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!

fav stamp camp card - a happy Mother's Day card

I went to stamp camp led by the lovely and talented Angie Jarman last night, and here's my fav card. We generally make 5 cards and this month they were primarily feminine cards with Mother's Day as the inspiration. Both my and my DH's Moms have passed away, but I made a couple cards - 1 for my fav sis' and one for my niece Jenn. I always figured the holiday doesn't mean you're limited to only making cards for your Mom. Heck, they're both Moms!

This beauty of a card was inspired by the sample in the catty using the Floral Romance DP. Angie switched colors and added the butterfly. I picked a couple of the fresh fig frosted flower as purple's both my and my sister's fav color.

I ended up ordering some of the cardstock and designer paper used for this card today. She drew the inspiration for this card from the catty, and I love the layered look.

stamps: SU's; paper: SU's mossy meadow, old olive, petal pink, and sahara sand card stocks and Floral Romance DP; ink: sahara sand; tools: SU's leaf and butterfly punches; embellishments: fresh fig ribbon and frosted flowers

happy new baby!

Hi there! It's been ages since I posted a card here ... I've lately only been making them for occasions and then generally forget to post (shame on me) but I'm back! This one's to a baby shower a few friends and I are heading to on Saturday so to be on the safe side I'm scheduling this to post then!

Brit's the daughter of a friend of mine at work. She worked in our Payroll department while going to Kettering University and her "Payroll Moms" (kim1 and kim2) adopted her too! Anywho, she's expecting her first born. A couple friends and I went in on a group gift and the inspiration piece for today's card is the super cute bag my buddy Pat picked up to stuff our smaller items into. I couldn't find my stamp set with the cute giraffe so I ended up using the bag and the only stamps used were the sentiments I used on the inside/front/back of the card. I PhotoShop'd the sentiment off that was on the bag, cleaned up some of the extraneous stuff (ribbons and wrinkles), then picked out the new sentiments, and voilà! Easy peasy concept, but it still took me a few hours... sigh... guess it's been longer than I thought since I'd stamped!

The inspiration piece:

stamps: SU's Made with Love, Stampendous' Hand-Stamped Arc (LOVE this stamp and like to use it on the back bottom of my cards... it's a rainbow-shaped arc that reads, "(heart)(heart) Hand stamped for you from my (heart)(heart)"; paper: Neenah solar white, CTMH's pewter ink

a stamp camp fav

a friend recently commented that it was hard to think about Easter with the snow ... and then this week ended with temps in the low to mid 50's so say goodbye snow! we're bound to have another cold snap as it's only late February but I'm enjoying the unseasonably warm weather! I see on Facebook that my sis and her dog enjoyed walking the trails already this a.m.; way to go, KAZ! I'm planning on heading out walking shortly too!

anywho, here's one of my fav cards from this week's Stamp Camp, led by the lovely and talented Angie Jarman, w/o deets as she provided all supplies in kit format for us. she also provides plenty of sentiment stamps should you want to change the focus of your card, but this one's fashioned after her sample.

thanx for stopping by, and thanx again, Angie, for the t'riffic cards! I was the 2nd one done this week as I wanted to get home to catch most of the Grammys!

happy new home, Z's!

It's a rainy dreary Tuesday here in Michigan, BUT ... we were treated to an unexpected day off from work as Consumers Power is working on an electrical issue and will need power out for 8-10 hours! As we have a new class arriving on campus Thursday, there just wasn't a better opportunity than just shutting down and giving us a day off upon discovery of the issue! Whoo hoo! I'm all for that!

I thought I'd share the card I made for my sister and her family, who just purchased a new home. They're downsizing, moving from two stories into a ranch located not too far south of their current home. I'm anxious to see it in person, and it's just 4 homes away from a small pond that I'm sure they'll enjoy! She'll be a few towns closer to Ann Arbor, which she'll like, too. Karen and I both love purples and I love the purple/green combos, and tho' the new house is white w gray stonework, I've taken liberties on coloring the house on my card!

stamps: SU's Holiday Home; paper: Neenah solar white, SU's Blackberry Bliss card stocks; ink: Memento's Tuxedo Black, Ranger's black soot distress inks, SU's Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry, and Sahara Sand markers; tools: Cuttlebug with SU's Homemade Holiday framelits dies

2015-2017 SU In Colors sneak peek

The lovely and talented Patsy Waggoner of Stamps to Die For blog fame has a sneak peek on her blog of the latest In Colors, to be introduced next week to consultants and soon thereafter to the general public! I'm loving the taupe, and the dijon may be my close 2nd fav. How about you?

Here's a sneak peak at the upcoming new In-Colors 2015-2017: 

• Top: Mint Macaron
• Middle Left: Tip Toe Taupe
• Middle Right:  Watermelon Wonder
• Bottom Left: Cucumber Crush
• Bottom Right: Delight Dijon

happy Mother's Day!

We visited w  my Mom on Saturday the 9th and brought her some fresh-cut lilac cuttings from our back yard, supposedly to match the card I'd made for her. She used to have a large lilac bush in the back yard but it is no more. We have a large lilac bush that was started from a cutting from my Mom's, so it's only appropriate that I bring her some from it, right?!

Seems like my sibs had the same idea; Jack sent her some potted tulips, and Mark brought her an orchid. It remains to be seen whether Karen stopped or stops by later this week (she usually visits mid-week) with her own flower! Great minds think alike, don't you know?!

I've misplaced the tag showing the name of this stamp set; if anybody knows, please let me know! I used a spritzer to make resemble a watercolor effect!

NOT the same color as I'd originally envisioned ... but they're in her room on her bureau so she can see them during the day. Maybe my flowers are actually razzleberry? Thanx for stopping by.

Love you, Mom!

All Occasion Card Class @ Kettering

Usually I'll return from a class and do show-and-tell w my DH, telling him which are my favs ... but it's uber hard today. Here's a quick peek at the cards we made today at a class that my stamping buddy Kim R arranged with the lovely and talented Angie Jarman! Thanx, Brit, for posting them on Facebook 'cuz I lifted your photo as I hadn't taken pics before winging the first of many off to a friend!

I LOVE that Thinking of You tree card's stamp set ... and don't think I have enough of my trees and leaves collection! Right, Kim?!

and baby makes three ...

My coworker Skye and her DH Josh are expecting their first baby and our work group treated them to lunch on Friday and gave them some baby necessities. I like to pick up a cute baby changing bag and stock it with baby goods - shampoo, lotion, powders, teething items, rubber duckies, etc., and my partner in crime, Katie, picked up some cute hats and a baby rocker seat. We both used our rocker seats lots when our babies were small. We ate at Logan's Roadhouse, where I had the yummiest onion brewski sirloin dinner w a side of broccoli!

Today's card is based on (or a shameless knock-off, depending on your point of view) of this one by the lovely and talented Sandra of Made by Sandra blog fame. If you haven't scoped out her work, run, don't walk, to her blog NOW!

I already put all the stamping supplies back in their respective homes so hardly any deets today; all I see by my PC is the stamps: SU's Baby First, Oh My Word; tools: Cuttlebug w Paper Studio's Poteeka Birds embossing folder (a little birdie told me ... right?!); other than that it's all SU supplies! Catch ya later, and thanx for stopping by!

congrats to Jessy & David!

My niece Jessy and her beau David were wed this past weekend. It was SO nice to see the extended family together! My youngest son and I got our crafty on for part of their gift; he'd originally worked with Jessy to design the invites so we framed ours; I'd used some software to blow up and switch her wedding announcement from color to a soft charcoal pencil and we put them in matching frames. Voila!

The reception theme was "under the stars" and they'd strung white mini lights all across the yard. It was SO cool looking! Their colors were a deep blue and white so I kept to that for the card too, and HAD to include some star-shaped bling. The blue sequins were from the table decorations from their wedding shower; they'd put blue and white flowers in canning jars with small white sparkly rocks and these blue sequins. I was lucky enough to take a table decoration home w me so got to use that on the card as well.

Here's wishing them the happily ever after they both deserve!

stamps: SU's Gorgeous Grunge; paper: Neenah's Solar White, SU's Night of Navy; ink: Ranger's faded jeans, SU's Night of Navy; tools: Cuttlebug w QuicKutz's Moonlight alphabet and gingerbread dies; accessories: asst'd Hero Arts' rhinestones and wedding shower sequins

happy birthday, 'sis!

Totally CASE'd from the lovely and talented Jan Tink, I'd picked up some bling birthday words recently and intended to use my "make a wish" stamp as a banner for a card for my sister's upcoming birthday, and then spotted Jan's card and it became my inspiration go-to card for this week!

My stamping buddy Kim and I made a field trip to Saginaw MI this past spring ... or was it winter? It was winter - in early March ... and we went to two stores. The first one, Scrapbook Peddler, is where I purchased the "make a WISH" stamp. Then we went about a mile further to another (sadly, now closed) store, A Place to Crop Scrapbook Shoppe, and I spotted the self adhesive rhinestone word embellishments! Strange, eh?! If they weren't meant to be used together, I dunno what is more meant to be! (aside from Sue: there's another match made in heaven ... the stamp set has the word "dream," and the bling set includes the word "BIG," so that sounds like another birthday card in the making, doesn't it?!) I'd thought that I'd use the grunge stamp set and whatever green inks I had on hand but Jan's card inspired me to add the washi tape and star too! Green's probably my 2nd fav color after purple ... can you tell from my blog background? Grins!

stamps: pebbles' Ever After Phrase Stamps, SU's Gorgeous Grunge, Off The Grid; paper: Neenah's Solar White, SU's Green Galore and Sahara Sand; ink: Ranger's peeled paint, SU's Garden Green, Pear Pizazz, Sahara Sand; tools: Cuttlebug w Spellbinders' Stars Five; accessories: asst'd green washi tapes, M&MBI's birthday rhinestones

The new SU catty is here!

The new catty is live now; click HERE to view online!

Have you created your wish list yet? I have, and here's my first draft (some new with the 2014-15 catty, others I've had on my wish list but haven't yet purchased):

p13 - Fabulous Four
p16 - Perfect Pennants
p35 - What's Up?
p37 - Tape It
p111 - Banner Banter
p146 - Six-Sided Sampler 
p149 - Too Kind
p160 - What's Your Type?
p168 - For the Birds
p186 - Confetti Celebration
p212 - Stampin' Blendabilities Markers
p223 - Banner punch 

I'm SO looking forward to scoping out the Blendabilities - love, Love, LOVE my Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, and Smoky Slate colors so will probably at least pick those color families up ... not to mention the skin tone assortment. How 'bout you?!

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 b'day SueB!

I'm planning on sneaking to Sue's (no, not me - I have three friends also named Sue, actually ... and three of us hang out together) house today and taping this card on her front door so she sees it when she returns from church as I procrastinated and didn't get it into the mail in time. As her birthday falls on the first day of fall, I thought this card that I made at the lovely and talented Angie Jarman's stamp camp last week was oh-so appropriate; don't you?! Thanx for stopping by!

Sorry for the dark photo. The light by my computer's not cooperating today and it's early so the glare is off my glass-topped end table. 

no deets today; a class project, everything is Stampin' Up!

a cuppa Christmas joy

Happy Monday!

Here's an other-than-a-card that I made at a recent SU Stamp Camp outing. I opted to give it to a coworker this past week, but it would be a cute teacher present as well! I took a couple of pics so I could share w my stamping buddy Pat as she was busy with wrapping up the last of her Christmas presents. Me?! There's always time until the recipient is pulling into the driveway!

There's a couple of glassine bags inside the cup - one filled w hot chocolate mix, and the other filled w mini marshmallows - and a couple of candy canes tied up in soft Cherry Cobbler yarn. It really is soft delish stuff.

I love that SU's begun to package dies to coordinate with their stamp sets, a very welcome trend in the industry, don't you agree?!

xmas card class fav

a first for me - I attended a mass Christmas card-making class this month led by the lovely and talented Angie (link at right). I generally just make single versions of cards and accumulate them 'til Christmas, and MOST of the time have enough to send out by the time the holiday approaches. not so this year. I've been on a reading kick lately (blame Barnes & Noble, as I picked up a nook last year) and not making many cards. NOT that I'm leaving the fold ... I could start a small store from my supplies in here ... but I digress.

here's a card I'd meant to post early in November as the class was held on the first! due to the existence of scheduled posts some of you may think I've posted this Nov 1st, lol!

no deets today as all supplies were provided in class. I'm lovin' this 2-step tree stamp, aren't you?!

belated bday greetings

I spotted the cutest belated b'day greeting today ... and it's appropriate as my DH asked me whether I sent a card to my lovely and talented sis-in-law, Joni. Well, I HAD intended to at a minimum log onto the Hallmark site and send her an eCard, but unfortunately that never came to pass! So, here's today's card - one of my favs from a recent Stamp Camp w Angie (see SU links). And the inside PC-generated sentiment? Isn't it cute?!

No deets today except that me likey this latest in color, Summer Starfruit. It's real close to the dark gold generated from my PC that makes up the "BIRTHDAY" text.

a stamp camp fav

I say "a stamp camp fav" because, as usual, there were multiple favs this month! thanx again, Angie, for all the t'riffic cards! This one's winging its way to Marti as she'd been sweet enough to offer some of the tickets she'd received to see the Fenton Village Players in their recent Into the Woods performance! It was a fun gals night out w my buddies KimR, Pat, and Marti!

Thanx for stopping by, and I'll post again soon ... honest!

No deets today as all materials were provided at the Stamp Camp.

happy b'day Kathleen!

This past week was a coworker's b'day, and we got together to treat her to lunch and dessert today (hard to get the our lunch crew all together recently!) at the restaurant of her choice! She'd been camping the last few weekends so I thought of the camper stamp. I love the Loads of Love truck stamp set and all its accessories. My surprise in making today's card was that my first choice for a font color matched my new DP so well ... little things like that make my day! The sentiments (both inside and out) are both PC-generated, using the TechnoHeavy font. And the sketch? It's from Jen Del Muro's August SFYTT. Thanx for stopping by.

stamps: SU's Loads of Fun; paper: Carta Bella Paper's Beautiful Moments DP, SU's Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla card stocks

stamp camp fav

Angie's gone and done it again ... pulled together 5 great designs for our June stamp camp, making it difficult for me to pick my fav to post! Well, this was my fav for the moment. She made it easy for us to assemble, as the parts were already cut so it was simply stamp, color, snip ribbon, and snip b'day sentiment into a banner, then assemble ... and ta da!

If you're in the Flint/Lapeer MI area and looking for a SU rep, check out Angie. She's a jewel. Tell her SueB sent ya, and she should give me referral discount! Thanx for stopping by ... now I'm off to pick up supper to go!