My Stamping Corner

Valentine Candy!

2012-02-05T11:53:00.002-05:00

Oh my....is it really February? It continues to amaze me how quickly time goes by these days. I haven't done any stamping for much too long, but I'm confident that I WILL get my mojo back and WILL stamp again!
I just got some really cute digital images that I can't wait to color up so that should spur me on.

Prairie Fairy is giving away some yummy Valentine's Day Candy! Click here for all the details.

Okay, so....what do I love? Yikes - there are so many! I love my husband - we've been married for 45 years and he still starts my heart! I love my children - they've grown up to be such wonderful, kind, caring and generous people - I love being around them. And my grandchildren - all of them are so special, each in their own way. I love my girlfriends - they've been so supportive over the years. I love a good cup of coffee in the morning, kissing my hubby, snuggling with him on a cold winter night, playing with my 11 month old grandson and hearing his giggles, watching my 25 year old grandaughter grow into a really nice woman on her own, a good book, coloring an image and seeing it come to life then transferring it into a special card for someone I love. I'm sure I could go on and on, but I'll end it there.

Hope to see you soon with an actual card I've made!!

Have a wonderful week and hug someone you love!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-06T09:33:00.000-05:00

Good morning to my fellow bloggers!! Just wanted to say hello and let you know I'm still around .... just so busy that there's no time to "play"!! I haven't touched any of my crafting/stamping supplies in a VERY long time. I will get back to it though - just need to get thru the holidays.

Try not to get too stressed out with all the hustle and bustle of the next couple of weeks. Relax and enjoy this time with your families!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!!

{{hugs}}

Birthday Cake and a trip to the strip!

2011-10-21T14:36:00.000-04:00

Before I start rambling on about our "trip to the strip", here's a birthday card I put together right before I left for one of my dearest friends. The stamp is called Lulu's Birthday Cake from Stamping Bella. The image was colored with Copics and shaded with Prismacolor pencils/gamsol. I've had it colored for awhile so it was just a matter of choosing some paper and a layout. The paper doily was calling me to use it as the background matt and I love brown and blue together, so when I saw this paper, grabbed it!

I really didn't want to add too much more to the front of the card, so I did some stitching around the edges - if you look real close, you can see it.......kind of a swirly leaf design.

Here's a closer up shot - click on it to see the detail.

I added a little Glossy Accents to the icing on the cake, then I got a little crazy with the Stickles and added some to the flowers and the dp too!! Don't you just love Stickles?!!! How could you not?!

Do you have a favorite color? Star Dust is my absolute favorite!! The other 'clear' colors have other colors in them too - this one stays clear, which I really like. Some have a green, gold or silver tendency to them - have you noticed that? Well, I actually love all the colors!!! I could put Stickles on everything!! You've noticed that, right? (hee hee!)

Here's a shot of the inside. Again...I didn't embelish much and kept it pretty simple. I love this die - can't remember now who the maker is - but I think it was a European company that I bought from online. I'll try to track it down and post it later. :)

I used Chocolate Chip and... hmmm...not certain what color the other one is... might be Baha Breeze... or Bashful Blue (?). The cardstock is Stampin' Up! except for the white, which is Bella's Bestest White.

Now on to my trip to the strip!!

We just got back from a week long trip to Las Vegas and then Los Angeles. We stayed near the south end of the strip and I loved coming out each morning to the beautiful sunny skies and this view of New York New York!!

The weather was in the high 80's to mid 90's all week with clear, sunny skies every day - perfect for walking, which we did a lot of!! We didn't do a ton of gambling and, of course, lost everything we gambled so I'm glad we didn't do a lot!

We made a side trip one day to Valley of Fire State Park, which was really beautiful.

Made up of incredible red sandstone formations formed back in the time of dinosaurs, the park has hiking trails, picnic and camping sites along with a great visitor center that tells you everything about this fascinating place. We had intended to hike one of the trails, but it was about 95 degrees (in the shade!) so we didn't do any hiking! It took about an hour to get there from Las Vegas, but I'm really glad we made the trip and it was a nice break from the bedlam of Vegas!!

Also while we were in Las Vegas, it turned out that our oldest son had a wheelchair rugby tournament there! We didn't know about it when we booked this trip so it was a really nice surprise! Another bonus....my sister-in-law, who lives in Mojave, came out to visit us we were there too!! We were able to have dinner together one night and our waiter was kind enough to take a picture for us!

We headed to Los Angeles hoping to get last-minute standby tickets to the Ellen show. The directions were to call between 8 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. the day of the show, leave your name, number of tickets you wanted, and phone number. I'd say we were one of the first, if not THE first, to call in the morning at the designated time, but never received a call back. I was disappointed, but it was a long shot anyway. Being the celebrity seeker I seem to be, we headed for "The Grove" outdoor shopping mall in L.A. It's where they always show the celebrities walking and shopping. And - since it's located right behind CBS studios, a lot of the celebs on Dancing with the Stars and other shows wind up there!

I had forgotten that Mario Lopez and "Extra" films LIVE there!! When we saw the set and all the people, I was really excited!! Of course, we had no idea who Mario was going to be interviewing, but I didn't care who it was - I was sure it'd be cool anyway!! We had lunch outside at a restaurant right near the set to wait for the interview to start.

Turns out it was Snooki from Jersey Shores!! Now I have to tell you.... I am not a Jersey Shores fan - in fact I have never even seen the show! But true to my (just realized!) celebrity seeking personality, I was excited! I have no idea what they talked about in the interview....I was too busy trying to get pictures on my cell phone! There people involved in the show were between us and Snooki/Mario, so it was really hard to get a good shot. It was really funny because there were lots of professional photographers there and the minute there was any kind of clearing, the sound of shutters clicking was crazy!!

It was a fun trip and now that we're back to this cold, gray Michigan weather, I am so glad that we had a week of sun and warmth!!

It's always fun to go on vacation....but sooooo nice to be back home!! At least that's how I feel anyway. :)

Have a great weekend!!

Where has my mojo gone??

2011-10-01T15:58:00.000-04:00

My mojo has up and left me once again! What is it with that? Sometimes I just can't get it together no matter how hard I try. This was a perfect example. I needed to make a card for my sister-in-law. I already had the image I wanted to use and everything, but just had some kind of mental block when it came time to putting the darned thing together! It ended up okay, but not one of my favorites. I'm going to have to make another attempt to use this image because I really LOVE it!!

Okay....so here goes.... The image is a digital one from Dude Time Doodles and it's called Fannie Fart! How funny is that?!! They have some really cute images.
As with a lot of the funny images I've found, this one was discovered on Jeanie's The Spotted Chick's blog! She is so funny, clever and talented - and she always has such a great spin on the images she uses. You'll have to check out her blog if you've never visited because she is one funny lady!

I printed Fannie on Bella's Bestest white cardstock and colored her with Copics. I paper pieced her dress using some paper from the Basic Grey Offbeat collection, the ribbon in her hair and the bows on her shoes. A little shading was done with my Prismacolor pencils and I sponged some chalk ink around the inside edges of my Nestie. For once, I remembered to do some stitching! (my memory finally kicked in!!)

Okay....so all that was the easy part....

Then came the actual 'putting together' part. (ugh) I don't know why I struggled so much, but I did. There were all kinds of possibilities of layouts and papers to use, so why the struggle you might ask. I wish I could answer that! Finally, I came up with a plan and put it together. It's very basic, but here is the finished card:

I wanted to incorporate some green into the card so I used it as shading around the image. At the time, I had no idea how that would turn out, but it kind of looks like the "stench" coming from her "poof", doesn't it?!! (hee hee!) Then I still needed to add some more green to tie it together and I just got this great die from MFT - Fancy Flourish - I LOVE their dies!! They cut so nice and clean! MFT has a new website and I couldn't find this flourish to link it, but I know they still have it - maybe they're just out right now. Once I cut the flourish out of the green paper and put it up against the card....oh my...it kind of looked like part of the plan!! It looked like another part of the "poof"!!

Well, sometimes everything just falls into place even when you don't have a plan. That's what happened this time anyway. Because there really was NO plan!!

Here's the inside of the card. The sentiment was borrowed from Jeanie's card - it was just so fitting, how could I not?!! The sentiment was computer generated so I was able to use part of the digital image (the "poof" part!). Another green swirl, a little bit of the paper used on the front and FINALLY I got this together! (whew!) As always, I just had to add a little glitter: clear gel pen to her eyelids, earrings and shoes; Stickles Star Dust glitter glue to the fancy flourish die.

I guess that's it for today!

Have a great weekend!

I love being married!

2011-09-17T23:44:00.000-04:00

Oh my gosh - has it really been over a month since I posted anything? We were so busy enjoying the summer and our grandkids that I wasn't doing any stamping at all. Days went by where I didn't check my email or even turn on my computer....and that's really a big deal for me!

Today my husband and I are celebrating our anniversary - 45 years! I came across this digital stamp several months ago and knew it was destined to be on the next card I did for my dh! The image is called "Stella Love-Person to Annoy" a Bugaboo Stamps digi image. I always like to give him a serious card and a funny card, obviously this one isn't the serious one!

Don't you just love this image?!! These two are both so darned cute with their scrawny legs and glasses. And I love the fact that the hubster is in his undies and has that little belly! (ha!ha!) My little grandaughter even commented on the fact that this guy looks kinda like Grandpa! (Better not let him know that!) The sentiment is sooo perfect too!

Because I wanted to cut up the first part of the sentiment that comes along with this image, I re-typed it in a similar font, spacing it so there would be enough room, then cut out each of the individual words in the first sentence: "I - love - being - married..." and matted each one on a piece of SU's old Cranberry Crisp card stock. (I still have a bunch left and will sorely miss it when it's gone!)

This card went together pretty quickly. I colored Stella and her man with Copics adding some shading with my Prismacolor pencils/OMS. A little sponging around the edges and some Glossy Accents/Crystal Effects added to their glasses completed the old married duo.

I used Basic Grey's Oliver collection and Spellbinder's Lacey Circles to mat the image, another piece of SU Cranberry Crisp put thru the crimper and then I just ran the edge of a white pencil over it to give it some definition. I really intended to at least sew around the edges of the card, but in my haste of trying to get this completed before my dh discovered me working on it, I forgot! I added a little wooden heart and threaded some cranberry colored twine thru it to finish it off.

For the inside, I printed the sentiment with part of the Stella images next to it (the images were done in a washed out effect), then added the "Happy Anniversary". I used another Spellbinders circle & lacey circle to mat it then cut that almost in half so I would have some room at the bottom of the card to write a little love note to my honey. :)

My photography definitely leaves a little to be desired most of the time and this one was done in quite a rush. See the top photo? I was in such a hurry that the only place I knew would give me good light without a lot of setup was in the laundryroom! That was taken on top of the top-loading washer! I guess I need to slow down a little and get my cards done a little bit ahead of time, wouldn't you say?

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend and enjoying the cooler fall weather!

Talk to you again soon!

Is this is the perfect Fisherman's Card or what?

2011-08-03T11:51:00.000-04:00

Grandpa and 3 of the grandkids

Whew! We have had some really hot weather here in Michigan! Not complaining though - hot as it is, we have pretty long, cold winters so we're grateful for all the summer weather we can get! Since we live on a lake, we've really had the opportunity to take advantage of all this sunny weather with the grandkids and other family as well. We love the fact that we get to spend lots of time with the grandkids during the summer!

Max's big catch!! (he was so proud!)

I know you didn't stop by to hear about my summer, but to see what my latest card creation is, so here goes! I made this one for my grandson, Max, who has his 10th birthday coming up this weekend. He LOVES to fish! When he comes to our house, he usually goes right into the garage, grabs his pole and tackle box and heads right down to the lake to fish. He's all 'boy' for sure!! So when I saw this image ("Sam and Dylan Fishing") from Make "It" Crafty, I knew it would be perfect for him.

I used Basic Grey's Max and Whiskers dp - love all the designs! And all the little images on it are just him....turtles, snakes, fish! I colored the image with Copics, did some shading with Prismacolor pencils, used some Glossy Accents for the water, and, of course, had to add a little glitter! I didn't want to use ribbon since this was for a boy, so I used cork and twine instead. I feel like it still needs something, but couldn't figure out what else to add, so called it a day.

Here's the inside.....

The sentiment is computer generated - the little fish and worm on hook image was found on the internet. The bass on the left was also found on the internet. I just printed it on cardstock, cut it out, mounted it with some dimensionals and added some Stickles to make it like a slimy fish :) then added the twine like it's fishing line.

Seems like the perfect image, card, sentiment, doesn't it? ......we'll see!! As I said in a previous post, the kids don't usually pay all that much attention to the cards I've made for them in the past. My 12 year old really liked the one I did for him last month, so hopefully, this one will be equally impressed!!

Hope you're having a great summer!! Thanks for taking the time to stop by!

It's been awhile....

2011-07-03T21:15:00.000-04:00

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted anything here!! The sunny summer weather, vacation and grandkids being out of school have been sucking up my time - and I've been loving it! It hasn't left a whole lot of time for making cards, but it's been a lot of fun. They just bring so much joy to our lives!!

Max and Grandma playing his favorite game
"3 of a Crime"!

Grandpa, Cole and Lucy

We just got back from a week long family vacation on a lake in northern Michigan. Our 3 grown kids and their spouses/significant others, grandkids, a couple of neices & nephew, and our daughter-in-law's mother and step-father. There were 15 of us at one point! We rented a house right on a lake: 6-bedrooms, 5-bathrooms, huge house! The weather could've been warmer and sunnier, but you'd never know it was cool most days because the kids were always in the water anyway.

One of the things that kept the boys going back to the water was two stand-up paddle boards. They had so much fun on these things that we have decided we need to get a couple to use at our own house on our lake!! My oldest grandson, in particular, is pretty addicted to video games and he was perfectly happy to be outside on this paddle board for hours on end. That in itself makes these a worthwhile purchase!!

Our second day there was Father's Day and it was a wonderful way to celebrate the day! Our youngest son, who has the 4 young ones, was given a mouse-pad with all of the kids pictures on it - signed by them and/or doodled upon! The kids then presented Grandpa with a cornhole game they helped their dad make for him. All the dads were in their glory!!

I must confess that I purchased a 'store-bought' card for our son for Father's Day. Time got short and sometimes I just fall prey to the commercial cards and their beautiful sentiments. I was able to squeeze in enough time to make my husband a card though. I saw Mo Manning's "Big Guy Grilling" image and knew it would work for him!! Here is the card that I did ........

I cased this card from one I saw done by another blogger. I used much of her design, changed up some of the paper used, but kept a lot of the original design just because I loved it the way it was! I even tried to emulate her coloring - I feel like a total 'copy cat'!! That is how I've learned to color with both Copics and Prismacolor pencils though - by studying how others color and trying to do the same. I love the way the grill guy's hand holding the burgers/dogs extends off the cardstock - that's what compelled me to stay with her design. This is the cutest stamp and inside the sentiment said something like ...."to the best 'flippin' Dad and Husband around". I paper pieced his shirt and used Copics & Primacolor pencils to color. I was in a huge hurry when I got to the shading for the background so I just masked the image and sponged around, but I got a little messy and it surely isn't my best work, but I really like this card! The clouds were found on the internet, printed out on cardstock and cut out. I just hand wrote "Happy Father's Day".

This next card was done for my oldest grandson's birthday (he's 12). As I mentioned before, he is a total video game-aholic so this Mo Manning image 'Video Boy' really hit the mark! The kids aren't usually all that impressed with my cards....in fact, they barely even look at the cards I make for them, but this one he noticed and it actually got a big smile out of him!! (yaaah!!)

I liked the kind of funky designs in this pack of paper, which I think is from Cosmo Cricket's "Boyfriend" collection. I colored him up with my Copics and did some of the shading with Prismacolor pencils. I added a little Glossy Accents to the game control he's holding - although it doesn't really show up in this picture. I wanted to add some different shapes and texture so I cut the paper in circles and a triangle. That didn't quite do what I wanted, so I punched a large star out of cork and added the smaller stars and some silver Stickles. That did the trick!

Well, two cards in one post - hard to believe, huh?!! I really need to get working on a couple of birthday cards for friends of mine so maybe I won't be MIA for so long next time I post!!

Hope you're all having a wonderful 4th of July weekend!!

Missing you.....

2011-04-02T12:07:00.000-04:00

I'm missing my oldest grandaughter....she's 24 years old now ~ I can hardly believe that fact! When she was just an infant, my daughter moved back in with us and the two of them lived with us until my grandaughter was about 9 years old. So, needless to say, we have a special bond with her! She decided to go to college in Illinois and, as Grandpa predicted, she wound up staying in Illinois after graduation.

This stamp, "Chloe" from Whipper Snapper Designs, is one of my favorite stamps to color. And whenever I bring it out, it makes me think of my sweet grandaughter, so I thought I'd make a little "missing you" card to send to her. I colored Chloe with Copics this time and just did some shading with my Prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Starting with SU! Chocolate Chip cardstock, I layered Close to Cocoa and Basic Grey Bittersweet paper. Then I gave it a little 'fru-fru' with some old fashioned looking lace that I threaded some thin pink ribbon through. I thought it needed a little more, so I added some corner treatment with some Chocolate Chip cardstock punched with a Martha Stewart lace punch and added a couple of flatback pearls. I distressed the edges of all the paper with some Tim Holtz Distress Ink. I meant to do some more stitching on the first layer, but totally forgot (again!) so the stitching only made it around the layer with the image itself.

The last time I colored Chloe, I only used Prismacolor Pencils/gamsol. I'm not sure there were even any Copics in my possession at that time! Here's a glimpse of my other card with Chloe.....

Now that I see the first one, I'm not sure which one I like better!! I love the deeper colors I can achieve with the Copics, but I do love coloring with pencils and the blending technique. Watercoloring had somewhat of the same feeling for me. (haven't done any of that in awhile!) It's gratifying to see something coming to life with every stroke, isn't it?

What is your favorite medium to color with? Do you prefer markers, pencils, watercoloring? I'd love to hear what you like to use and how your preferences have changed over the years!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

What happened to Spring???

2011-03-23T13:25:00.000-04:00

We were just starting to get a peek into some milder weather...all the snow had disappeared....the birds were chirping away in the morning....I was really getting encouraged that Spring was actually making an appearance. Then came the sleet and snow last night! I couldn't believe it when I saw across the top (or bottom?) of the TV...."Winter Snow Warning"!! What? What happened to Spring?!

I guess I should be used to it by now - after all, this is Michigan! I'm getting over it, but I'm so ready for some relief from all the white stuff.

Which brings me to my card!

I was feeling "springy" so brought out Stamping Bella's Lizzy Lollipop.

This little guy/gal (?) just always makes me smile!

I colored the image with Copics and for the ground shadow using my Prismas and gamsol. I traced around the inside of the Nestability I used leaving just enough room for my sentiment, which I'm sure you can tell I did by hand! (Wish I had Paula's ability to do those handwritten sentiments!) I added a little stitching, layered some Basic Grey Origins on Stampin Up! YoYo Yellow, a ribbon and a daisy! Of course I had to add a little Stickles glitter on the wings and the ends of his antennae! Gotta have the bling factor, you know?!!

For the inside of this card, I kept with the "bee" theme and layered another sheet of my Basic Grey Origins (which, incidentally, I have been hoarding so it was tough to let go of both pages of this pattern in my little 6x6 pad!!) onto some Stampin Up! Yo Yo Yellow.

I used one of my new favorite Nestabilities - Labels Sixteen...then stamped the sentiment and the little bee. Not sure where either one of those came from! Did some minor coloring with my Copics, added some sparkle to the wings of the bee and called it a day!

This card went together pretty easily and I love coloring this image! The Lollipops are some of my favorite stamps at Stamping Bella!

Hope you're having a good week wherever you are and no snow!!

Two-Timing Chick!!

2011-03-17T11:13:00.000-04:00

Yah!!! I won the That's Krafty Thursday Challenge again!!! So I'm a "two-timing chick"!! I entered the card below ("Sweet!") and was chosen as one of five winners out of 54 entries.

What an honor!! Congrats to all the other winners and a big "THANK YOU" to Jeanie!! If you haven't visited Jeanie's site (The Spotted Chick), hop on over there.....you're in for a treat!! She's one talented lady and always inspires me!!

Woohoo!!!!(doin' the "happy dance"!!)

Sweet!!!

2011-03-05T11:38:00.000-05:00

We have a brand new grandson!! It's been a busy couple of weeks ~ we were helping out with the older kids (11, 9 & 6) so we had our hands full. They are so excited about their new little brother! They want to hold him constantly...especially the youngest. She is so gentle and loving with him - just like a little mother. It's very SWEET!! Which brings me to my card....(nice entrance, don't you think?)....

I have had this Mo's Digital image - Bronte and Louis - for awhile and couldn't figure out what sentiment to use with him. I wanted to do a card for my oldest son and thought maybe Louis would work! I found the sentiments in two different stamp sets and they seemed to work well together. And don't you just love Basic Grey's new Pyrus paper?!! I paired it with Kraft & some old SU! Cranberry Crisp cardstock.

"Hope your day is....SWEET as can be!!"

I also wanted to do a card to enter in Jeanie's "That's Krafty Thursday" challenge and this one will fit the bill! Sometimes I forget to use my kraft cardstock and also forget how versatile it is! If you've never visited Jeanie's site (The Spotted Chick), you have a treat in store - her cards are GORGEOUS!! Every time I visit, I get another boost of inspiration!!

Bronte and Louis were colored with Copics. I think I'm finally getting the hang of them! Still a work in progress, but the more I use them, the more I'm loving them!! I did some shading with my Prismacolor pencils/gamsol, stitched around the edges and sponged with Chalk ink. I wanted to add the first part of the sentiment in a half-circle, but it looked a little 'blah' all by itself....so I used one of my smallest Nestabilities to cut out a scalloped circle in cork. I punched holes in each of the scallops to give it more definitioin. I like the way it turned out! A little colored cord and a button and this card is complete! (and no bling or sparkle this time...can you believe it?!!!)

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

For the boys....

2011-02-12T15:48:00.000-05:00

Trying to do Valentine's Day cards for boys is tough for me because I always want to make them too "frilly"!! When I ran across this Stampendous stamp set, I thought ... maybe the monkeys will be a little less girly??

I tried to keep them as simple as I could....which isn't as easy as it sounds!!! Adding some bling here and there and a couple of hearts was about all I could safely get away with and still keep them un-girly! I used the Nestabilities die to cut out hearts in cork and black felt to add something a little different to the norm.

I the first one did as a 'gate' card. These always turn out so well for some reason! I layered the cardstock & paper then stitched around before adhering to the card base. I did the same treatment to the inside and used Spellbinders Labels 16 for the sentiment and layered it on another cut of the same die in black cardstock. A little sponging around the edges and I was super happy with the way this one turned out! (I probably should've stuck with a square die since I was trying not to get too 'girly' - guess I kind of forgot my main goal! Oh well!)

Note that both of these cards are A-2 size, which I seldom ever do these days. I seem to automatically create square cards without so much as a thought to do otherwise!

The other card was super easy peasy! I actually used a layout that I saw on the Stampendous site for this set and just changed up the paper. I liked this paper a lot and thought it worked really well with this card. I didn't even do any stitching on this one! I cut out the hearts from the same paper used on the front and put them inside. Here's what the inside of the other card looks like. Simple but sweet!

Both cards were colored with Copics and some shading done with Prismacolor pencils & gamsol. I used paper from the Basic Grey Cupcake collection for the gate-card and I'm not sure about the other paper. I cut off the end with the name and threw it out before I made note of it - sorry!

Now it's off to the Post Office to get these into the mail so my little munchkins will receive them on Monday!!

Have a great weekend and a Happy Valentine's Day!!

Love Owls and Dreamy Eyes....

2011-02-09T18:24:00.000-05:00

Oh I am in love!! I found these adorable "Love Owls" at the DigiStamp Boutique and just had to color them up for Valentine's Day! I want to do them in lots of colors and send them to everyone!! But, of course, I can't do that! I'll have to use some other images because I can't send the same one to all three of my grandchildren that live in the same household...that would never do!! (hee! hee!)

I printed them out on Bella's Bestest paper (as always!), colored them with Copics, cut them out with my oval Nestabilities, sponged with some chalk ink around the edges, then matted them on a piece of cork cut out with the big scalloped oval Nestabilities. Don't you just LOVE the dreamy eyes on these two with some Glossy Accents added?!!

The red felt heart was cut out with yet another Nestability, cardstock run thru the Cuttlebug for some dots, double loop punched on both the Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip cardstock, then the button and ribbon added. The sentiment "Owl Always Love You" is from another set I had from last year's stash. I like how the different textures work together: bumpy dots, cork, felt, gloss, stitching... much more 'stuff' than I'm used to doing on my cards, but I really like how it turned out!!

Now back to the drawing board!! Just three more cards to go and I'll at least have the grandkids covered for Valentine's Day!!

Snowmen are pretty appropriate today!

2011-02-01T17:04:00.000-05:00

Okay...I know everyone else is busy working on Valentine's Day cards now, but it's taken me this long to finish what I started with the snowmen! Here's the problem...my craft area is in the basement..and it's COLD down there! (brrrrrr) It's not usually bad but when the temps are in the single digits, it is definitely not a warm, cuddly place to be.

Anyway....here are my last snowmen! I wanted to try a gate-card for this one. Colored him up with my Prismacolor pencils/gamsol and added some Martha Stewart chunky snow and some stickles. The ribbon is SU and the snowflake....not sure, but it came on an acetate sheet, some having a blue rhinestone, some having a clear one. I used coordinating paper from the same collection on the inside. These are always fun to do!

The other two cards are pretty simple...just done in different color schemes.

Wouldn't you know it? In my haste to get these done, I forgot to sew them! So I did some faux stitching to the blue & brown card and some Martha Stewart Chunky Snow and Stickles. I did a bunch of these, but promise I won't bore you with any more!!!

On to the Valentine's Day cards!!!

So - we're expecting about a foot of snow where I live tonight. We're really hoping our electricity stays on through the night! I hope you live somewhere warm and don't have to deal with this storm! Keep warm!

Snowmen....

2011-01-08T17:57:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who procrastinates and is always late with everything! Yep, that's what happened with the Christmas cards - just didn't start early enough! The "thank you" cards weren't ready either, so I'm trying to get those finished and sent out before February hits.

Since it's still winter (brrrr...) and these are thank you cards for Christmas gifts, I figured it'd be okay if these still looked a little Christmassy. I decided on this Penny Black snowman stamp. He's such a cutie and is pretty quick and easy to color. I did him two different ways - one on white cardstock, the other on Kraft cardstock.

The first one was stamped on Kraft cardstock. (I'm entering this one into Jeanie's That's Krafty Thursday Challenge #45!) His body was done using a watercolor pen and a SU! White Craft ink pad. I found this technique on another blog, but can't remember which one!! I dragged some of the ink pad right onto an acrylic block then used the watercolor pen and that ink to color the snowman's body. I used Prismacolor Pencils blended with gamsol to color his scarf, arms and earmuffs. I added some light blue shading around the image, which looks more like white in the picture, but it really is light blue! After doing a little machine stitching around the edges, I just added some Martha Stewart snow glitter, some Stickles and a couple of punched snowflakes.

This one was colored with Copics on Bella's Bestest paper. I liked this one right away; it's bright, crisp and clean looking! So I went ahead and kept the completion of the card pretty simple too. Just a run thru the Cuttlebug for some texture, some layered paper and cardstock with some Stickles dotted here and there and a jeweled snowflake. (gotta have a little bit of bling, you know what I'm talking about?!!)

I used a technique that I found on Jodi Collins' blog here (love her cards!) to create a frame. After stamping and embossing your image, remove it from the die and stamp the sentiment somewhere near the bottom edge. Then pop the image back into the die and trace around the inside edge with a Copic Multiliner leaving some space on either side of the sentiment. Isn't this a cool technique and so easy to do!! I think it works best with words that are printed versus handwritten style since the handwritten styles seem to all go below the line you want to stay above.

I like how both of these turned out! One is kind of warm and cozy, the other one crisp and clean! Which one do you like best??

I have one more snowman that I'm working on and a cute little Ellzybells stamp that I had in my stock. (Note: I just found out that these are no longer being made - how sad is that?!! - they were so cute) As soon as I get some more finished, I'll get them posted.

Hope you have a great weekend!!

Good Intentions...

2010-12-27T10:44:00.000-05:00

Christmas has come and gone and no cards were made by these two hands - I can't believe it!! I had all good intentions....but then, you know what they say about "the road to 'you know where' being paved with good intentions!! Where did the time go?!! What have I been doing? I remember saying to my DH sometime before Halloween, "if we don't get cracking right now, the holidays will be here before we know it and we won't be ready!" Well...guess we didn't get crackin', did we?!!

Our youngest grandchildren

We had a such a wonderful Christmas!! Our children and grandchildren all live within about 5 miles of us and our oldest granddaughter, who lives in Chicago, came home for a few days so we were super blessed to have everyone here with us! Let's face it....our families and friends make the holidays! Who needs presents! We love our grandchildren, and our grown children are such fun to be around and they're just nice people to spend time with! We're very lucky.

My oldest granddaughter & my daughter

A few short days and we will begin a new year - where did 2010 go? I retired towards the end of 2009 and thought I'd spend lots of time stamping and scrapbooking all those photos I never had time to do. There was more stamping done when I worked full time!! I think I need to make a New Year's resolution to make better use of my time..... maybe finding a place to do some volunteer work. There are so many people in need these days, it would be nice to help out.

Anyway....just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas (late, I know!) and a Happy, healthy and peaceful New Year!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2010-11-23T12:31:00.000-05:00

I started the day today going over all of my recipes for the big Thanksgiving day feast. It seemed like I had so many different cookbooks, magazines, torn out pages, etc. and I just wanted to simplify. So...I decided to copy each recipe and then just put away all the books & magazines and just have the copy to refer to. I hope this helps me get rid of some of the clutter and be a little more organized! Yummm....I'm already hungry for all those taste tantalizing flavors that only Thanksgiving dinner brings!

My card for today is a Whipper Snapper Designs image: Megan. She's such a cutie! I colored her with Copics and did some shading to her skirt and around the image with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Her shirt was paper pieced then I added some Star Dust Stickles (gotta add some bling!) and Crystal Effects to her glasses. The sentiment is an old one from a Hero Arts set that I use a lot. The scallop punch used is from SU! and I added the black inside the scallop edge to make it stand out a little more. Love, love, love this paper!! It's from My Mind's Eye and it's from the "So Sophia" collection. A little stitching, a couple of buttons and this card is good to go!

I know this is a short post, but I need to get back to my Thanksgiving preparations so I hope you'll forgive me! Cleaning is next on my list, then checking to see that I have all the ingredients needed for dinner. I'm ready for a busy, productive day!

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Don't forget to give thanks for all the blessings in your life.

{{hugs}}

Once a month?.....

2010-11-15T21:06:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. I've finally got something to show today! I did a get-well card for my sister-in-law and friend who recently fell and broke her hip (yikes!). She lives quite a distance from me (3 hours!) so it's not like I can run over a casserole to help out or anything. She's a trooper though and I know she'll do okay with her hubby taking care of her.

I thought this Whipper Snapper stamp, "Recovering Chicken", fit the bill! I stamped him in Momento Black ink on Bella's Bestest paper and colored him with my Prismacolor Pencils. I popped the deckled edge cutout back into the Nestability and added the shading around the outside edge with small chalk ink pad and sponge. The cardstock I used is Riding Hood Red, which seems to be a mainstay of mine....which I think SU! discontinued (????). (I'd love to get my hands on some more because I'm getting low!) I added the "Ouch!" sentiment - done by my own hand, and felt like any more would've been too much. I tried adding some ribbon, but couldn't get it to look right. Since I was mailing this card, the less embellishments the better anyway! Of course, I just had to add some glitter around this chick to make her complete. :)

A trip to Hobby Lobby and Archivers today was a special treat! But you should've seen me when I received my "Cinch" from the UPS guy!! I finally have some of the things I need to start using it after my trip - I'm excited!

My grandson wants a fishing log book (he's 9 and is really into fishing!), so I'm going to try to make one for him. Trying to keep it fit for a "boy" and not all frilled it up will be my challenge!

Have a wonderful week!

Still trying to find my mojo.....

2010-10-18T14:43:00.000-04:00

It's been close to a month since I posted anything....'life' seems to be getting in the way of my card making. And the less I do, the more my mojo seems to be fading. Right now my stamping space is such a total mess - it's no wonder I don't spend more time there! I was going to take a picture, but I'd be way too embarrassed!

Here's my attempt at Mo's Digital image "Celebrate". I love this image! I colored it up mostly with Copics - shading with Prismas/Gamsol. The paper is from Basic Grey's Sugar Rush collection. The image is digital, printed on Bella's Bestest paper, other cardstock is from Stampin' Up! - Night of Navy and Almost Amethest. The punch is Martha Stewart's Double Loops punch. Sentiment is from an old set that was one of my first stamp sets; I think it's a Hero Art's set....not sure of the name.

This past weekend we had our annual family "Pumpkin Carving" day. Started out in the morning in 3 cars headed for the pumpkin patch! We found one that we really like about half an hour from where we live. It's pretty basic: hayride out to the pumpkin patch, everyone jumps out and searches for that perfect pumpkin (and we all wind up with pretty much the same thing!), the hayride goes back to where our cars are parked so everyone can deposit their pumpkins then back to where we started. There's a large tent that houses the small concession stand - nothing fancy here. Just about everyone had at least a donut, some had cider, some hot chocolate. I think there's a haunted house there too, but we've never been to that.

But here's the part we like the best: the pumpkin blasters!! They have these huge "guns" that you load either with gourds or apples and shoot them at targets - it's a riot!!

We all came back to our house for a late lunch/early dinner then we set up for our traditional pumpkin carving. All of these events usually take place later in the day, so there's normally a few pictures when we're all finished, in the dark, of all of our pumpkins - lit up. But this year, we needed to wrap up earlier, so no final picture (boo hoo!). Here's the one from last year....isn't this cool?!! As you can see, we have a very imaginative group!

Here are a couple of photos from our pumpkin carving this year! :)

Anniversary Wishes....

2010-09-21T16:51:00.000-04:00

As you can probably tell if you've visited me before, my blog is not in its usual state! Somehow the list of all my favorite blogs has disappeared too. I've been trying to find time to re-do it, but for now, this will have to do....I expect to get it back to some semblance of 'normal' or at least something better soon!

This past week, my DH and I celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary - quite an accomplishment in this day and age. I always have a hard time coming up with a card for him because I can't think of anything as good as what the Hallmark cards have to say. But I wanted to make him a card, so I did my best at expressing myself inside. It wasn't as poetic as a store-bought card, but hopefully he got it....and appreciated it even more because I made it for him! :)

I stamped "Kiss me you fool" on Bella's Bestest paper with Memento Black ink then colored with a combination of Copics and Prismacolor pencils. All the shading is done with pencils/gamsol. The cardstock is SU!'s Ruby Red and Sage Shadow, the patterned paper is My Mind's Eye. I used my Circles and Big Scalloped Circle Nestability to matt the image then raised on dimensionals, hand-lettered and cut the sentiment, placing under the raised image. As always, I had to add a little Star Dust Stickles to give it a little bling!

Oh darn... I just remembered that I had intended to somehow attach a little "love" charm and a "key" to my heart, but in the rush to get this done, I completely forgot. Oh well....he already has the key to my heart anyway. (blush!)

Birthday Kitty.....

2010-09-04T11:03:00.000-04:00

These days, I only seem to make a card when I need one - LOL!! That may change now though since summer is just about over and my days will be my own again.

I needed a birthday card for a neighbor, so I dredged up this Penny Black set buried in with my clear stamps. This little kitty has never been inked up and he looked kinda cute so thought he might give my neighbor a smile! :o)

As usual, I can't remember which Basic Grey collection this is from! (Ha!) Hmmm....either I'm having memory issues or just have too much Basic Grey!! (I think it's a combination of both!) I used my big scalloped circle nestabilities and intended to layer my image on that. When I tried it, it just didn't give it the 'pop' that I wanted.....when I looked at the remnant of my die cutting, I decided to give that a try....and I liked it! Looking at the finished product, I wish I'd done a little more stitching, but I'm pretty happy with it. :)

I colored this smiling little kitty with my prismacolor pencils & blended with gamsol. The balloons are covered with Diamond Glaze and I just had to use some glitter (on the gift, his hat & around him)! Can't seem to do many cards without some glitter or bling! Some ribbon remnants and a loop and this card is ready to rock & roll!

I used the big scalloped piece (originally cut out to go behind the image) on the inside of the card as the background for the "Happy Birthday" sentiment.

The grandkids will be back to school this week so no more coming over to Grandma's house during the day. I'm really going to miss them!! They have made this summer so wonderful for both my DH and I. It's been busy...and we've been totally exhausted at times...but we have so enjoyed the time we've spent with them. Luckily, they live close to us, so we'll still see a lot of them! (aren't they cute?!!)

Hope you have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!!

Back to the basics!

2010-08-21T14:25:00.000-04:00

My days have happily been filled with grandkids the past couple of weeks (11, 9 & 5 yrs) including a very demanding little 5-year old grandaughter who is becoming an avid stamper! She wants to learn everything I can teach her and wants to use every product she sees!! I'm really happy that I can share this with her, but I sometimes have a hard time sharing my 'hoarded' stuff with her! :o) (It's hard enough for ME to use that hoarded stuff!!) She's so cute though and I really can't believe how she's picked up things like shading and blending! I'm making her use her Crayolas...even though she tries to cajole me into letting her use my Prismacolor Pencils. (Ha! No way, Jose!)

Back to the cards! One is for my friend, Ruth, who is turning 87 in a few days and the other is for her son who is turning 59 on the same day. They are both wonderful people and I love them to pieces! I was kind of in a time crunch to get these done in time to mail, so went back to the old 'basics' with both of these.

For the first one I stamped a single flower on SU's Baha Breeze cardstock with Versamark and embossed it with white embossing powder then layered onto Chocolate Chip cardstock and some paper from Basic Grey's Offbeat collection. I stamped the sentiment from the same set in Chocolate Chip ink, cut it out added a few flat-back pearls, a little SU ribbon and ooaalaa! First one done! (whew!)

The second card needed to be more masculine, which I have to admit I struggle with sometimes. I chose SU's Trendy Trees set for another quick and simple card.

I stamped the trees onto white cardstock and layered onto good old Chocolate Chip and Old Olive cardstock then machine stitched around the edge with brown thread. For the background, I used one of Basic Grey's Mellow collection papers also layered onto the same cardstock then zig zag machine stitched. I added a strip of old olive ribbon and a brad and .... another one complete!

I love coloring with my prismas, but every once in awhile it's kind of nice to go back to the basics and just do some stamping! These weren't at all complicated, but I was very pleased with the results.

Off to the mailbox these go!! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Sending Donkey Smiles....

2010-07-24T17:39:00.007-04:00

Below is a card that I made for sister-stamper, Michelle Oatman.

I recently found out that Michelle, who is a design team member for A Spoon Full of Sugar, had a life changing accident about three weeks ago, which left her with the loss of her right eye and a long road of recovery ahead. In an effort to show support, cheer her up and raise awareness for what happened to Michelle, A Spoon Full of Sugar is holding a card drive in her honor.

This cute digital stamp set was created by two of Whimsy Stamps' artists in honor of Michelle. The image is available for free on the Whimsy Stamps store page. Whimsey Stamps and many others are joining together to help with a card drive for Michelle. They are asking you to download this image and sentiments, create a card for Michelle, and help with their card drive from now until Tuesday, July 27th. More details about this drive can be found on the Spoon Full of Sugar blog.

Stampavie is also having a "Kickin' it" for Michelle drive trying to help raise money for Michelle .... besides sending cyber-hugs, they are asking for PayPal donations which will be sent directly to Michelle to help “kick” the mounting medical costs associated with her surgeries and also to help her obtain an artificial eye. Visit Stampavie's blog to get all the details of how to contribute.

Tina Wenke has produced a special digital download of a very cute donkey to use!! Just go to Stampavie's blog, click on the image and save the larger version to your computer. In return, they simply ask that you donate $3 or more to Michelle's PayPal fund.

My 5-year old grandaughter saw me making my card and was very concerned about Michelle. She asked me if she could make a card too....I couldn't believe what a great job she did!! (see how she tried to mimic my blue shading around the donkey? is that cute or what?!!) On the inside she wrote, "Sorry about your accident. Hope you are alright. Love, Lucy". I'm going to send her card to Michelle too....I hope it brings her a smile!!

Please visit both of A Spoon Full of Sugar and Stampavie sites and help support Michelle in her recovery!!

On her blog, Michelle says that mail time is now her favorite time of day - when her hubby goes out to the mailbox and comes back with all the beautiful cards everyone is sending. She says they have lifted her spirits and brought her hours of smiles!! Let's flood her mailbox with cards and well wishes!!

King of the Wild Things...

2010-07-16T17:38:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday, everyone!! My DH and I have been busy the past couple of days helping our daughter get her new condo (new to her!) in shape. The previous owner had a large dog that shed like crazy and we've been cleaning up hair for days! Who knew a dog could shed that much hair?!!! Yesterday, I spent a large part of the day just cleaning the kitchen. It felt so good when it was all sparkling and shiny clean! Why is it always so much easier (and more fun!) to clean someone else's house than your own? :)

This is a card I made some time ago and totally forgot about. You know how sometimes you just have to clean up your stamping area for one reason or another and things get stashed away and forgotten? Well, that's what happened with this card, so I was really excited when I came across it!

"King of the Wild Things" (one of my all time favorite Stamping Bella images!), was colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended with OMS/gamsol. I sponged around the edges with my Deckle Edge Nestabilites in place and stitched around the edges of the Basic Grey Archaic paper matted with SU black cardstock then glued that to SU Kraft cardstock. I love this paper - it's so perfect with this image and for other dinosaur images for little boy cards.

The King's dinosaur skin texture was created using a technique taught by Paula, who is my IDOL when it comes to prismas!!! (If you're lucky enough to live in the southeastern Michigan area, you should try to get in a class with her - she's the best!!) This was an easy, fun card to make and perfect for Jeanie's That's Krafty Thursday Challenge!!

I just noticed that I didn't even add a single "sparkle" to this card!! Do you believe it?! No Stickles, no sparkles of any kind....I'm amazed I could let this card go without a single jewel!

That's it for now....hope you have a fantastic weekend!!

Keeping cool....

2010-07-12T17:14:00.000-04:00

Whew! I don't know what it's like where you live, but this past week has been HOT, HOT, HOT here in southeastern Michigan! Most of the week was sunny and beautiful, perfect for playing on the lake. We had our three grandkids during the day most of the week and we really took advantage of the gorgeous weather. Between the sun, the fun and the grandkids, we were totally exhausted at the end of every day....I think the kids were too! We all thoroughly enjoyed just hanging out, cruising around in the pontoon boat, fishing, swimming, having lunch on the boat or just trying to catch minnows and playing in the sand (that was just the kids!). Boy, did we miss them on Friday when they weren't with us!! Here are a couple of photos I took:

So, as a result of all this fun in the sun, I haven't had a whole lot of time for card making. I already had this image colored and just didn't know what paper to pair it with - I grabbed the same paper I used in my last card and it worked (at least I think it worked!) - what do you think?

The image is another one of Mo's Digital Pencil ~ "It's Hot". This card looks soooo much better IRL!! That grass color looks pretty putred in the photo, but honestly...it does look better than it shows here. (My photography still needs some work!) I colored him with prismacolor pencils, blended with OMS, added some Crystal Glaze on his goggles and the pool water...with a little stickles thrown in there for some sparkle! I couldn't resist adding some water drops too! I tried to make this as 'boyish' as I could, hopefully the ribbon didn't ruin that.

This coming week looks like it might be a little rainy, but still HOT! When the sun's shining, I'll be keeping cool lounging on the boat, swimming, and enjoying another week of my first summer being retired!

Keep cool!!

Cinema Saturday Challenge #86!

2010-07-03T10:30:00.163-04:00

As guest designer for this week's Cinema Saturday Challenge, I am privileged to announce this weeks movie: "Bend it Like Beckham"!! "Bend it Like Beckham" is a heartwarming movie about a teenage girl who is struggling with her Indian traditions and her dream of becoming a world-class soccer player. In the movie, Jess, the main character (played by Parminder K. Nagra), is befriended by another girl, Jules (played by Keira Knightly), who recruits her to play on a real soccer team, gives her support and encouragement, and shares her love of the game. The relationship of these two girls is where I got the inspiration for my card. Even though Jess has a real sister in the movie, the ‘sisterhood’ bond that stood out and inspired me was the one between Jess and Jules. I don’t think you have to be blood sisters to feel the bond of sisterhood!

The challenge requirement this week, along with inspiration from the movie, is to create a card in any shape other than A2!! These days I pretty much always do square cards so this was right up my alley!! :) I used another image from Mo's Digital Pencil: 'Sisters'. As soon as I saw this image, I knew it was the perfect one for this challenge! I usually like to start with my background paper and color to coordinate with that, but this time I just started coloring and then had to hunt to find some paper. :) I'm not very adept at Copics yet, but decided to give them a try for this challenge. It worked pretty well, but the color I used for the older girl's top just wasn't working...so I fixed it by paper piecing with a coordinating paper - ooaallaa!! A little shading with my Prismacolor pencils and blending with OMS completed the coloring portion. The background paper was so 'busy' that I didn't want to add too much in the way of embellishment, so I just used some paper lace in one strip then scrunched some of that same paper lace to form a backing for my hand written sentiment: "My sister, my friend". I found a few sentiments that I liked.....

"Sisters are blossoms in the garden of life"

"A true sister is a friend who listens with her heart"

"A sister is one who reaches for your hand and touches your heart"

"A sister is a forever friend"

but ended up with the short and sweet, 'My sister, my friend'. I added a couple of Dew Drops to the bottom and some Star Dust Stickles (the best Stickles color in my opinion because it just adds sparkle, not color!) to the blue shoes, barrette & to the lace around the sentiment....there's just something I can't resist about adding some "sparkle"!!

I hope you like my card and that you'll be inspired to play along this week in the Cinema Saturday Challenge!! It's a lot of fun....and YOU could be the next winner of the "Audrey Award"!!

Have a great 4th of July weekend!! Great big{{hugs}} to all my sisters/friends!!

I must be dreaming!!

2010-06-26T08:18:00.000-04:00

Okay.... in my very, very wildest dreams, I might have imagined that some day I could be chosen to be a guest designer....but to actually have it happen?!!!! The news of my "Audrey Award" for the Cinema Saturday Challenge and invitation for me to be a guest designer next week had me positively giddy with excitement!!

The challenge this past week was to create a card inspired by the 1991 movie "Father of the Bride" starring Steve Martin; and drawing from the old wedding saying: "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue"... to use "something blue” in our card. Well, I thought the Father's Day card I just did for my DH fit the bill perfectly!! It was definitely wedding inspired and had the blue in there too!

You can get a sneak peek into next week's challenge by clicking here and you might just want to play along when we find out exactly what next week's challenge is all about!

p.s. Thank you to everyone for leaving so much love in your comments!!

Late Father's Day card!

2010-06-22T12:02:00.000-04:00

It only seems appropriate that since I did an 'early' Father's Day card a couple of weeks ago, that now I'm posting a 'late' one! The early one was for my son since he would be gone on his honeymoon over Father's Day, and the late one is for my DH. I actually gave it to him on Sunday, just getting around to posting it today! I also wanted to get it posted for the That's Krafty Thursday challenge over at The Spotted Chick's blog. (double-duty!!)

As soon as I saw this image over at Mo's Digital Pencil, I knew I had to have it for my DH's card! I just love it! My DH is such an awesome Father and Grandpa...and this image so brought to mind he and my 5-year old grandaughter at my son's wedding last weekend. :) I started with Kraft, Chocolate Chip and ...I think...Baha Breeze cardstock ~ colored with Prismacolor Pencils blended with OMS, stitched around the bases and added as masculine a punched edge as I could find! Then a couple of Dew Drops to complete it! I really wanted to add ribbon too, but couldn't make it work! (Don't look too close!! I was experimenting with 2 different pencil colors and wound up mixing them....thought it still looked okay and I was running out of time so kept it.) What do you think?

Don't you think it's kind of reminiscent of these wedding photos of my DH & our little grandaughter Lucy?

Have a great day!!

A beautiful wedding....

2010-06-19T20:48:00.001-04:00

Well, my youngest son's wedding turned out to be a huge success! Weather predictions for last Saturday were up, down and all over the place all week long. Considering the fact that the ceremony was outdoors, you can imagine how it was a point of concern...at least for some. I was more concerned with getting the programs finished up and the place cards printed! But all turned out perfectly: programs, place cards, weather and everything in between!

The wedding was at a venue that provided an outdoor chapel surrounded by trees and flowers with a large banquet hall for the reception - all within an English Tudor-style manor. It is truly an exquisite setting! The banquet hall is surrounded on three sides by windows with a deck that wraps all around and overlooks a small lake and beautiful, rolling manicured grounds. It's impossible for me to explain how really lovely it was.

The pictures below show the chapel area with and without chairs set up. There were paths of brick pavers running along the sides down to the arch where the ceremony was performed. The bride's mom and I were the first ones down the aisle (so to speak!) and we decided to use one of those paths down to the front to deposit our flowers for the unity vase instead of fighting the grass with heels on. It worked out great! I was a teensy bit afraid of stumbling since I don't wear heels much these days.

The forecast was for thunderstorms, but as you can probably tell from the photos, it turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day - warm and sunny....actually, a little more than warm...it was hot! I think the temperature hit 90 degrees and upwards, which made everyone just a little 'testy' while the photographers did their thing.

As you can see in the photo below (left), my five year old grandaughter is just a little grumpy and wanting to move on into the air conditioning :) ....the boys are just tolerating things while my oldest son tries to keep them coralled until the photographers are finished with all of us. (It was a very long day for all of them, but especially for our little Lucy; so it's understandable that they were a little grumpy!)

In the photo below (right) they are in the midst of the family unity ceremony. I loved this part (teary eye here!). Because my youngest son has three children from his previous marriage, they wanted to include them in the ceremony. It was so touching.

The bride's mom and I each put a small bouquet of roses in two of the three vases on the table at the beginning of the service, then my son and his fiance each took a rose out of those two side vases and put them in a middle vase; then the 3 children also each took a rose and put it in the middle vase....forming the family unity vase. It was really beautiful and I don't think there was a dry eye in the house!! All happy tears for sure!!

On to the reception!! I wish I had a photo of the cake to show you!! It was so different - lots of color and fun! And the food was plentiful and phenomenally good! Toasts, hugs, kisses, dinner and on to dancing!! My DH and I dancing a slow one....and some of the younger set got a little crazy later on in the evening when the late night mexican taco table came out. They really had a good time!

Tomorrow is Father's Day - remember to give your DH some lovin' too! Have a good rest of the weekend!

Early Father's Day

2010-06-08T23:21:00.001-04:00

I'm so happy about this! My new daughter-in-law to be really scored some points by suggesting that we have an early Father's Day celebration since she and my son will be gone - on their honeymoon - for the next couple of weeks. And she wanted his children to be able to do the Father's Day thing with him and with the grandparents - myself & my DH before they left. Isn't that just the sweetest? I was quite impressed! The kids are just 5, 8 & 10, so I think it's important for them. I'm glad his future new wife thinks so too. :)

They're getting married this Saturday, and as I posted before, I'm heavily involved in preparations so I had to squeeze in this 'quicky' card while I was trying to clean up my stamping area in preparation for our big family barbeque on Sunday! I made this one for my son - no time to make one for the hubster today! (I'll make him one for the real day!) The stamp is from the Digi Shack (Dad's Day Remote) and most of the paper is Stampin' Up, including Kraft. I really combined a variety of techniques on this one...paper piecing, sewing, a little watercolor, some prismacolor pencils for shading & gamsol to blend...oh... and, of course, some sponging around the edges of the deckled edge nestability. It actually went together really fast and I was totally pleased with the result!

I'm sure I won't be posting again with all the festivities going on the next few days. But I'll be back to post another card as soon as I can next week!!

Have a great weekend!

WOW! Can you believe it's already JUNE?!!

2010-06-01T19:04:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it's already June?!! I know! I can't believe it either! Here in Michigan, it's been feeling like summer for a couple of weeks. It's so nice to get up in the morning and know that the sun is inevitably going to be shining and you're pretty safe wearing shorts. :) The grill has already been fired up a few times and we've had some mouthwateringly (is that a word?!!) good chicken cooked by my DH. It's been a bit of a challenge for him because we're both a little afraid of undercooking meat so the tendency has been to overcook. Not this time!! We marinated the chicken for a few hours and he pretty much cooked it as directed. Yum!

No new cards to post today. Between our 3-day subdivision garage sale and getting things ready for our youngest son's wedding, there unfortunately hasn't been any stamping time for me. (waaaa!!) Plus, I've been busy working on place cards, wedding program and a 'things to do' brochure for the out of towners coming to the wedding. I'll have to give you a glimpse of some of these next post!

Hope you had a wonderful long Memorial Day weekend!

Welcome, Neighbor!

2010-05-19T10:46:00.002-04:00

Last week, I went to lunch with several of my neighbors - on a week day. Doesn't sound like a big deal, does it? But it was for me! I retired recently and never was able to do this kind of thing before so this was a big occassion for me! We had a great time - good company, good food and good conversation. One of the things we talked about was that a new neighbor that had moved in. I told them how much it meant to me (13 years ago!) that one of the neighbors had a 'welcome to the neighborhood' party for us where we had a chance to meet everyone. We talked about how people used to take a fresh baked cake or pie to a new neighbor to welcome them.....in the old days....and that conversation led to the idea of putting together a welcome basket for these new neighbors! One of the ladies volunteered to bake a pie too....yummmm. We're still putting it together, but so far we have a basket lined with a new kitchen dishtowel, a copy of our association directory, a boat keyring (we live on a lake), a boxed sweet pepper grow-kit, a box of sidewalk chalk for the kids, a cute little potted plant (coleus) and this card.........

I used Mo's Digital stamp "Home Tweet Home" and colored it with my Prismacolor pencils, blended with gamsol. I used my new big scallop nestie and I even crocheted the little flower myself!! For the inside, I printed the "welcome to the neighborhood" on my computer then stamped a little flower stamp in the corner:

I thought it turned out pretty good....hope the new neighbors like it too!

Here's the finished basket.....

Have a great day!

Candy for a great cause!!

2010-05-12T09:54:00.003-04:00

Paula has inspired me once again! This time to help out a great cause. Paula has a friend who belongs to Soldiers' Angels. One of their missions is to send cards to soldiers or family members. They like to send handmade cards whenever they can and the need is great. Mary is offering some terrific "Candy for a Cause". We only have until May 15th, so hurry on over there and check out Mary's blog - let's help her in her quest for 'embellishment free' cards and a chance to win some goodies!

Happy Mother's Day!!

2010-05-09T13:18:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the blogging mothers out there! It's a beautiful, sunny day in my neck of the woods and I'm looking forward to my kids coming over later on to spend the afternoon with us and have dinner. Maybe we'll play some games (board games, that is, my fav!) too!

I made the card below for my daughter. It was colored with prismacolor pencils and blended with gamsol. I'm not totally thrilled with the flowers - I mean the way I colored them....in too much of a rush. But all in all, I think it turned out kinda cute.
The paper is from Basic Grey, cardstock from Stampin' Up. A little Stickles had to be added here and there (always gotta have the sparkle!).

Have a great day!

Blossoms of Inspiration....

2010-05-01T16:18:00.003-04:00

No new cards to post today - the weather has just been too beautiful! Yesterday was the last day of April....I can hardly believe that May is already here! All of the trees are blooming and looking so beautiful. I'm not certain what the temperature was yesterday, but it was more like a summer day than Spring. We still have a lot of sprucing up to do to our yard, but I couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures of these gorgeous flowers......

and my Dogwood tree is finally blooming! I'm excited to see these coral beauties popping out! Our last Dogwood tree was white and I just loved those blooms, but alas I couldn't find a white one so moved on to coral! Still very pretty!

The past few days, our grandchildren have been with us. They're 5, 8 and 10 years old. Two boys and a girl - the girl is the youngest. It's always so nice to spend time with them! They really bring so much joy to us and into our home. We're so lucky that they live near us and that we can be part of their lives. That said, we are totally worn out after spending a day and a half with three little ones! By the time they leave, my husband and I are headed for the couch to spend some time just 'vegging out'! We wouldn't trade it for anything though - we love every minute we have with them!

Hope you have a glorious first day of May!

I'm back!.......

2010-04-26T20:58:00.002-04:00

I guess I wasn't as ready as I thought I was to start this blogging experience! I was so busy working, playing, stamping and reading everyone else's blogs that I totally forgot about my own!

I'm going to turn over a new leaf and try to post something every couple of days. I've learned so much from visiting other bloggers that I can hardly believe it. The internet and YouTube certainly has made it easy to learn new techniques and gain inspiration from all over the world. I'm continually amazed at all the different people I 'meet' from so many different cities and countries - all of them stampers/artists and all so talented!

Hard to believe this, but that grandaughter I talked about in my first post graduated from college and is living in another city all by herself! I'm very proud of her. She loves life in her new city and her world is continually evolving. My other grandaughter, who is five, is a sweetheart too - she's full of giggles, loves to color and do everything all by herself! I also have two grandsons who are ten and eight years old. They're as different as night and day! I love all of my grandchildren so much and am so blessed that they all live close by....well, except for the oldest!

I'm going to post a card that I did using a stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs - I think the stamp is called "Chloe". I loved coloring her with my prismacolor pencils then blending with gamsol. Isn't she the sweetest?

(Sorry this photo isn't very bright...I'm working on learning how to do better at this!) I still have soooo much to learn!! But it's fun learning and I love every minute. Thank you to all of my blogging friends who answered my questions about all kinds of things and who helped me along the way.

Day 1

2008-07-23T18:45:00.000-04:00

July 23rd, 2008 - I finally decided it was time for me to start blogging. :) I guess this could be considered by blogging birth-day!!

I'm hooked on rubber stamping and making cards so I thought this would also be a great place to post some of my 'creations'!

This is a card I made for my grandaughter, Liz, who will be a senior in college in September. I think we have a pretty special relationship and I just love her to pieces!

I cased the design from another card that I saw on Splitcoast Stampers - changed it up with this stamp set that seemed to be right up my grandaughter's alley!