Sisterhood

Kelly was our hostess this round.  She wanted us to think "warm" thoughts.  As she is in Miami, it's always warm for her.  Here in the Northeast, it's a little chilly, but I like it and would rather have snow this time of year than the rain that is currently on it's way.  I've had this Motivet stamp for a few years and when I think warm weather, I think swimming pool.  The papers are from a We R Memory Keepers "Rainbow" pad.

Unidentified Image

Terry was our hostess this round and gave us this adorable Penny Black image to work with.  My card is a 5 1/2" square.  My papers are from SU piece of cake.

MFT Home Sweet Home

I've been working on Christmas cards for my husband's customers.  He's a home remodeling contractor, so I always try to come up with something that is "house" related.  When I saw this at MFT's last release, I knew exactly what I was going to do.  My card base is from a pack of cards/envelopes of kraft paper that have been kicking around my drawer for a few years now.  I made my wreath with a tiny scalloped circle punch with a 1/2" circle punch for the middle.  My christmas lights are from Jolee.  Thanks for stopping by

Turkey day napkin ring

Every year I have all these great ideas for things I want to do and then the holiday arrives and they continue as great ideas.  I wanted to make some napkin rings for our Thanksgiving table this year.  I ordered the SU Harvest set as soon as it came out, and it has patiently sat on the shelf waiting and waiting.  I've been crazy busy around here with life in general, but finally took out some time yesterday to make sure these got done.  I kept it simple as I really didn't have much time to spare.   I made 13 total. 

Mystery Swap

Our hostess this month was Paola.  Such a fun one to work with.  Can't wait to see what the next round will bring.

Calendar Girls

I'm a little late with my posting.  Life has just gotten away from me lately.  But, I couldn't miss participating in this month's challenge.  I picked an "easy" one, but I think the recipient will be thrilled to receive it.  I've made a TLC190 Stair Step Fold card for my 3 year old nephew, Austin.  He has spent quite a bit of time with me lately and has taken a liking to card making.  He's been counting the days down to Halloween for over a week and is so excited that today is finally the day.  My Frankenstein and "Boo to You" are $1 stamps that I've had kicking around in my Halloween box for a while.  The felt ghost, pumpkin and bat are from a set of stickers from JoAnn.  The ghosts at the top are a sizzix die. 

Calendar Girl time

It's that time again.  Our hostess this month is Terry.  She supplied us with a fun sketch challenge from sweetandsassystamps.  Here is the link to the ongoing sketch challenge http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/card-sketches-f41/sketch-challenge-450-%7B8-21-13%7D-t577369.html  

Mystery Swap

April is our host this month.  Here is my card.  This image is from Unity stamps.  My background papers are from a paper pack from DCWV. 

Thanks April for the fun image.  Owls are a favorite of mine :)

Thanksgiving

I know it's early for Thanksgiving, but this is for Barb's Halloween/Thanksgiving card swap.  Trying to get ahead of the game and send her a few swaps at the same time. I couldn't get the best picture, but the background paper is BoBunny Forever Fall Foliage.  The Happy Thanksgiving is SU Tags 4 You with the matching punch.  The square is gold paper that I just picked up at Michael's this week for $1.  The card base is Cajan Craze, with Always Artichoke and artichoke denim ribbon.

Whole Latte Love

I've made this card for Barb's Caffeine Crazy swap. 

The card base is confetti cream, with elegant eggplant background.  I made my own doily with an MFT scalloped circle die and cut it in half.  The paper is from Debra Wingert.

It's A Boy!!

It's A Boy!!!

I have a new little nephew!!!  His name is Kyle Steven Baker, 7lbs 10oz, 18 1/2 inches long and the cutest thing ever.   I'm sooooo excited.  He is my younger brother's little boy and I will get to see him lots, and lots.  I've been taking care of his big brother, Austin for the last 3 1/2 years while mommy and daddy work.  Mom is home until January so I'll have to "share" but I don't mind. 

So, I've been working on a little gift for him.  I always try to make little bibs and receiving blankets for any new babies close to me.  These are favorite things that I enjoyed for my babies and they are always well received.

My theme is "transportation".  It started with Thomas the tank engine.  My 3 1/2 year old nephew is just into anything that has to do with Thomas and trucks, so I tried to find some things that would be fun for him too rather than stick to just baby prints.  Then I found an adorable Fisher-Price set of baby toys with a boat, a car and an airplane.  So I decided to hunt down some more little boy prints with wheels.  I couldn't resist the "Auntie is the Best" onesie, though I'm hiding it inside the package.  He'll know how cool I am soon enough :)

So I got out my circle cake board and started wrapping these things up.  This is how it came together.

I rolled up the blankets for the bottom layer and stuck a bib in between each one.  Wrapped them up with a string to keep their shape and made a band out of cardstock, sewed the edges and cut out some designs from the B is for Boy cricut cartridge.  The top layer is all the bibs with the ties sticking up at the top.  I used a plastic cake dowel to keep the cake together.  Wrapped it all up with a basket wrap and added some curly ribbon to the top.  All together it's 4 40" square blankets (bigger than a lot of store bought ones) and 16 baby bibs.

Calendar Girls- Snowbuddy

Paola was our hostess this month.  Our Challenge - to create a card with a sentiment that begins with snow, and NOT Christmas.  So here is my friendly penguin getting ready to put his snowman friend together, his "Snowbuddy".  My penguin is from Inky Antics.  Thanks Paola for a "Cool" challenge :)

Paper Piercing

I made this quick little card for a swap with a group I've been with almost as long as I've been stamping.  Paper Piercing was the theme, which is a favorite technique of mine lately, so I tried to do a few layers.  Everything is SU except for the background paper.  It was from a little DCWV Christmas paper pack I picked up for a buck recently at Big Lots. 

Butterfly Thank You

I made these thank you cards for my mother to write her thank yous from my brothers recent death.  I tried to keep them simple.  The background paper is SU Bella Birds, Brocade Blue ink & cardstock, ivory grosgrain ribbon.  I stamped the butterfly on the background paper, then stamped on out of so saffron cardstock, colored some of the wings and cut it out.  I layered it but folded the butterfly so the wings would stay up a bit.  Thanks for stopping by.

Unidentified Image

April is our hostess this month.  She provided us with this image from Unity.  I used fair skies country mile paper from farm house paper company.  It's something I picked up at my local LSS a few months ago.  Thanks April for being our hostess.

Mystery Swap

Here is the card I made for the mystery swap.  Barb was our hostess this month and this image is from Unity stamps.

Minions Happy Birthday

I made this card for my friend's little boy.  He is away at camp for the next two weeks and will have his 8th birthday this Saturday.  I found him this for a gift.

They saw the movie while they were on vacation and I thought it might be fun for him to have something new to wear for his second week at camp.

To make the card I found this coloring kit at my local Walmart.

I came with coloring pages inside, a sheet of stickers and some crayons all for $1.  My main goal was to have something to work with to make a card with.  So I cut up the back cover to get my little minions.  Then I had a little bit of the arrow and the grab & go sign in my square so I decided to make some balloons to cover them up.  I made my balloons with a circle punch and then snipped the corner off a piece of paper for the bottom.  I attached white bakers twine with mini glue dots.   I stamped the background with some SU Birthday Sketch stamps and sponged a little blue color so it wasn't plain white.  My card is a 5 1/2" square.

I kept the inside simple.

Thanks for stopping by.  If you need a laugh, whether you are 3 or 103, I encourage you to go see Despicable Me 2.  It's hilarious.

Bowling Party

My youngest daughter is turning 10 this week.  Not sure where the time goes, but she will always be my baby girl.  She has been dreaming/begging to have her party at the bowling alley since last summer.  Her dreams come true today.  She is patiently awaiting 3:30 to come so we can head on over to prepare for the party.  One of the longest days ever for her, lol.

This is the card she came up with.  I printed out a bowling pin from online clip art and used it as a pattern to hand cut the pins.  We used a punch for the bowling ball and the little finger holes.  I give her credit, she came up with the design, I helped her get the pieces cut and she stuck them altogether and addressed all the envelopes.  Not bad for a 10 year old.



Here are the "goodie bags".  Each pin is filled with little toy goodies and little candies.

And here is our cake.



Forest Card Candy

I made this card candy for the Seasons in the forest swap.  I tried to keep it "winter" and not Christmas, but I needed to include the little reindeer stocking, because he might actually be hanging out in the forest this winter. 

Penny Black Christmas

This is the second card I made for Barb's Christmas Swap (Whipper Snapper/Penny Black).  Found myself a new stamp for this round.  Background paper is My Mind's Eye.

Calendar Girls - June

It's the 28th of the month, and that means a new hostess for the Calendar Girls.  I'm so lucky to be a part of this group.  The ladies are amazing and have such great ideas.  This month Debbie is our hostess.  She sent me this stamp from her $1 stamp collection and I was to use it to make a card.

And this is the card I made

The background paper is from K&Co.  Glitter brad from Stampin Up.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful weekend.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

I've made these cards for Barb's Whipper Snapper Christmas in July Swap.  I'm not the best at taking photos of my cards, but I do like how it looks like the christmas lights are lit.

Barb was so kind to share this adorable snowman stamp with me to use on my cards for her swap.  They are so bright and cheerful, it was really a lot of fun bringing them to life.

Here is a closer up view of my card.

The background layers are from My Minds Eye, some Riding Hood Red paper and ribbon and some paper snowflakes from a border punch.

Happy Birthday Kirsten!

So summertime is when my three beautiful daughters were born.  We start with the oldest on June 10th, the middle one on June 23rd and the baby (almost 10 but she will always be my baby) on July 11th (yup my 7-11 baby).  Needless to say we call it "Birthday Season" around here.  The cakes and cupcakes are never ending between their birthdays, school party, friend's party, family parties, then of course there is my mom, my sister-in-law, my nephew and it blend's in with school year end festivities.  So as we are about half-way through the "season" my daughter will be 14 tomorrow.  She's into detail and can really appreciate a good handmade card, in fact, she expects it.  So I've spent my morning trying to come up with something a little different than anything she has seen before.  This is what I came up with. 

I went with Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist and Blushing Bride for my color pallete.  The DP is from Basic Grey "Life of the Party".  It's just a little 6x6 pad, but I've already used it for so many cards and still have a nice selection left.

This is the card all folded up.  My t-shirt if from MFT stamps.  I made my tshirt fabric with the balloon stamp from the new SU Sketched Birthday.  The hip-hip horrary is from SU Happiest Birthday Wishes.

I started with a Funky Fold Accordian card kit that I purchased a few years back at a stamp show.  It's made by PaperCut but I do know there are always directions out there to make your own.  I thought it was time to actually open the package.

This is page 2.   Cross My Heart, Sketched Birthday, Happiest Birthday Wishes

And Page 3 Stacks of Wishes and Totally A-maze-ing, Candy Shop brad

And..........this is the birthday girl all dressed up last night for the 8th Grade Dance

Hard to believe she is off to High School in the Fall.  She's 4'7" and rocking a size 10 girls dress.

May/June Sisterhood

I made this for our sisterhood swap.  Maryann is our host this round and she requested a card with flowers.  I just got my SU order from the new catalog and have been itching to get some of the new things out.  My flower stem is from a new hostess set called "Happy Flowers".  The flower is three layers of a "Flower Shop" flower and punched with the new pansy punch.  The happy birthday is from the new hostess set "Banner Greetings". 

Graduation Card

It's Graduation Time!!

We were invited to a graduation party.  My mother in law is a "foster" parent to international students from China.  This year she spent the school year with Henry.  He's been a joy to get to know and include in our family for the school year.  He was a Senior in high school this year and this is the card I made for his party.



This may be my new favorite card layout.  It came in my new Cardmaker magazine just a few days before the party.  I flipped through looking for something a little different and this is the one I chose.  The graduation papers are from a DCWV highschool paper pack.  The stickers are from a Jolee's pack.  The congratulations stamp is from Hanna Stamps (miss those) and the "G" is from SU.  Not sure the make of the Hats off to You, but I think it might be inkadinkadoo.

You slide off the graduation sleeve and unfold the flaps.  Thanks for looking.

Unidentified Image

Paola was our hostess this round.  She armed us with this adorable chicken from Whipper Snapper.  I love "cute" stamps so this one was really right in my comfort zone. 

I don't remember what background papers I used, but they were from Stampin Up.  Can't wait to see what April has in store for us for the next round.

Calendar Girls

Here is my card for the May Calendar Girls.  April was our host this time and we needed to come up with a card with something we hoped to accomplish over the summer.  Well after a lot of thought, I decided to go with biking.  I've been working on losing some extra pounds and being more active.  More importantly, my two younger girls got new bikes last year and are looking forward to more family bike rides.  The new bikes have lots of different speeds and nice big wheels to make mastering the bike trails a breeze.  We've already been out a couple times this year and look forward to many more.

I used the MFT I Wheelie Like you.  My 3 year old nephew was here while I was making the card.  He thought I was making a picture of Makayla, my 9 year old.  I guess it does kind of look like her in younger years,  All the papers are Crate Paper Acorn Avenue.  I do wish she had a bike helmet on, but then the pigtails wouldn't be so cute.

Mystery Swap

Melina was our hostess this round and supplied us with this adorable little MFT mouse.  I colored her with copics and added some google eyes.

Fabulous Flowers

This is the first card I made for Barb's flower swap.  I used Crate Paper dp for the background.  Took three strips and then sewed all the seams.  The doily is SU, the paper ribbon and bow is from MFT blueprints.  The stamp is an old Great Impressions stamp of the month from a few years ago.

April Calendar Girls

Carol is our hostess this month.  Here's our theme

As the saying goes April showers bring May flowers....

To me April showers clean the earth of its worn out snow, dust and dirt along with nurturing new seeds and life to our surroundings (gardens, yards, trees, etc). It also, to me signals new beginnings....so for this month I would like for you to create a card that does just that...it could be a wedding card, a baby card, even a New Years card...OR it could be a card that uses something worn out or pre-used and develop a new use for it...ex: mesh bag from fruit...used once to hold fruit: new beginning...used on the card...repurposed.. I know all of you are very talented crafters and I can hardly wait to see what you come up with...

I decided to go with a new baby card.  First I was waiting for my sister in law to find out the gender of her new baby due in September.  I figured I'd get ahead of the game and have a card ready, for September.  That is actually pretty funny because I would never be able to locate it when it was time to use it.  She did find out, it's a boy.  So my little nephew, Austin, will be having a new brother.  He's pretty excited, and so am I.  But after I found out it's a boy, I realized we need to use a Thomas the Tank theme for any baby gift I come up with.  I just don't have the proper Thomas supplies for a baby card.......yet.  So I opted for a girly baby card.  I've been wanting to do some sewing on my cards, and really want to get into some quilt cards.  I even ordered a sizzix die for quilting cards, but that was about 2 months ago and they still haven't sent it, so it's not looking good.  So I thought I would start simple with a patchwork block quilt.  The paper is from an old DCWV baby girl stack.  I stuck them together, added some swirls with an embossing folder and then zigzag stitched the "seams".  The card background is a piece of light cardboard that came with a pack of drawing paper my daughter got.  I thought the krafty color made the quilt stand out a little bit.

Thanks Carol, for such a great theme.  It's so fun to be a "Calendar Girl"

With Sympathy

I needed to make some new sympathy cards.  I know of three friends/acquaintances in the past week that have lost a parent.  Maybe that's what you need to expect when you are almost 45 and all your parents are hitting the 80+ mark, but I just don't want to accept it.  I am so fortunate, lucky, grateful that my almost 80 mom and dad are still in wonderful health and enjoying every day.   This card was the start of a stash for future "needs" but the first one goes to a childhood friend of mine that I lost touch with for 20 years until two years ago when my daughter had a playdate with a bible school friend at a local pool that I'd never been to before.  I was so happy when she came over to me and we started talking like no time had ever passed.  She lost her father yesterday.  I know he was failing and I'm sure it was a relief to her that he is now in God's hands and with her mother who died a few years ago after a horrific battle with breast cancer, but still, she's an only child with no mom or dad here to turn to when she needs that parent advice.  Something that I just can't imagine.

I started with a couple different ideas, one kind of plain and simple, one with flowers, but I've been drawn back to my butterflies.  I've used my ever precious SU cottage wall paper and rich razzleberry card stock for my butterflies.  The big butterfly has an acetate layer too. 

I never know what to say in a sympathy card, but I do like this saying.  I'm not sure the name of the set that it came from.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope to get back in the stamp room later and get some more of these made so I'm prepared for the next time.

Unidentified Image

Late again!!!   Here is a card I made for our current Unidentified Image swap.  Our hostess this time was Carol.  She provided this adorable image from Clear Stamps.  I think when kids dress up to perform, it's cute and classy so I went with the black/white/red theme.

I used Cherry Cobbler for the red and my SU embossing folder for a little texture.  Added some glitter to her dress as 1. Carol loves glitter and 2. as a mom of 3 girls, I know they love a little sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by.

March Calendar Girls

Ok, so I'm late, again?  The 28th slipped away from me, and by the time I realized it was "posting" day, I was away from home, my card and my computer.  If only my phone would allow me to post on my blog, but it's stubborn and won't let me post my pictures through my phone :(  This month we had to make a card with NO designer paper.  Not a huge challenge, I have lots of stamps, lots of different color inks, should be a piece of cake.  I thought of using one of my many background stamps, but I really wanted to put this Taylored Expressions die to work.  Tami also said to "use whatcha got".  I won this last fall during a release party and though I've put it through the die machine a few times, this is the first actual card.  I've made it for my husband's grandmother who turns 85 next Tuesday.