Sarah, my friend. :)

Thanks for stopping by and reading. Hope your week is off to a great start! I'll be back in a bit to share - of all things - *GASP* a layout! LOL Yep... a couple of friends have asked if I would ever consider sharing my layouts. I won't promise I'll share them all, but every once in a while, I suppose I can share a decent one. I'm usually a pretty simple scrapper, and most of my pages aren't really made to impress or inspire, KWIM? ;) Anyhoo, that and a holiday giveaway are on the horizon! So, hope to see you soon! :)





SUPPLIES: stamps are Inkadinkado (birds), SU (definition), and Hero (sentiment).. inks are Colorbox Chalk (black) and SU (Bashful Blue dye, white pigment).. card stock is also SU (Bashful Blue).. Nesties (long rectangle) and popdots.

river rock thank you

Hey, everybody! Told you I'd be back. :) I made this card for my super sweet friend, Diana. She did a very nice thing for me right before our move, and I wanted to thank her (and be sure to check out her awesome photography website HERE... the woman is GIFTED!):



Sorry for the crummy photo. The khaki color used here is River Rock - one of SU's retired "In Colors" from last year, I think? A very versatile color... can be classy or casual. Since it retired, I've been seriously hoarding my stash of RR, but Diana is TOTALLY worth it. ;) That's a QuicKutz embossing folder I used there, and the matching flora stamp is also SU. And yes, I bought the folder to go with the stamp... or maybe vice versa. LOL. Not too sure which came first, but I knew I definitely had to have them both so I could use them together. ;) Anyone else matchy-matchy like that?

Well, it's almost the weekend... it's almost THANKSGIVING! Can you believe it?! Where did 2009 go? I love this time of year, but it just came up on me a little too soon. With the move and all, I'm just too tired to start decorating right now. How about you... started putting up your holiday decorations yet?

Thanks so much for peeking... see you soon! :)





SUPPLIES: stamps are SU (flora) and Hero Arts (sentiment), ink and card stocks are SU (River Rock), QuicKutz embossing folder, and May Arts ribbon.

greetings from tennessee

Hey, there! Just a quick post to say that I'm still alive and well.. err, how about just 'alive'? LOL Not sure how "well" I am just yet - this was definitely a tough move... WOW. However, I'm glad to have it behind me and am looking forward to the exciting adventure that awaits in discovering my new surroundings. :)

And, I've even been stamping! Yay! LOL It took a little while for my mojo to find its way out here, but it finally arrived. ;) I'll have something to share soon, as the cards I've made recently are for friends who *may* just read my blog... wanna keep things a surprise. ;)

Thanks so much for stickin' with me all this time. Be back real soon!

checking in

Hey there. :) I realized it's been a while since I last updated my blog, so I thought I'd check in with an update.

Lots goin' on of course, to get ready for our move, but I'm also working on a few major projects right now. I'm finishing up my sister's wedding favors (she gets married 10/10), as well as starting on TWO Christmas card orders that I got this year! Gotta say, THAT was exciting... to know that not just one, but TWO people love my work enough to want ME to make their holiday cards just blows me away! :D So anyway, for obvious reasons, those things need to be kept private. ;) And with everything else that's going on, I really haven't had a lot of time to sit and stamp just for me, therefore I have nothing to show you at the moment. :)

Next week begins the countdown until our move. We are just a few weeks away, so I probably won't be posting anything until after we're settled. By then, it's almost the holidays, and *whew*! The REAL craziness begins! LOL Anyway, just wanted to post a quick update. If anyone needs to get ahold of me right away, just click "Email me" over in my sidebar. Thanks for reading and for your patience... talk to y'all soon! ♥

happy thoughts (pub)

Hi, there! Hope you had a nice Labor Day weekend (to all American and Canadian friends). A quick post today, as it's only our second day of school and we're still getting acclimated. :)



I masked off an area and stamped the woodgrain pattern (Hero Arts). The flower is actually a large capital 'O' alphabet stamp, stamped repeatedly in a circle. I cut it out and mounted it to the card base with popdots, and then threaded a button (Autumn Leaves)with some yellow gingham ribbon, and attached that to the flower's center with gluedots. A heat embossed sentiment (Hero Arts) finishes it off.

Funny thing I noticed today while updating my blog... today's date is 09/09/09! :D

Have a lovely day! Thanks for stopping by. :)

♥ U (pub'ed)

Hey there! Well, summer's quickly coming to a close. School has started (for many) and the weather's cooling off. I'm still finding myself a little swamped, particularly as we just found out that my hubster's job will transfer us all to Nashville, Tennessee, effective immediately. SO... in addition to getting all four kids started with school, I can add a deep house cleaning, minor routine maintenance repairs, packing, house hunting, and multiple appointment scheduling (movers, showings, etc.) to my list. I really despise house hunting, especially from long distance. :P And we know NOTHING about Nashville... can any of you guys fill me in? Nice areas? Suburbs to avoid? Any advice in general? And if you could just keep me (and my sanity - ha) in your prayers over these next few weeks, I'd REALLY appreciate it that, too. :)

Anyway, on to a card. This was a pub a few months ago... which means that I made it several months ago. LOL So I'm not sure I can remember exactly what stamps (sets) I used, but I do know that they're all Hero Arts. ;) It was for a "Stamping Double" assignment, which means that I was required to use at least 2 stamps on my project. Easy peasy!



As you can see, I used many... the cloud background, the bird, and the grass, obviously. I also used a speech bubble stamp and some alpha stamps for the sentiment. The bird was colored with Prismas and Gamsol, cut out, and put up on pop dots, as was the speech bubble (sentiment). I remember that I had just gotten this Hero Arts bird stamp set at the time the assignment was due and thought he was so cool and funky looking! :D Anyway, not my usual style, but still fun. :)

Thanks again for reading. I know my posts have been sporadic at best lately, and with all I have to do this month, September's not going to be much better. :( But I really appreciate those who are patient and stick with me. Means A LOT. :) XO

On a more personal note, just had to say happy birthday to my sweet daughter 'A', who turns 8 years old today, and a great big kiss to my hubby today as well, for stickin' with me these last 16 CRAZY years (yep, it's our anniversary, too). I love you both, with all my heart. You are my reason and my purpose! Every day. :) XOXO

Thanks... I hope to have more cards to share, so see you soon!

so sorry - pub

Hello there! Once again, I let the blog go for over a week. :P It'll be nice once we start school again... a daily routine, consistency... always a good thing. :)

Here's a quick card that was done for SNR quite a while back. It was for an "I'm sorry" assignment. I remember being quite pressed for time making this... I think it was right around the time of my day on the Hero Arts blog, or maybe when I was helping to co-ordinate the Winter Wonderland Card crop. Regardless, I wasn't overly pleased with it... I'm still not. But it uses a cool technique:



The flowers were colored with markers and then spritzed with water for that mottled, watercolor look. The flecks were made with my Color Spritzer from SU, but you can make your own with a re-inker and an old toothbrush. Just put a couple drops of re-inker onto a non-porous surface like a CD case or coffee can lid. Lightly dip the bristles of your brush into the ink, gently tap off the excess, and then use your finger to flick the bristles so they splatter ink onto your project (practice on scratch paper first, to get the right distance from your paper). Oh, you might want to cover your work surface with a few newspapers or magazine pages to catch the stray splatters, and gloves are also a good thing here, otherwise you'll have ink under your nails for DAYS. ;) Of course the Color Spritzer from SU takes all the work out of achieving this look, but in a pinch, a toothbrush will suffice.

I finally got pics of my more recent cards - yes, I said CARDS, plural LOL - but I've decided to try submitting them! So I won't be posting them here just yet. ;) I've never had the courage to submit to a print magazine before. We'll see what happens. :)

Hope your week is off to a great start! Thanks so much for reading... I appreciate it so very much. XO







SUPPLIES: all paper (yo-yo yellow & mellow moss), stamps (upsy daisy & inspired by nature, can't remember the name of the set for the sentiment... it's from an old SAB set), and inks (markers - yo-yo yellow, mellow moss, always artichoke, chocolate chip) are SU.

celebrate the 4th - pub

Hey, there! Holy cow, it's been over a week since I last posted! I'm just so busy enjoying our summer break while I can that I keep running out of time to blog. The kids will start school on the 8th and this year, I'll be teaching ALL FOUR. Yes, my baby will start pre-K. *sob, sniff sniff* I guess I can't really call her may "baby" anymore, can I? :(

I digress. :) Here's a card that I made for a 4th of July pub assignment for SNR. I wanted to make a card with a sort of "flag" look to it, and this is what evolved:



Some stars are white embossed on blue card stock and then cut out and mounted on pop dots. The rest were stamped directly on the card with navy ink. The "Celebrate" panel was stitched on my machine and then the sentiment was stamped in between and heat embossed. It's different, but I think I like it. :)

I did manage to find some time to stamp this past week (used my new Hero Arts CLiNGS!), but my pics aren't coming out too well thanks to being so overcast these last few days. But one way or another, I'll post them soon.

Can't believe it's Friday already... hope you have a great weekend! And thanks for reading!







SUPPLIES: all stamps are Hero Arts (Galaxy of Stars with miscellaneous stars from other random sets, and All Occasion Messages for the sentiment), inks are SU! craft (white) and Versamagic (navy), white EP, machine stitching, Hero Arts star gems, and pop dots.