back in the days when I updated this blog regularly, I might have a post per card created! well, now that I've reached slacker status, here's the latest quarterly update, and Christmas cards I sent this past year! back in the days when I updated this blog regularly, I might have a post per card created! well, now that I've reached slacker status, here's the latest quarterly update, and Christmas cards I sent this past year!

one was purchased from a store where I regularly purchase bird seed and some garden supplies... the blackbird with the snowflakes 2nd from the left in the middle row. I thought my niece Jessy would like it! some were made at my fav SU rep's classes (starting from left, the first 3 in top row, the first and last in middle row, and the first in the bottom row).

I HOPE to return to regularly posting... time'll tell whether that turns out, eh?! I like Clean And Simple cards most!

CASe it simple!

I'm addicted to Pinterest! There! I admitted it; I admit it freely! I ended up reviewing my Papercrafts Pinterest posts (in that folder alone I'v amassed 3,558 posts to date ... see what I mean?!) to gather some inspiration, and found it from the lovely and talented Linda Callahan of Stampin' Seasons blog fame.

I Googled "free Christmas music" and downloaded this ivory sheet, then used one of my word dies in the same color as the background ... and voila! It'd make a quick to reproduce card in case you mass-produced them, but I typically don't. Thanx for stopping by!

stamps: SU's Holiday Home (inside sentiment); paper: Neenah solar white, HPC's Dark Red, and downloaded freebie music sheet; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink; accessories: Technique Tuesday's Say It - Noel die

happy b'day Geoff!

We celebrated my eldest's birthday this week by taking in The Lego Movie, then picking up cheesecake and food from Taco Bell and heading home. The movie had some cute funny parts but I found myself thinking that perhaps if you had ADHD it would keep your attention; it just seemed a little TOO busy for me. Geoff liked it though! And he picked out both the birthday outing, eats, and cake of choice - a cheesecake sampler that we'll be finishing off by week's end!

For his card I used one of my latest stamp sets from a new company, winnie & walter (it came with a free cutting file that I'm sure I'll be using in my Silhouette soon)! I like the font of the handwritten words - which include happy, hello, and love, with lots of combinations of phrases in a simple typewriter-looking font. I repeated the same handwritten font in multiple colors and popped up the images on a white background. The inside has a similar "happy birthday to you" where I used all three ink colors on the word "happy" in a random variegated pattern; it's a CAS card but I'm liking CAS lately.

stamps: winnie & walter's The Big, the Bold, and the Happy; paper: Neenah's Solar White; ink: Ranger's black soot, faded jeans, peeled paint, and seedless preserves distress inks

in memory of Bill

I had the sad occasion to go to the funeral of the Dad of a close friend and colleague from work yesterday. It was a 2-hour trip, made more enjoyable by the company of my lunch crew and the beautiful fall colors. We're like extended family, 'tho we haven't known each other all that long - in some instances only 7-8 years. Though we gave him a card from our work group, I made this one to send from me and my family.

I love this embossing folder - it reminds me of a quilt pattern (a wedding ring pattern, I spotted one once that was white on white and just gorgeous!), and I kept the card simple with the addition of the bird (think dove, tho' I know it's not) and branch, and tag. I finished off by distressing the "quilt" layer and edge of card w moonlight white ink.

stamps: Avery Elle's Oh Happy Day; paper: Neenah's Solar White, SU's Brocade Blue, Sahara Sand card stocks; ink: Ranger's black soot, Tsukeneko's Moonlight White Brilliance; accessories: build-a-bird punch, Cuttlebug w Lifestyle Crafts' Dainty embossing folder

Happy Mother's Day!

Do you ever purchase an entire stamp or sticker set to get your hands on one piece?! Yeah, I'm lovin' this little bird from the Little Yellow Bicycle folkes and MUST see if it's available as a stamp. This is from a set of fabric-covered chipboard pieces and is stinkin' cute IRL. It's from new product purchased during our Mega Meet trek this past Thursday, as is the banner stamp and the alpha stickers AND the Spellbinders' die.

The absolute best deals this year were available from Scrapmart, where I purchased the die, available either singly at $10 ea, or your pick of 3 sets for $20. I got the Labels Four Small set of 6 dies for $6.75 when sharing the deal w my stamping buddies. Another great deal there - I picked up a combo package containing a Lifestyle medium sized polka dots, a Sizzix mail set of four embossing folders, and a Spellbinders m-bossabilities reversible embossing folder for ... insert drumroll here ... $12! SUCH DEALS! But I digress ...

This is my Mom's Mother's Day card. We're heading to a family get-together to celebrate today, and I'm hopeful the weather cooperates! I'm hand-delivering cards to my Mom, Sister, and Niece as I'm Baaad w a capital 'b' for being such a slacker and not having cards ready 'til the last minute this year.

stamps: jillibean soup's birthday party; paper: SU asst'd colors for banner to match chipboard piece, A1 Neenah Natural White card stocks; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink; accessories: Little Yellow Bicycle's Paradise fabric favorites, lilybeedesign's ABC stickers; tools: Cuttlebug w Spellbinders Labels Four Small dies

a long tall drink of water

Inspired by Jennifer's 6/9 sympathy card post, this one's for today's (I know, shocker, eh?!) CAS124 Clean & Simple challenge. I'd picked up these couple stamps just a week ago and they hadn't been inked yet, and I thought the design would complement the skinny tall challenge. Mine's about 3x6" so it'll fit into a #6-3/4 envelope and is paired with a mini ali stamp set's sentiments on the outside and a studio g ditto set for the inside. Easy peasy and on it's way off to my Mom tomorrow!

I LOVE Queen Anne's Lace; I know, it's officially a weed, but it's so darn pretty! I'm thinking of planting some to border the south side of my house. My DH has trimmed the low evergreen we've had there for years and last year asked if I wouldn't mind him removing them. Well, he's removed MOST of it now, and I'm torn between daisies and Queen Anne's Lace for that spot. Should I add a poll?

stamps: ali's amazing, studio g's botanical, botanical background, best mom; paper: A1's Neenah Natural White, SU's Kiwi Kiss; ink: Ranger's black soot, faded jeans, pumice distress inks, SU's Kiwi Kiss

happy Father's Day!

to all the Dads in my life ... my own (who's passed away), my DH, and to my brothers, uncles, and friends ... happy Father's Day! Hey, Jack's Pippin's dad, right?!

here's the card I made for my DH this year - my fav brewmeister. I have lots of coffee-related material that'll last me well into retirement years, I'm betting, LOL! May you never tire of this line, PB!

stamps: TPC Studio's Coffee Cake, studio g ditto's Lucky Guy (inside sentiment); paper: SU's Cherry Cobler and Kraft Crumb Cake, A1 Neenah Natural White card stocks; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink, SU's Cherry Cobler and Kraft Crumb Cake

jessy's b'day

Long time, no see! My niece Jessy's nickname is kittie ... hence I'm always on the lookout for cute kitty stamps. I found this one at the Mega Meet held last month in Novi. It's one of 4 on a cube stamp, and I used another of the kitty images with the inside sentiment. And isn't that mouse adorable too? Another Mega Meet find, this time from Judith. I thought he looked like he could be carrying something heavy - in this case, a gift card and lighted candle - OR holding his hands up. Either way, he's sweating bullets 'cuz he's been spotted by the friendly kitty!

I'd uploaded this to Splitcoast as my blog mirror posts to Facebook and I didn't want the card spotted 'til after the birthday party, then forgot to post it here! I've been SUCH a slacker lately, I know! I DID get some stamping time in this weekend, but the cards are intended for Facebook buddies so they'll get uploaded here eventually ...

stamps: Inky Antics' kitty cube, Judith's mouse, studio g's happy birthday candle; paper: Staples; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink, SU and Tri-C watercolor markers

let's hang out!

I was out supporting the local economy this weekend and foolishly told my stampin' buddy Pat that I didn't need her extra coupons to use at Jo-Ann's ... 'cuz I was originally only heading there to check out bunny buttons. I perused the buttons (found some cute bunny and chicks and cheshire cat ones), an ensemble gift pack for something coming up shortly, and then headed to the checkout to peruse the stamping mags before checking out (FYI, at least our local Flint store has started carrying the Northridge Publishing mags). Turning the corner to the checkout line, I came across some dollar stamps, at which time I promptly placed my cart out of the way and started checking the stamps out. I limited myself to 11, but had about 20 in my grasp at one point.

Today's card uses some stamps from 3 of the 11 sets - an inside sentiment from one, outside sentiment from another, and birds and birdhouse from yet another. Stinkin' cute birdhouse though, don't you agree? They had 4 scripty sets similar to this birdhouse - the other 3 included a bird, a butterfly, and a camera - that I couldn't pass up. So here's another one-layer CAS card to welcome in spring!

stamps: Hero Arts' Whoo Loves You, Inkadinkado's spring and summer assortment minis, My Mind's Eye's Union Square "Perfect" Stamps; paper: Staples' white card stock; ink: Color Box's lavender, rose coral, smoke blue, and yellow ochre, and SU's brocade blue

orange you sweet

I work with a great group of friends. We celebrated my b'day this week at work. I arrived to find a dozen of my fav brand of golf balls and cookies at my desk, then later received additional cards, stampin' supplies, a gift card to a local stampin' shop, and was treated to lunch. It doesn't get much better than this, right?! Brings to mind the saying, "When I count my blessings, I count you twice!"

The card's based on this week's Tuesday Trigger color challenge. While perusing blogs this evening, I also came across one that challenged us to use what we have on hand and I recall that I HAD to have both these stamp sets but have rarely used them!

stamps: Oriental Trading's fruit salad, polka dot alphabet; paper: SU's Really Rust, Whisper White card stocks; ink: SU's Pumpkin Pie, studio g's lime green, and Ranger's black soot distress ink; accessories: The Twinery's Lemon Drop twine

sketchy kinda gal

I'm a sketchy kinda gal ... love 'em to bits! Here's another of this year's St Pat's Day cards based on last week's HHSC48 Hip Hop Sketch. The kind folkes at Unity have begun posting new Unity Challenges on the Ides monthly (aka the 15th monthly), and you can find them on their own tab on the Unity Blog! Thanx to Ria of Ria's Creations for the inspiration! My background in the pic's another of those extremely glitzy 12x12" pieces that I purchased last weekend at Capture-A-Memory - purty stuff, eh?!


Another CAS design, I just stamped the Celtic design in dark green on white, matted the white card stock on dark green card stock, popped it up, and added a sentiment to finish this card. Simple but me likey!

stamps: waltzing mouse stamps' Irish Blessings; paper: SU's Garden Green, Staples' white card stocks; ink: Color Box's Deep Green chalk ink, Ranger's black soot distress ink

go green!

I'm just making a few St Pat's cards this year, and here's another CAS one, this time based on Julie's MOJO182 sketch challenge. I picked up this sparkly card stock this past weekend, but procrastinated on getting to the card-making! I must tell you, I EXCEL at procrastinating, and one of these days will look up how to join the Procrastinators Club!

BUT ... Kimmi and I DID get 90 wedding invites maybe 1/3 completed in preparation for her daughter's upcoming wedding. It surprised even us how much we accomplished this past Sunday! She treated me to some of her YUMMY pumpkin roll during a break, and I got to take the gist of the roll home afterward. Needless to say, we had dessert yesterday evening before supper! YUM!

stamps: SU's Go Green, Waltzing Mouse's Irish Blessings; paper: The Paper Co's cards 'n envelopes, SU's Garden Green; ink: Color Box's Dark Green; tools: MFT Stamps' big scallops die-namics, ek success' circle and scalloped circle punches

make a wish

I picked up a new punch this afternoon - the sweet cupcake that I used for today's card. I'd planned on punching out some kraft cupcake liners, but then couldn't resist BasicGrey's Two Scoops DP, nor the crimper. The "frosting" is from some hand-made paper my stamping buddy Pat gave me last year. It goes well with the natural white card stock base but is thicker, and a little swirly-looking, like frosting, don't you think?! I added a bit of stickles and glitter to the frosting, popped 'em up, then stamped the sentiment (it's from a collection of used stamps I purchased earlier this month - thanx, Nichol!) and voilà! - a CAS birthday card!

stamps: savvy stamps' sentiment; paper: A1's Neenah Classic Natural White card stock, BasicGrey's two scoops DP, hand-made DP; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink; tools: Fiskar's Cupcake punch

gingercake

Don't you just love this gingercake DP from memory box? It's intended for Christmas ... with "cinnamon reds, pine greens, and holiday magic," but I snipped a bit to use in today's Valentine's Day card. I have two birthday cards due in the mail this weekend but haven't been able to drag myself away from making these. I've more than I need; some will hit the mail and the remainder will go to the kind folkes at Operation Write Home (see link on sidebar). I'm a sketchaholic, and today's card is based on Clean & Simple's 1/14 sketch, FTL123.

edited to add: woot woot! I just learned this was selected as a Clean and Simple (CAS) Favorites for the Week Ending January 23, 2011! cool beans!

stamps: Lizzie Anne's Valentine's Saying, Unity Stamp's Love Grows; paper: Memory Box's gingercake DP, Staples' white card stock; ink: SU's Real Red, Ranger's black soot distress ink; accessories: Offray white satin ribbon; tools: Fiskar's apron lace border and Marvy Uchida super heart punch

an inspired valentine

Inspired by Susan Raihala of Simplicity blog fame (see this and that post), here's another Valentine's Day card in one of my favorite color combos - black and white with a splash of color - and that of my most frequently used splash of color, a bright red.

It was intended as a smaller (4-1/2") square card, but I found a couple red and white scraps when I went to my card stock stash that weren't much smaller, so it ended up as a 4-1/8 x 3-3/4" card. I stamped two envelopes, then cut one envelope out and popped it up over the other. I matted the envelope and sentiment on black card stock, and popped up that matted envelope and sentiment section onto a red base. I have some pop dots that are only 1/16" thick so this will still fit in the mail easily.

I find these Forever in Time 1/16" thick pop-dots at local dollar stores; they're 1/4" wide and are my preferred pop dots now. It's probably my most frugal scrap-related purchase, as I even save and cut apart the backing to use as pop dots as well!

stamps: Hero Arts' Just A Note, Unity Stamps' Love Grows, and SU's Holidays & Wishes (inside sentiment); paper: Color Mates' Light Berry Red, Paper Reflections' black, and SU's Whisper White card stocks; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink, SU's Real Red; accessories: Cloud9 Design's heart rain dots self-adhesive accents

a CASE study

My first card of the new year is a case study of sorts! I'm forever inspired by Susan Raihala of Simplicity blog fame, and today's is CASE'd from this post. I'd been planning on inking up the Basic Grey "just because ..." stamp for a Valentine's Day card using a punched heart, but found these cute heart rain dots when I went to my punch stash. Using one for the dot on the J and popping up the notebook page adds a bit of dimension to today's CAS card. Thanx for stopping by! And thanx, SusanR, for the inspiration!

stamps: one of Basic Grey's unnamed value minis, Hero Arts' Just a Note, SU's Holidays & Wishes (inside sentiment); paper: SU's Bashful Blue, Whisper White; ink: PTI's Aqua Mist, Ranger's black soot distress ink, Tri-C watercolor markers; accessories: Cloud9 Design's heart rain dots self-adhesive accents (65 assorted sizes to the pkg); tools: McGill 1/8" circle hand-held punch

warm wishes

I got crafty this weekend, and made a couple cards after cleaning the area a bit. This one's inspired by clean & simple's 11/18 FTL117 sketch and Moxie World's 11/23 Tuesday Trigger Snowing Gingerbread challenges. I love Kraft Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla together and kept this CAS. I tried stamping first in a Color Box ink, then with SU white kraft ink. Today I went back and used my stamp-a-ma-jig to re-ink and then emboss with a detail white embossing powder, as the sentiment paled in comparison to the snowflake images. I've reposted the re-do pic! Here's the inspiration picture that inspired the card:


stamps: CHF's Joyeux Noel; paper: SU's Kraft Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla card stocks; ink: SU's Whisper White; tools: Cuttlebug w MFT's Let it Snowflake die-namics, ek success' dotted scallop border punch

happy bird day, Pat!

We treated one of my BFFs, Pat, to lunch today to celebrate her birthday. My lunch buddies have a long-standing tradition of the birthday person getting to select the restaurant on their birthday and today we dined at David's Pizza on Corunna Road in Flint town. He's a clown (literally - he clowns on the side) and recited a pretty darn cool poem to her as we sat down to lunch!

It's all about pinks for my gal Pat, so I selected some pink DP for gift boxes and punched 'em out using a 1-1/4" square punch, then added bows on top, and popped 'em up using pop dots. The sentiment's close to another of my fav ways to sign birthday cards. I generally sign by drawing pics of a hippo, bird, and two sheep - all lined up in a row. "Hippo Birdie Two Ewe" - get it?! Enjoy your day, Pat!

stamps: SU's Picture This, Heard from the Heart (inside sentiment); paper: My Mind's Eye Sundress Heirloom; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink; accessories: unknown pink ribbon; tools: ek success' 1-1/4" square punch