our 26th anniversary

OK, so the last post was my anniversary card to my sweetie ... today I took a vacation day and after breakfast (PB made yummy waffles) we assembled the grill we bought for our gift to each other (mainly PB assembled ... I assisted once when we had to connect two large pieces!). I'm so far pleased with this purchase - it was a Consumer Reports best buy at the original price of $300 but the local Lowe's offered it on sale thru this past Monday for $230 - SUCH A DEAL!! We hope to break it in this weekend with a family barbeque on Saturday!

I also finished reading the last installment to the Harry Potter series during the morning, and now should be getting lunch ready for the crew before we head out to our regular Wednesday afternoon golf league.

shaving cream marbleizing

Most often, I don't really fret all that much about stamp alignment ... but every now and then the anal retentiveness really kicks in and I want something aligned PERFECTLY. When that happens I pull out the Stamp-a-ma-jig (see below post), which I used on this card.

See how the word "Love" and the below description are so nicely spaced? You thought perhaps they were one stamp?! Nah!

Good ol' Crystal taught my stampin' club the shaving cream method to create the marbleized effect of the background on white, and the rest is Stampin' Up! stamps, 'tho it may be hard to see the heart background on the dark pink cardstock. I LOVE this stamp set ... but don't own it. So much to pick from ... and so little time!

Beate Johns has posted the shaving cream marbleizing technique on Split Coast Stampers. Enjoy!

toys ... or, (ahem!) tools of the trade

Another great tool to have in your basic scrapping/stamping tool kit is the Stamp-a-ma-jig. Suffice to say that it's for those of us with anal retentive "must line this up perfectly" tendancies to align images.

Others market the same tool in white, but the original is in my preferred color choice, purple! So of COURSE I had to have that one!

The kind folkes at stampinart have created a better description of the technique to use the tool than I ever could, so if you've not used one of these little babies before, check it out!

On Friday, July 20th

... I took a 1/2 day vacation and PB, Geoff and I went to the Applewood Estate in Flint MI for the annual Summer Fun Day. The Ruth Mott Foundation (yes, of Mott applesauce fame - they've a grouping of heritage apple trees on the grounds as well) partnered with the Flint Cultural Center's annual summer celebration this year. We checked out their live amphibian, reptile and insect displays, then strolled the grounds. We've tried visiting the grounds at least once a year since they opened to the public.

To check out their upcoming programs, visit the Ruth Mott Foundation and click on the Applewood Estate and Visitor Info links. They've programs from spring to early December.

Happy (belated) B'Day Nick!

My sister's first grandbaby turned one this past June and I made him this card. It's with paper from BasicGrey's LilyKate collection, card stock, ink and stamps from Stampin' Up!, a cute l'il store embellishment from the Jolee's folkes, and ribbon from a LSS. In retrospect methinks I should've used rub-on lettering for the store front ... oh, well - live and learn!

So ... in the family tree sense, what's my sister's having a grandbaby make me? A grand dame, perhaps?! grins ...

what's YOUR rating?

I was reading some blogs this morning and happened upon one that was rated by the below rating system ... so HAD to test it out, don't 'cha know?! If you click on the picture, you can enter your blog or Web site to be rated too!

later, alligators!
- Sue

july 19th & the z's

I almost forgot to post this - my sister and brother-in-law's wedding anniversary was this past week, and I sent them a card I made at a Stampin' Up! open house that Crystal Spencer hosted. We used some of the new stamp sets from the latest catalog and their recently introduced bling ... tho' I see that I scanned this a little bit "loopy!"

Crystal is only one of the best Stampin' Up! reps and is thankfully located in Grand Blanc MI, where I also live!! SUCH a master enabler!!

in a grey mood ...

... the day Donna left Kettering University to start a new job at UM-Flint. It didn't scan very well, but the outside is stamped with a Stampin' Up! plaid background stamp and I wrote in the wording on the signpost to reflect where she'd BEEN (Kettering University, located at the corner of Third/Chevrolet Aves) and where she was HEADING (UM-Flint). The inside includes more Stampin' Up! stamps - sentiment and truck - and one of their pieces of metal hardware in pewter.

stamps: All Night Media's signpost, SU's Loads of Love

a b'day card 4 Donna J

This card doesn't use any of my toys, but a couple of my passions, of the ribbon and flower variety. I 'm posting the outside, and the inside contained a few more flower pics with the saying, "If friends were flowers, I'd pick you." Isn't that a great quote?! Who said that?

The grey striped paper's matted on black (another obsession) and below the flower pic I added a couple of metal word embellishments - can't think of from what company at the moment ... of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most, y'know?!

get well to 1 of my fav peeps

My buddy Claudia is a needlepoint and card-making extraordinaire ... tho' she's mainly into card-making lately. She recently started a blog too, and shamed me into uploading some entries!

I'd made a get-well card for her recently where I used one of my favorite stamps - it's a Stampendous stamp of a few agapanthus flowers - and one of my favorite color combinations - red, white and black. Methinks I could get into gardening if it weren't for the constant weed upkeep - these things are beautious!!

So ... here's to your continued good health, Claud!!

across the miles ... friendship

This card's for a buddy of mine, Mary, who recently moved back to Michigan - yay!! 'Tho we don't see each other as often as we may like, Mary's one of those people who, when you DO visit, you pick up with as tho' it was just yesterday when you last talked.

I used a QuicKutz Squeeze I like for flowers that comes in three sizes - (1-2-0531 - now I'm regretting that I tossed the materials with the diecuts' names!) and recently picked up the blue jewel bling from the kind folkes at amuse art stamps. The paper's from BasicGrey's Stella Ruby collection, rub on's from Deja View, and the ribbon's from one of the local brick-and-mortar stamping supply stores, Capture-A-Memory, that I support.

I'm lucky in that, 'tho one of the local shops recently closed, we still have a few in the immediate vicinity!