loads of love

First off I want to thank all of you who have checked in on me and emailed me to make sure I'm still here and doing ok. I blinked and a month has passed. I think things are less hectic now. My Grams has been moved at least temporarily into a full care nursing home. There are good and bad aspects to this, the worst being that she is farther away than she was which means it takes FOR-EVER to drive down for a visit. I'm glad she seems to like it there and the staff is wonderful, which makes it easier knowing I can't visit everyday. I've had to place this creative outlet on the back burner since pretty much the first of the year, but I've become so stressed that I've decided I need to make the time to de-stress and get my creative juices flowing. This should translate into more blogging.

Ok, now onto what you all came here for. This card could be a valentines type card or just a just because I love you card, or even an anniversary card.



Stamps: Loads of Love
Inks: Blushing Bride, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose
Papers: Pear Pizazz DSP, Sweet Pea DSP (retired), Pear Pizazz Cardstock, Old Olive Cardstock, Blushing Bride Cardstock, Whisper White Cardstock, Watercolor paper
Misc: Pretty in Pink 5/8" Satin Ribbon, Crystal Effects, Mini Library Clip, Aqua Painters, Pinking Hearts Edge Punch,

I love the extra little detail that is added by the Crystal Effects onto the watercolored hearts. It really makes them stand out in real life.

I hope you will all be back later in the week to see some more posts.

desktop calendar

Every year I make my hubby a desktop calendar to put on his desk at work, and every year I wish I had one. So this year I decided to make a smaller one for me. I chose not to make is a scrapbook style one, and instead did a easel card style. I saw one very similar to this one on Sandi MacIvers blog a million years ago and figured it would work perfectly for me.

Those of you that know me know I don't like pink, but The new In Color Blushing Bride is growing on me, and I figured if I had pink on the calendar it definitely would not blend into the background mess on my desk.






Stamps: Vintage Vogue
Inks: Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive
Papers: Whisper White, Old Olive, Blushing Bride DSP
Misc: Old Olive Brads, Rhinestone Brads, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Mini Library Clip, 1/4" Old Olive Ribbon, 5/8" Old Olive Satin Ribbon, Modern Label Punch, Modern Label Movers & Shapers Die, Stampin' Dimensionals, Paper Snips

Holiday Greetings

This is another card we did at one of the Stamp-A-Stack events this year. I really like using non traditional colors for Christmas cards. I will always do at least one set of cards in traditional red and green, but then I like to pick a wide variety of colors and see what I can come up with. This one uses Baja Breeze and Basic Gray.

Stamps: Season of Joy, Sincere Salutations, Snow Swirled
Inks: Basic Gray, Whisper White
Papers: Basic Gray, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Misc: 1" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 5/8" Basic Gray Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals

Jolly Jingles

This has to be a quick one cause I am dead tired. I spent the majority of the day at the hospital with my grams. This is another one from one of my Christmas Stamp-A-Stacks.

You can see the shine, but you really can't see the sparkle in these pics, but the whole card really does sparkle in real life, and is completely gorgeous.

Stamps: Tags Til Christmas, Jolly Jingles Jumbo Wheel
Inks: Versa Mark, Old Olive & Real Red Markers
Papers: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler
Misc: Very Vanilla 5/8" Satin Ribbon, Decorative Label Punch, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Sticky Strip (to adhere ribbon), Dimensionals

Step it up part 4??? a slightly different version starring Jolly Jingles

I love wheels, they are so easy to use, super quick and they add the perfect touch to any card. This card is a slight variation from the other card. I used the Jolly Jingles Jumbo Wheel to create the background. Everything else is pretty much the same. I have been asked several times what ink color I use the most with my wheels, and I have to say VersaMark. It is a great way to add a bit of detail without overdoing the card, and if you do want to add color to it, you can use the pastels like I did here, or you can add embossing powder and have a lot of color. If you are unsure of what color to ink up your cartridges for your wheels, start with VersaMark, you will not regret it!



Stamps: Jolly Jingles Wheel, Tags Til Christmas
Inks: VersaMark, Real Red, Old Olive
Papers: Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Real Red
Misc: Real Red 5/8" Satin Ribbon, Decorative Label Punch, Crumb Cake Stampin' Pastels, Wheel Guide, Sponges

I sure hope you all don't get sick of things easily, cause I will be posting a ton of Christmas cards in the next few weeks. Every year I send out what feels like a million cards, but in reality is only about 125 or so. On both my side and hubby's side we have a huge number of extended family members, plus friends and such..... and I get bored after making too many of the same card, so I usually end up making at least 40 or so different cards, and I will be posting them all here. I have already posted several, but there are still a ton to post, and sadly, still a ton to make. Wish me luck that I get them all done in time.

Step it up, card 3

Here is card 3 as promised. I had a great afternoon with some great people today, and I will be doing this class again tomorrow and Monday night. I love Christmas, and I love making cards, so these classes are a ton of fun for me. This card is pretty easy to see what I did to change it up. I sponged Real Red onto the top of the embossed part of the card.

Stamps: Tags Til Christmas
Inks: Old Olive, Real Red (markers)
Papers: Very Vanilla, Old Olive
Misc: Petals A Plenty Embossing Folder, 5/8" Real Red Satin Ribbon, Decorative Label Punch

So can you tell which idea was mine, and which was hubby's? Card 2 or 3? I am totally spoiled by hubby. I know most husbands don't even look twice at the stuff their wives make, let alone help out with ideas. And not only does he help out with ideas and tell me his opinion (when I ask) he also is great about me buying tons of stuff for my addiction/hobby. And even better, he looks after the kid when I am teaching, and when we go to Arizona and I want to get together with other demo friends. Talk about lucky right?

I am off to bed, I have to get up tomorrow and help mom with a quilt for the kids bed before I teach another class in the afternoon. Hope you all are having a great weekend so far.

Step it up, card 2

Well it took longer than I thought to get back on here. It's amazing how hectic life can get as soon as the road conditions are not great and snowy. Here is card 2 of 3. This one only has a slight change, but I love how much more the tag pops because of it. I punched out the Decorative Label Punch in Real Red and Old Olive and cut the pieces in the corners and added them behind the original one. Just that little bit extra makes the card that much nicer.



Stamps: Tags Til Christmas
Inks: Old Olive, Real Red (markers)
Papers: Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Real Red
Misc: Petals A Plenty Embossing Folder, 5/8" Real Red Satin Ribbon, Decorative Label Punch

I am off to teach a Christmas Card Class, but I will post the 3rd card later tonight. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Step it up, card 1

I was making Christmas cards the other day and this one popped into my head. As soon as I was done with it I immediately figured out how I could make it look better. I decided to go ahead and turn it into a step it up card. My hubby was in the room with me, and looked at it and said, why don't you try this, so I did both. I will show you those tomorrow, and the next day. You will have to guess which idea was mine and which was hubby's.



Stamps: Tags Til Christmas
Inks: Old Olive, Real Red (markers)
Papers: Very Vanilla, Old Olive
Misc: Petals A Plenty Embossing Folder, 5/8" Real Red Satin Ribbon, Decorative Label Punch,

Birds of a feather

Peacock feathers are so beautiful, and I love that this paper pattern kind of looks like a peacock feather. That is why I chose it to go with this card I made for my Dad's birthday. It was last month, but my son didn't want to send the card to Papa, he wanted to give it to him in person, and he came out to visit us a little while ago. You should have seen the look on his face when he gave it to Papa, it was like he was giving him a million dollars. He really does love to help me out, and loves making his own cards. The only downside is he hates giving them away, so we are slowly working on that.


Stamps: Nature's Nest
Inks: Basic Gray
Papers: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Sage Shadow (retired), Nouveax Chic DSP (retired)
Misc: Basic Gray 5/8" Satin Ribbon (retired), Scallop Trim Punch

I should have a lot more to show you in the coming days, I finally got part of my computer working right again, so I finally got a ton of photos uploaded and watermarked. Now if only I could get the video software to work right.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Circle Christmas

I love geometric shapes for DSP, esp circles, so when I saw this DSP I knew I was going to do a card like this one. I love that is has circles in every element on the card, the DSP, the large scallop circle, and even the stamped sentiment has circles (dots) underneath it, and even the stamped tree has dots in the swirls. I hope you like this card as much as I do.



Stamps: Season of Joy
Inks: Old Olive, Early Espresso
Papers: Jolly Holiday DSP, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla
Misc: Scallop Circle #2 die, Circle Scissor Plus, 5/8" Old Olive Satin Ribbon

I also wanted to apologize for being gone so long. Things got crazy around here, and then my son got really sick and I just had no time left at the end of the day to get on here and show my creations, heck I didn't even have enough time to make any new creations. I am hoping that is changing, as I actually had time tonight to blog and to create a centerpiece for thanksgiving dinner on Monday. I will show that to you tomorrow. For those of you that are still coming back after I have been gone this long, thank you, I really appreciate it. I am still adjusting to a new schedule now that I am working 6 days a week, but hopefully soon I can get my crafting back to normal. Have a great night, and for all my Canadian readers out there, have a great Thanksgiving!

a dashing good time....

We have already done the first round of Christmas Stamp-A-Stacks, and this was one of the cards we made that night. We make 4 cards, 3 of each of them for a total of 12 cards. I love the Dasher stamp, and wanted to try something a little different, so we used the Champagne Shimmer Paint to ink it up. It is hard to see in the photo, but it is soooo shimmery and pretty.



I am hoping you can see the shimmer better in this picture.
Stamps: Dasher, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Cherry Cobbler, Champagne Shimmer Paint
Papers: Jolly Holiday DSP, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Misc: Champagne Shimmer Paint, Scallop Trim Border Punch, 5/8" Old Olive Satin Ribbon, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Dimensionals

I hope you all are having a great weekend, I am keeping this short so I can go outside and enjoy the wonderfully warm weather before it is gone.

NICU days

I am slowly getting more and more of my sons first year album done. I am hoping to have it mostly done by the end of this year, and for sure done by his next birthday in February. This was a really important to me page, and a hard to do page. He was in the NICU for several days after he was born and a lot happened to him there, but sadly we were not allowed to take many pictures. Depending on the nurses working sometimes we were not allowed to take any pictures. I am totally against that policy. I can not imagine having a premature baby that was in the NICU for weeks and weeks and not being allowed to take pictures. To me it was like I imagine going to visit someone in jail. We couldn't just walk in whenever we wanted to. We were only allowed in at certain times, and even then we had to be double verified, even by the nurses that knew us. It was not a fun time, and definitely not the way I imagined my hospital stay.



It doesn't look like it too much, but I tried to make his wrist and ankle bracelets into handcuffs, going along with the cell block theme. I made the little links out of very vanilla cardstock and sponged platinum shimmer paint over top to make it look like metal.

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Marina Mist
Paper: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist
Misc: Curly Label Punch, Movers and Shapers Die Curly Label, Platinum Shimmer Paint, Brads, 5/8" Bashful Blue Satin Ribbon

I am hoping to get another page at least started tonight after the kid is done with his bath and in bed.

new neighbours

Today has been a busy day, as has this last few days. I have been baking and trying new things, and today made homemade tortilla shells. They are really good, and my son loves them. Sadly my old and very abused rolling pin died while making them so I am now on the hunt for a 12-15 inch marble rolling pin, which I am noticing don't exist. SO if you know where I can buy one I, and ship to Canada, I will gladly send you a free stamp set from my retired for sale stamps. I should note my old one was not marble, but some weird plastic fiberglass thing and it was 12 inches, which for what I use it for is almost too small, hence the 15 inch wish list. I have also been making a lot of homemade white bread, and would love to try whole wheat, so if you have a great recipe for that I'd love it if you would share it with me.

We also got new neighbours recently, and I wanted to make them a card. I saw a very similar card done on SCS by KIM L, and wanted to case it. I do not have the good neighbors stamp set, but the paper stack from SAB has these cute houses and trees and clouds, so I paper pieced instead of stamping.



Stamps: Well Scripted (retired)
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, SAB paper stack, Baja Breeze
Misc: Rhinestones, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Stampin' Dimensionals, Rub Ons (Eggcellent Eggs Kit), 5/8" Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon