musings on the 4th - 5th - 6th

If today is "May the 4th be with you," and tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, does that make Monday "revenge of the 6th?"

you are loved, M&D!

Here's to the initial inking of my latest Avery Elle stamp set - Fanfare! It's a combo card in more ways than one. Firstly, I used Studio Calico's Sunday Sketch AND drew inspiration from Avery Elle's April AEI{heart}U challenge (I think the repeating fanfare swoops mimics the inspiration photo's floating Japanese lanterns, don't you?)! Secondly, tomorrow's my folkes' wedding anniversary and I'm thinking of them, AND Mother's Day is fast approaching, when I'll give this to my Mom (you see, my Dad passed away 8+ years ago and my Mom's got Alzheimer's BUT she still reads every card I give her, God bless her)!

The AE Fanfare stamp is a single line of swoops so I repeatedly stamped them using VersaMark on some SU Sahara Sand, then tied on some white cotton string, glued on the dies, and popped up the punches on some Neenah Solar White card stock. Easy peasy!

stamps: Avery Elle's Fanfare; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink, Tsukineko's VersaMark; paper: American Crafts' Textured White, Neenah's Solar White, SU's Real Red and Sahara Sand card stock, unknown green DP; tools: EK Success Spiral, Marvy Uchida heart,SU's bird builder punches, Cuttlebug w Simon Says Stamp's you, and Sizzix Branch w Leaves dies; accessories: white packaging string

a case study

Let me start right off by letting you know that I can't count on all my fingers and toes the number of times I've said that, when I grow up, I want to create papercrafts like Debby Hughes of Lime Doodle Design blog fame! The girl just ROCKS, and today's card is a shameless CASE of her April 19th post. I've been neglectful of my Silhouette of late, and when I couldn't locate a decent sized bee stamp, pulled the Silhouette out of mothballs and now have it permanently installed at my desktop PC/printer station. I'd previously been pulling it out of storage each time I used it but I'm ashamed to tell you that I didn't get around to pulling it out all that often tho' I'm really pleased with it!

So, okay, confessions aside, today's card is for a coworker and it's a change of venue for me, as I usually do sailing-themed cards for her! Not to mention that when I think of the normal birthday greeting, I sign cards using the images of a hippo, birdie, and two ewes (all of which I have plenty of stamp samples in my stash, naturally), so this is really a change of pace for me! When I spotted Debby's card, I thought to myself, "Self, don't you have a bee stamp in one of those SU floral stamp sets?" ... and "Self, you haven't even USED that honeycomb embossing folder yet, have you?" ... and "Self, I know you've ORDERED that 'happy bee day' stamp set - no, it's not arrived yet (must be on a slow boat from China) - BUT you DO have Kim Hughes' fonts installed on the PC, don't you?!" After searching through my stamp sets and only finding miniscule honey bees, I decided it was time to pull out the Silhouette and that's where I found the bee used on the card. Such a deal, at only 50 center per image AND I still have a credit due me from my original Silhouette purchase (you see, the store I purchased it from gave me $200 in credits when I purchased it for $309 originally). My only regret is that I purchased it BEFORE the SD version came out, so mine's not especially portable!

stamps: n/a (sentiment is PC-generated using Kim Hughes SNF Daisy Jane and SNF Goody fonts); paper: Neenah's Solar White, Paper Reflections black, and SU's YoYo Yellow card stocks; ink: n/a (PC-generated sentiment and honeycomb circle); tools: Cuttlebug w MFT Stamps' Sweet Stack Labels (circle), QuicKutz's No. 73 Number Set, Simon Says Stamp's You, Talk Bubbles 2 dies; and Silhouette w bumblebee shape

happy (hybrid) Easter!

Happy Easter, all!

I played a bit this a.m. Yesterday while at a make-'n-take I picked up a sheet of some stinkin' cute DP at my local stamping store. I thought it would make SUCH a cute background on a card if it weren't for the fact that the bunny was facing right ... and therefore away from what would become the center of the card. My BFFs know that's something that bugs me about some folkes' placement of stamps on cards ... and so what did I do, you ask?! Well, if I'd used the portion of the DP from the right-facing bunny to its right, I'd have lost those cute topiary bushes ... so I decided to go digi.

I haven't played around w PhotoShop in ages, so purchased, then scanned the DP, and flipped that bunny so he was left-facing. I printed out a couple pictures and then fussy cut around the bunny so that I could pop him up. I also used the color picker so that I could have the lavender from the polka dots as the card background. The white portion of the card is popped up off the lavender as well. Voila!

I'm happy w the results, tho' it's afternoon before I'm posting my happy Easter greetings. Such is life, eh?!

stamps: Heather's F-180-HK Happy Easter greeting; paper: We R Memory Keepers' Cotton Tails English Garden DP, Neenah Solar White card stock; ink: Ranger black soot distress ink, PC-generated photo

Spring is in the air!

One of my most welcome signs of spring has arrived! Yes, listening to the birds in the morning again is one ... but having the spring issue of SC&T is another! It's here, and I took some time this a.m. to review it. I should make a "welcome spring" card before heading out to visit my Mom later today!

Click on the picture to head to their site - you can subscribe, view online, or download the latest edition there! Enjoy!

Northridge Publishing / BasicGrey give-away

Leave a comment on the Northridge Publishing blog by Wednesday 11:59 MST for a chance to win this cool BasicGrey sampler pack!

movie day at the Blondin's

Movie day at the Blondin's - for two of us, that is. I'd asked my sons what movies they'd like to see over the holiday break, and while my youngest and I went to see the Hobbit, I'd neglected to get to another that my eldest chose. He actually asked me to go see Finding Nemo 3D with him (which got rave reviews at the The Week's article - see link), and as it's not playing locally any longer, I suggested we check out Monsters Inc 3D. Well, congrats to Disney, as the 3D effects were well done. I've always thought that the scene where the trio goes into the storage area of doors in search of Boo's closet door was MADE for 3D and it didn't disappoint! 

I'll have to check out our 2D version again to confirm where there were updates - I swear the scene walking to work had multiple changes - for example, in Mike's love for his new car, and the giant monster who was walking to work. And the outtakes at the end were all new, right?! All in all, it was a great movie and well worth a repeat trip!

HNY ... on New Years Resolutions ...

Happy New Year! OK, I'm thinking New Year's resolutions! Here are a few I think I can commit to:

1) Like noted in the photo, to simply remember to write 2013 instead of 2012
2) Drink more water - I fill a 32 oz cup while at work and rarely finish it these days
3) Eat more fruits and veggies
4) Walk 10K steps at least 3x weekly. 

How 'bout you?!

a year in review - 2012

I love the "end-of-the-year" wrap ups and last year participated in a blog hop that consisted of folkes listing their fav cards they'd posted thruout the year. This year I've tried to keep it to one card per month for the most part, and here they are:

Jan -  My Wordle Valentine

Feb - I love you PB

March - You Are One Of A Kind


April - Easter Wishes



May - Happy Mother's Day

 

 








June - Happy B'day Joyce

July - It's Clear To See You're The One For Me

Aug - Happiness is a Way of  Travel

Sept - Life is Better with Friends

Oct - Congrats on Your New Bundle of Joy!

Nov - All Is Calm, All Is Bright

Dec - Christmas Peace

Do you have a favorite? I'd be interested in hearing what it is in your comment!

a CASE of season's greetings

Inspired by the lovely and talented Erin of Erin Taylor Designs blog fame, I made this card initially thinking of it for a thank-you but it's been called into service as a New Year's card. When I went to upload it on the Wplus9 challenge site I saw there was one almost exactly like it from one of their design team already?! Such is life. Methinks I'll still upload it ...

stamps: AmyR Stamps Snowflakes, PTI's Signature Christmas, TPC Studio Winter Collage; paper: Neenah Solar White card stock; ink: SU's Cherry Cobbler

I like red and white for a Christmas theme, as evidenced on my Pinterest Christmas board! I'd fully intended to hang red and white on my Christmas tree this year, but went w mainly red at the last minute. There are a small flock of cardinals nesting in the tree as well. Then there are half the glass icicles, and less than half the home-made (mainly needlepoint) ornaments that I normally put up too. We were definitely in a pared-down design mood when we put the tree up this year! But I like it! Sometimes I don't know when to stop myself, y'know what I mean?! And I haven't made it to Hallmark to pick up any ornaments this year (yet) either!

Speaking of which ... tonite I went to Home Depot w my DH looking at potential replacement kitchen faucet and main bathroom's toilet when I spotted some Martha Stewart pine cone ornaments now half off that I may have to head back for. At the time we didn't have anything in our cart and I thought we'd be walking out empty handed, but while I was calling in an order to Applebee's for supper my DH was still browsing and picked up some channel locks ... and by the time we hooked up together again, the pine cones were a distant memory. I DID get one new ornament this year, tho' - it's pictured here, and from a good friend of mine. We generally have a "gals nite out" and exchange presents and this was my uber cool cardinal present. She knows that my Mom and I collect them. Sweet, eh?! I love it!

JOY wall hanging

I don't make many home decorating pieces but mainly papercraft cards lately, so this was a nice change of pace. I participated in a wall hanging workshop held Dec 12th at my local papercraft store, Capture-A-Memory (link at right), where we used chipboard, DP, and letter dies to create our wall hangings. Many made multiples, and that was a good idea. Some made wall hangings using the words "HOPE," "SNOW," or "WISH," but for my first attempt, I made a single "JOY" wall hanging using the letters and some holly and berries from another die the store had on hand. It's currently gracing the inside of my front door. This was FUN and I'd like to make more though - maybe for gifts for next year!

stamps: n/a; paper: mainly Kaisercraft Twigs & Berry Collection DP; ink: Ranger asst'd distress inks; tools: asst'd store dies

sharing silliness

A silly video to share where whoever created it did a pretty nice job!