on this day in 1859 ...

The Great Blondin (born on this day in 1827) crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope, his first of 8 reported crossings. (read more)

thanx Mom!

I've seen some of these mainly "white space" cards using white or kraft card stock, a trio of images, and blocked-in sentiment lately, and thought it'd be a nice format for a thank-you card to my Mom, who treated me to lunch last weekend. I took the ribbon from a plant this weekend that I'd received as a gift and thought it'd be nice ribbon to recycle. Those who know me know I'm a pack rat. I'm always thinking of other uses to recycle things!

edited to add: I just located the sketch - it's based on Clean & Simple's FTL46 and Stamping 411's SSC108 sketch challenges!

The pink crocheted flowers were from an Etsy shop find at Buttons & Such. If you stop in, tell Ruth I sent ya (and maybe add that she should give me a discount! she's got some wonderful gray and cream buttons I'd like!).

stamps: Technique Tuesday's loving words; paper: unknown white card stock; ink: Sakura's black callipen, StazOn's Jet Black; accessories: unknown ribbon, Buttons & Such's crocheted flowers

meet my closet stampin' buds!

You may have heard me refer to my scrappin' bud Kimmie (L) but I'm betting you've NEVER heard me refer to my stampin' bud Kathleen(R)! She'll be the first to say she doesn't do crafty ... BUT we've hooked her into this ongoing 6x6" calendar scrapbook / 2 card make-'n-take at a LSS, Karen's Creative Stamping. They both came up with great suggestions while we were brainstorming, and we've agreed to meet for additional classes soon. T'riffic fun and we'll have an album ready in no time!

Here's a close-up of one of our projects, a tent card using a fabulous Stampendous stamp.

no deets - all supplies provided by store

get well soon!

Don't you just love these cute matchbox boxes?

My stampin' buddy Pat and I attended our stamp club meeting last night - where two reps from SU and CTMH take turns hostessing monthly - and these cutie patootie "get well" projects may well be my fav of the evening's projects (and shhh! they're not even SU stamps! These are from Taylored Expressions' Doctors Orders stamp set. All awesome projects, as usual - Mary's just one of those people who's got an eye for color!

Mary whet our appetite for the new In Colors and I can't wait to start my stamp wish list from the latest catty ... but for now it's all about stocking up on the new colors. This is the first time that I've loved ALL the In Color offerings! Way to go, Stampin' Up! I'm ordering them and starting to stock up on the neutrals for now.

shoutout to Provo Craft

The kind folkes at Provo Craft will be holding a full month of new folder previews as well as fun ideas from the design team during their Countdown to the Summer CHA '09 CELEBRATION! Today's post includes a sneak peek at some of their soon-to-be-released 5x7" embossing folders.

SCT summer digi mag

The kind folkes at Scrapbook & Cards Today have released their summer edition. You can download the digi version by clicking on the picture at left! Catch ya tomorrow - I'm off to scope out the magazine myself right now!

happy 4th, folkes!

I've been making a few Independence Day cards and this one's based on the CPS121 sketch challenge, below. I think I'll break down and either purchase the Nestabilities' stars next - this card could use a larger one but this size star was all I had on hand. I knew I had this red and cream striped paper on hand, but I didn't have any DP of a dark blue background with white stars, so I made this. I couldn't locate any plain stars so it's using the star flower center from my very first PAPERTREYink stamp set. This is a taller card - it fits into a business size #10 (US) envelope.

Hmmnn ... it's late and I'm tired or else I'd pull out my Silhouette and make some star punches. I'll update the picture after I've updated the star. What d'ya think? I'm leaning toward maybe a vellum star so we can see the kids on parade thru it!



stamps: Flourishes' Patriotism on Parade, PAPERTREYink's paper tray; paper: Rusty Pickle Molly Striped Pajamas DP, A1 Natural White, CTMH Outdoor Denim and The Paper Co Kraft cardstocks; ink: CTMH's Outdoor Denim

I love a parade

This is my latest stamp set, one of Flourishes latest releases. Don't you love the kids' parade silhouette? That's my fav of the set, tho' I like all of the stamps. I love parades ... and museums, and zoos. Ask my kids. I've taken 'em to all I can reach within a day trip, and usually visit those in the cities we visit.

I stayed home from work today to catch the last of the US Open, a nice relaxing day, and thought I'd make a few Independence Day cards while I was at it.

stamps: Flourishes' Patriotism on Parade; paper: Rusty Pickle's Primitive Hearts DP, A1 Natural White, CTMH Outdoor Denim and The Paper Co Kraft cardstocks; ink: CTMH Outdoor Denim, Tri-C watercolor markers; accessories: EK Success and CTMH ribbons and Provocraft star bradletts

blog candy enabler alert

Samantha of Scrapmaster's Paradise is offering blog candy - 3 sheets each of SU's new In Colors cardstock, the new In Colors markers (yeah, had you heard they're offered in the new colors w this catty?!), and a yd each of the new In Colors ribbons. You can sign up thru month end!

everyone should have one

what, you ask? why, a card editor! I wasn't happy with the card I made to be from me to my DH for Father's Day the other day and brought it into work for show-'n-tell w my scrappin' buddies. Kimmie suggested adding a touch of red - and here it is - based on Stamp Something's Sketch Something 0612 challenge. The red touches are Ruby Red base and matted main stamped image, and a red paper pieced coffee mug. Oh, and the red bling. I FINALLY used some DP I'd picked up last year with a coffee theme. I'd picked up the matching bling, ribbon and stickers too ... gotta use more of that stash soon. I used some lyrics from a Nat King Cole song - You're The Cream In My Coffee - for the inside sentiment. I'm listening to Nat right now on Jango - isn't modern technology wonderful?!

stamps: gel-à-tins' coffee break, CHF's Canvas backgrounder; paper: CI's Bohemia bungalow and coffee collections, SU's Ruby Red and The Paper Co's Kraft cardstocks; ink: StazOn Timber Brown; accessories: CI's Bohemia bling and ribbon

CAM June Card Class

Here's my fav card from a class I took Monday afternoon. My stampin' buddy Pat and I took 1/2 day vacations and went to a class at Capture-a-Memory where the lovely and talented Maria led us in the making of 5 summery cards.

Don't you love this DP? Dunno whose it is but I wasn't able to stick around and browse to find out. I had to rush home to coordinate getting one of our cars into the shop ... sigh ...

no deets for now - all materials supplied by the shop

a par-fect father's day

The par-fect card for my DH - I made this one for the boys to give their Dad this weekend. It's inspired by this beauty of a card by Julia Stainton - she does t'riffic stuff - and I just used some golf stamps I'd picked up last year. Hmmnn ... is there a sketch out there? Sure 'nuff - Card Sketch A Day #288!

Back to work - I've gotta do MY card still!

stamps: A Muse Artstamps' golf cart, golfer; studio g series 25 sentiment; paper: unknown white, SU's tempting turquoise cardstocks; ink: StazOn's jet black, SU's old olive, Tri-C watercolor markers; tools: Creative Memories' circle cutter, Cuttlebug w Swiss Dots embossing folder

42nd Annual Flint Art Fair

Sun, FUN, music, and t'riffic art - what more can you ask for?!

After the make-'n-take at CAM yesterday, my buddy Donna and I headed to the Flint Art Fair - I really appreciate the size of this show. The exhibits are located on the front lawns of the Flint Public Library and Flint Institute of Arts - for those unfamiliar with the area, two of the facilities that make up part of Flint's Cultural Center.

Some of my favs returned this year - Thomas Mahard (whose "poochie" sculpture is for my older brother and his other half - don't tell!), Glenda Hopp (amazin' water sculptures - I've GOTTA have one!) of Farmbrook Designs, John Galbo, and David Chapple ... and a few new-to-me artists Bryon Bardis, and Captiva Island Pen Co that I've saved URLs from so I can visit later. So, if you've time to spare today, either stop by or visit these links! There's a magnifying glass from Captiva in my DH's future - I have to decide on the wood - either benge or koa ... hmmnn ...

make-'n-take

This was Saturday's make-'n-take at CAM and will prob'ly be put aside 'til my buddy Mikey's next b'day 'cuz I know he likes to go fishing. Hmmnn ... it'd be cool if his b'day was in July, eh?! But I think NOT!

Quick post - and sorry, no deets - all supplies furnished by the store.

do you facebook?

Starting this weekend Facebook's letting its users pick “vanity URLs” which by default will contain the name of the user. If your user name is called John Doe, for example, you can use facebook.com/JohnDoe or facebook.com/john.doe or some other combination of name and surname.

I switched mine - so you can find me more easily on Facebook now at facebook.com/sueblondin - just like my blog name! Isn't modern technology wonderful?!

a friendly hello ...

Isn't this card sweet?! Another class project from Thursday's stamp camp, it's made from two colors ink and three punches (square, square scalloped, and small circle) - and voila! Easy peasy!

Just a quick post this a.m. I'm anxiously checking weather posts as I woke up to grey skies, and later a light rain, and I hope to get to the Flint Art Fair today. When I checked the weather earlier, thinking about whether the lawn s/be mowed yesterday, I decided there was no rush as there was no rain in the forecast 'til this Wednesday ... sigh ... which is my golf league day, if you don't recall!

all Stampin' Up! supplies - no deets today as they're class supplies and I'm way too lazy to go lookin' it up, LOL!

happy b'day Taylor!

I've been chastised about being remiss in my postings recently, so thought a 2nd post for Friday was in order after I learned it was Taylor's b'day. I just happened to have made a cupcake b'day card Thursday; with the technology of timed postings, am I able to get away with doing this?! LOL!

This is a class project from Thursday's class w Angie - she used quite a few of the retiring stamps and supplies in Thursday's class! So many toys, so little time, y'know what I mean?!

all Stampin' Up! supplies - no deets as they were all class supplies provided by Angie

stamp camp fav

Here's a photo of my fav card from this past Thursday's stamp camp w a new (to me!) SU demo in the Flint MI area - Angie holds multiple stamp camps monthly and participants make 5 cards for $10 - but my stamping buddy Pat and I agreed they were all t'riffic! T'riffic time, snacks, company.

My OTHER stamping buddy, Kimmie, has been harassing me lately that I'm not posting as often as she's grown accustomed to ... so I HAD to remedy that, right?!

all SU product - provided at class

happy b'day KAZ!

My sister shares her birthday with architect Frank Lloyd Wright and composer Robert Schumann, so I borrowed from both to make today's card. I love FLW and there are 20+ patterns of his windows available in cross stitch patterns. This is one of my favs, the tree of life piece, so it's appropriate that it's heading to my fav sis! It's based on this past week's OCC sketch challenge, below.

I scanned in the photo from the cross stitch design, used PhotoShop's color picker to pick out a couple colors from the design, and matted it - another digi creation. And the quote I used from Robert Schumann for the inside sentiment? "Talent works, genius creates."


stamps: n/a; carstock: unknown white; accessories: pink dotted swiss from a ribbon share

school's out for SUMMER!

My eldest's last day of school is tomorrow ... I know, where's the time fly, eh?! I, being a natural-born procrastinator, put off 'til this weekend to both pick up gifts and make cards for the teacher, 3 classroom aides, bus driver, and bus aide. I picked out some potted Gebera daisies for the classroom folkes, and found the cutest bright plastic pots.

My eldest's older so I actually get to make less cards now - he used to have a speech therapist as well. T'riffic gal and VERY crafty - we used to exchange Christmas ornaments, which I miss. But I digress ...

I made 4 of the same cards - just switched the inside sentiments - for the teacher and classroom aides. The background's digi - I took pictures of the cute bright plastic pots and then used a PhotoShop's color picker to make matching cardstock, then stamped black on white and mounted the silhouette print on black cardstock.
Another digi for the bus driver and aide - I picked out some clipart bus pics - one features a bus driver, and the other looks like it may be the back of the bus. I used the color picker again for the background cardstock, and a couple fonts I love for the sentiments - Tahoma and BlackJack. The bus driver and aide are both getting some bright yellow potted grasses - hope they like 'em! We picked up some grasses that we added to a planting in our back yard too, and some fresh annuals for a hanging basket that I hope I can get planted tomorrow! Ran out of time today.

SUPER-de-DUPER SATURDAY!

Just a quick "heads up," folkes, that the gals of The Scrap Review are holding a raffle as a means to raise funds to support their Web site. If you're not familiar with the gals, they regularly provide reviews of scrapping products, as well as post cards 'n scrapbook pages. Today's the end of the fund-raiser and after ticket sales close at 9:00 p.m. EST they're giving away (and yes, they've done reviews of the Cricut and Silhouette!):

- Provocraft Cricut Expression Electronic Die Cutting Machine + Plantin Schoolbook cartridge + Accent Essentials cartridge + Tool Kit

- Quickutz Silhouette SD Electronic Die Cutting Machine + six rolls (10 ft each) of vinyl in assorted colors + a $100 gift card to the Quickutz site for downloads of fonts and images of your choice

- Purple Cows Smart Trimmer + a 12 pack of decorative blades

we're talkin' BIG give-away!

Melissa of Creating from the Heart has outdone herself and is holding a BIG give-away on her blog. Head on over and tell her SueB sent ya! The big give-away's June 12th 3 p.m. EST. 'Nuff said!

welcome, Baby Chloe!

Here's another "welcome baby" card for my boss Susan to give to a prior babysitter who recently had her first child. Susan forwarded me a picture of baby Chloe, who was born a few weeks premature this past week, so I switched from my original plan of using yellows and greens to yellows and pinks. I had a "eureka" moment and printed the baby's picture in 50% opacity for the inside of the card, then printed the baby poem on vellum cardstock and mounted it over the picture, tieing them together with a matching ribbon to that used on the front of the card. Then I used the palest of pinks for the base of the card - it's a plain pink digi I made in PhotoShop - and used SU's So Saffron for the little inchie panels.

Want a tip? I wanted two shades of yellow but didn't have another that went with the So Saffron ... so I dragged an opaque white stamp pad across 3 of the squares and voila! a whiter shade of pale (tee hee ... ref to Procol Harum ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbWULu5_nXI) ... yellow, that is!

The layout's based on CP sketch#14 and inspired by the lovely and talented Tracy Schultz.

stamps: n/a; paper: BasicGrey's Porcelain DP, SU's So Saffron, Vellum and unknown white cardstocks; ink: VersaMagic's Cloud White, PC-generated sentiments; accessories: unknown dotted swiss pink ribbon, a few baby outfit pop-ups from a prior baby shower invite pkg; tool: MS lace doily border punch

blog candy enabler alert

Bev's celebrating her 300K hits and offering the blog candy pictured here. Stop by and spread some love, eh!?

I hope to post a card tonite still - I've been seriously slacking off lately!

new SU "in colors"

Blog trolling tonite and I spotted a post (guess where, eh?! LOL! click on the picture to link there) about the new "in" colors to be released in July. LOVE 'EM and had to share!

edited 6/2 to add: Michelle of The Stamp Workshop blog fame has provided a comparison of the new "in" colors to others in their range - check 'em out!

edited 6/5 to add: Kay's got a close up of the cardstock, ribbon and MARKERS!