Thanksgiving

Well, I got 4 more cards made for Thanksgiving than I did last year (which was "0").  At least I can get a couple in the mail before the holiday is here.  I've been wanting to use these leaf stamps.  It's so fun to stamp with different color inks, but I always find myself using black in and coloring with markers.  Not this time.

And the inside

The colors used were crushed curry, pumpkin pie,  soft suede and cajun craze.

Mystery swap

I was so excited when I got this image that Jeanette had picked out.  I thought Luigi was awesome, but this guy is right up there.  I so love it when they make pizza heart shaped.  It's like they made it for me (last name Hart).  I kept the layout simple since the image takes up most of the card.  Thanks for stopping by.

The Christmas Spirit

Thanks to Barb and her annual Big Guy in the Red Suit swap, I'm well into the Christmas Spirit.  I've had fun putting this guy together.  I am so addicted to this new Sizzix card die.  The circle is so big that it's so easy to find stamps that fit in.

I added my little detail on the side for the ho, ho, ho.  It was completely by accident.  I cut out the sleigh paper and I had it going the wrong direction.  I didn't want to waste the paper I had all cut up so I glued it on.  My first intention was to put a straight strip there to cover up my mistake, but then I looked in the stamp set and found that the "ho, ho, ho" fit in there perfectly. 

 Here's what it looks like when it's opened.  The snowflakes are from a cool find at Joann's this weekend.  It's a jumbo bag of Favorite Findings.  There are 5 or 6 different sizes, must be about 200 in the bag for $5.99.  And, with a 40% off coupon it was really a bargain.

Our Hockey Girl

I've got no card for this moment.  I'm desperately searching for a Girls Roller Hockey rubber stamp and just haven't found anything I've liked.  But, her accomplishment needs to be documented.  Yesterday, she made her first goal.  She never even tried a pair of skates until this last March.  My  year old nephew was doing a "learn to skate" program at the hockey rink his dad has played at for years.  When she heard what he was doing, she wanted in.  Her goal before we even got there for her first lesson was "I want to play hockey".  They were very encouraging and assured us that she would be ready to join in the next hockey session that started just 4 lessons later.  She has taken the opportunity to go to every game, team practice and clinic sessions, which this past week due to overlapping schedules she had 2 games and 4 practice sessions in the last 7 days.  It won't always be hectic, but she has such a thirst to get better.  Her teammates have been trying so hard to help her get her first goal and yesterday, it all came together.   You don't always get to keep the game ball, but because it was her first goal, the ball was immediately removed from the game and her name, first goal, and date were written on it.  She was treated by dad with a Dunkin Donuts coolata (a rare treat for her) and a movie and a sleepover with her friend.  All in all a very good day for us all!

Sisterhood favorites & fabulous

With Jeanette as our hostess this round, we had the fun task of creating a card that said something about us (favorite stamp, color, etc.)  I thought about it for a long time (procrastination ya know, lol).  I've made a Christmas card because:

1) I love Christmas
2) I love December, my birthday is the 14th.  As a child there was really no other time to get presents and here I got them 11 days apart...only downfall was that was it for a whole year.
3) I'm very happy with the stamp I chose.  It's from Outlines stamp company.  They went out of business, but they were a Connecticut company (I'm born and raised and still living in CT) and I bought this stamp from them at a stamp show.
4) This image fit into my new Sizzix card die (my new obsession, I'm a collector) that I bought at our brand new Hobby Lobby (yes, finally, it's here and less than a mile from my house so I can go there anytime)
5) It needed a little coloring and a little bling, and a holly accent button that I found at HL

Here it is fully opened

Here is the back 

Thanks for looking.

Happy Birthday

I made this for my friend's birthday.   I used my new blendabilities to color.  It worked up quickly.

Unidentified Image

Here is my card. Our hostess provided us with this adorable little kitty.  I used one of my new favorite Sizzix framelit card dies (my new obsession, lol)

Happy Anniversary

I made this card for my husband for our 26 year wedding anniversary this week.  My how time does fly by.  Not sure how I got this old, but hey, I'll take it and try to make the most of it.

I bought this set specifically for a card for this day.  It's SU Follow My Heart from the clearance rack at Stampin' Up.  It's a 5 1/2" by 5 1/2" square card with Real Red and Early Espresso.

Calendar Girls

I made this for this month's Calendar Girl challenge.  The request from our hostess was to make a Sympathy card.  As we all need them way too often, I decided to make six of them, so next time, I'm ready.  I used butterflies because there is something so peaceful about them.  I haven't had to many experiences of deaths of close family other than my grandparents, aunts and uncles who all lead very long fulfilled lives.  But, last year when my brother died, there was this yellow swallowtail butterfly (I think that's what it was called) that hung around in a bush in front of my parents house for 2 days, then we saw another one later that week.  It wasn't a type that either of my parents had remembered hanging around before.  We took it as a sign that my brother was at peace and suffering no longer.  I'm hoping I can keep these cards in my stash for a long time

Mystery Swap

Kelly was our hostess this round.  She picked this fun stamp from MFT stamps.  I used the blueprint 4 and the anchor on the inside of the card is a Spellbinders die.

Owls, owls, owls

I made this for our Sisterhood swap.  This little pack of owls has been waiting for some inky love for way too long.  Thanks Kadie, for such a fun theme.

Calendar Girls

I finally got a chance to get this made for our hostess, Paola.  Our challenge was a punch art card.  I knew I needed to make a monkey card for my nephew's first birthday.   Well today is his party so I was up very early to get his present together.

Here's the inside.

I used his cake for inspiration.

Thanks Paola for the fun challenge.

Unidentified Image Swap

Heather is our hostess this round and she has provided us with this adorable Whipper Snapper bird stamp.  My background paper is from We R Memory keepers (rainbow pad, I think).  Thanks for such a fun round.  Can't wait to see what we get next.

Game On!

I'm pretty excited to be posting on my blog from my new cell phone.  My old phone didn't allow me to.  I made this card yesterday for a birthday party my daughter was invited to.  It was for her hockey coaches son.  I'm not sure of the name of the stamp set but its from Papertrey.

Camping in the Forest

 haven't had much time for stamping lately.  Been traveling with the family, camping actually.  We've spent a week camping locally, a week in Amish country and a week in upstate New York to attend a family reunion.  We don't camp in a tent, we have a travel trailer, but when I saw this stamp set at MFT stamps, I knew I needed the whole camping ensemble.  My time restraints limited me to this one simple card, but I hope to dig out the set many, many times.  My background papers are from SU.
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Sisterhood - Giggle Greetings

Here is my card for the sisterhood group that I am in.  My friend, Gael, is our hostess this time around and she challenged us to make a masculine card that wasn't the typical sports, fishing, guy stuff.  She has a great sense of humor so I thought this stamp might fit the bill.  I found some inspiration from a few cards online and went with this.

Here is the inside:

Unidentified Image

Kadie was our hostess this time around.  She always picks such fun stamps.  This one is from The Cat's Pajamas.

She included a sentiment, but I didn't realize it until I was packing up my completed cards for mailing, so my sentiment is from The Greeting Farm (a set that Miss Kadie had sent me a few years back as a gift).  I'm not sure what you call the style of this card, but it's my new favorite.  I got my first copy of this design from Barb in a return swap.  It's so much fun.................and easy.  Just cut, cut, cut and paste them together.

The paper is from a Pebbles paper stack, with confetti cream and an old shade of SU blue.  Thanks Kadie for such a fun challenge this round.  Can't wait to see what our next hostess has in store.

My daughter turns 20

I don't know where the time goes, but somehow my sweet baby girl is turning 20 this week.  It seems like only yesterday, that I turned 20.  She's off at school for summer session but has come home for the weekend to celebrate her special day with family.  We already bought her an official birthday present, an air conditioner for her third floor city apartment that she got a couple weeks ago.  So, I needed to give her some kind of gift so I decided to make her tote bag that she picked out the material for when she was home for spring break.  It doesn't look like she and I will be home much at the same time for a while, so chances of her getting together with me to make the bag herself wasn't going to happen for a while.  So I've made the bag for her thinking it will be just what she wanted.  Here's the bag

And this is the card I made to go with her present.

I used pistachio and rose red and got my inspiration from a card in the SU catalog from last year.

Red, White and Blue

I made this card for a red, white and blue swap that my friend Barb is hosting.  These were so much fun to put together.  The stamp set is from CTMH May stamp of the month from last May.  I think it's called Patriotic.  I used SU not quite navy and riding hood red.

Calender Girls

Show me the Music

I made this for Barb's Show Me the Music Swap.  My stamp is from Penny Black "12 Days of Christmas" set

Calendar Girls

Kelly was our host last month for the Calendar Girls.  Her challenge was to make a card with fabric on it for the focal point.  I'll be honest, my life has been unbelievably crazy lately, and I didn't even realize when I put this baby gift together last week, that it worked with Kelly's theme.  I made blankets, burp cloths and bibs for a friend's first baby.  I bought the fabric and the baby toys months (and months ago).  When I got the call last week from her mom that the baby was here, I was a little bit in panic mode.  Somehow I managed to quickly get everything stitched up and enlisted my 4 year old nephew for some help wrapping it up (he and little brother hang out with me during the week while mom and dad are at work).  In my quick effort to make a homemade tag, and my lack of finding my stash of "critter" paper in a timely fashion, I grabbed a swatch of leftover blanket fabric so it would match my theme and took out my spellbinders dies until I found something that went together.  So Kelly, here is my "fabric" card, better late than never.

Unidentified Image - Snoopy

I just love Snoopy (and all his friends too).  We even had a dog named Snoopy as a kid.  He was a beagle, not the black and white typical Snoopy.  I was so excited when I got Jody's image.  First, so easy to color and second, he goes with everything.

I found this bright cheery background paper in my We R Memory Keepers stack.  Matched it up with a little SU Round Array saying and a heart paperclip.  Thanks for being our hostess this round Jody.

Firetruck cake

and here is my birthday boy!!

Firetruck, firetruck

So my nephew just turned 4 last Friday.  It's been a whirlwind and not so much celebration yet.  He was very sick for his birthday, and the day before, and the day after and the day after that.  Baby brother has had a bad cold most of the week, but has two shiny little teeth to show for all his stuffiness.  His Daddy got sick over the weekend and is still recovering today.  So birthday festivities will happen this weekend, hopefully.  It did give me some extra time to work on a very special birthday card for my special birthday boy.  I'm his caregiver while mom and dad work and I have been since he was 3 months old.  It's an honor I am happy to have.  I have made all his birthday cakes so far so when I asked him what kind of birthday he was having this year, he asked me if I knew how to make a firetruck cake.  Of course I told him I could.  Well, I haven't gotten the cake made yet, that will be this weekend, but I did get the card made.  Austin loves to draw/color so I thought a coloring fire themed card would be ideal. I don't own any fire themed stamps, so I headed to the internet for coloring pages.  I came across Fireman Sam.  I thought he fit perfectly for my preschooler's card.  I'm not very computer savvy and my computer guru was at school (dd14) so I played around and ended up printing my coloring pages as 5x7 black and white prints.  So here is my card

I colored it in with my copics and add a SU Happy Birthday sign to the truck.  Then I made these coloring pages and made my card accordion style.

My little guy prefers markers to crayons and truthfully, they don't break nearly as easily and I picked these up at Kohl's during Christmas for a buck a pack.  So I added the pack of markers to the back page.

Now I'm just waiting for the weekend so I can make his cake, give him his card, and his new Thomas drawbridge and Salty train.

Mystery Dino

I'm in a group of "mystery swappers".  Every other month the hostess for the round sends us an image to turn into a card.  This round was Kate's turn to host.  She sent this adorable little dinosaur.  I wasn't sure what to do with him so I hit the store for some designer paper.  I was thinking dinosaur tracks when I went but I could only find different styles of dinosaurs in the background.  When I got home I realized I have the Basic Grey dinosaurs, so I added the tracks and the words from that set.    I kept my card simple so the background paper could show.  I hated cutting up those cute little dinos and tried to make their faces show as much as I could.