Happy Birthday......

Hope all had a good weekend. I tried to keep myself busy as to not to dwell on all that seems to be hitting me all at once, I know God has it and its all in His timing, but I still worry until He answers or shows me a solution. Praying for ...understanding from some friends of things that are beyond my control. Feeling really alone this last week and yet I know I'm not, manage to unpack one more box and came across things of Wayne's, not sure how this keeps happening as I swear I've placed all his things in the memorial box, and of course emotions flowed freely and glad I was home when it happened...but I guess its God's way of showing me that yes I'm healing, but still have a ways to go and to stay focused on Him. I manage to make another card this weekend, not as detailed, but at least the creative juices are flowing, now if I can just get everything else flowing the same way I'll be doing good. God is good no matter the rough journey I'm experiencing right now.

 

Cricuting.....

I have been busy working on cards for OWH and for personal ones as well. I have made myself start using my Cricut Expression. I only have 51 cartridges and two more are on the way from the rewards I submitted. So being that there is a major investment sitting here in my craft room, I figured I better get busy before hubby gets upset. LOL!!! Anyway, I mainly used the following carts for the cards, Sophisticated, Ornamental Iron 2, Straight From The Nest, Home Accents and Fancy Frames. I found if I designed the layout on the Gypsy on how I wanted the card to look, then cut out all the pieces, and then assembled them, it seemed to go faster instead of doing each one by one which would take much longer then having an assembly line going. I really like the new carts they have been coming out with. All the fancy flourishes and frames gives the sentiment a whole different look. Plus I am a girly girl, so the more elegant designs and the curliques they have the happier I am! LOL!!!! It has been an experience though as I have had to learn to set the speed and pressure correctly as not to waste the expensive cardstock. I di find that if I did mutliple cuts on the heavier cardstock, it punched out much easier without tearing the intricate parts of the design of the framing. I have been taking my Gypsy to work so I can play around with designs on my breaks and lunch hour which then saves me time when I get home so I can go right to the Cricut Expression and begin cutting it all out. needless to say I have 4 more baskets full of different designs to be assembled. I am really enjoying using my "E" and hope that the military men and women will like them as well. Next is Christmas Cards as the deadline to OWH is October.

Love

Forgot to add these two pictures to last post. Was interrupted and just realized they were not showing up...uhmm because I never loaded them. LOL!!! Thanks for looking.

Happy Birthday!!!

Good morning all! It's good to be able to be in my scraproom today. The weekend has been busy and I think I finally can work in here without feeling guilty about making sure something else isn't getting done in the house. I just love this image. It was RAK'd to me along time ago and like I have stated before these images are finally being put to use for the OWH. I feel so good inside knowing that making these cards for the military men and women is bringing a smile and joy to their families here back in the states. It seems birthday's are always needed to send home as someone has a birthday everyday somewhere here in the states. Anyway thanks for looking. The image is by Whipper Snapper; Stampin Up products...cardstock, markers, crystal effects; stickles, pop-up dots for sentiments.

Good Evening

Thought I would post a few pics of cards I have been working on. We recently reunited with some friends we hadn't seen in 3 years and it was an amazing time. I was able to go to Hobby Lobby for the very first time and was in awe of how large this store was. As I entered the doors with my friend all I could say was "Oh My, Oh My" and the sales clerk walked by when I was on my 10th time of saying that and she said "You can always tell when there is a new person in the store" of coursed we all laughed! Anyway, its only an hour and half from where I live and I never knew we had one in California. Learn something new everyday. Here is my card I made as a thank you to her and her hubby for entertaining us for three days. Her kitchen is in yellow and blues and she loves birds so I thought this set from Stampin Up "Wings of Friendship" was perfect! I used Not Quite so Navy ink, Crushed Curry for the flowers and bird and the cardstock was Crushed Curry, Not Quite Navy and Kraft. Embellished with some rhinestones from Reflections. The bird and the flowers are popped up as well as the sentiment. Thanks for looking.

Valentines...

Hope you all are having a great weekend. Mine consisted of being involved in a "Valentine Bazaar" and it was a smashing success!!! I was little apprehensive in being it as I wasn't sure what kind of turn out we would have due to the weather (cold, rain and it being the Superbowl weekend) and not being a really big holiday compared to Christmas, but I was glad I was involved as I sold everything I had made and could have sold more if








I had known it would be such a great success LOL! Here are some of the items I sold. My Photograph cards were a success as well and those pictures can be seen in the archive labels. I made several of these large and small pail containers filled with Hershey Kisses. I was able to find them in bulk at $2.29 lb instead of purchasing several of the 10oz bags at $4.79 a piece! These were a big hit for the mothers who visited the bazaar as a valentine gift for their children to give to their teachers. I did not realize how fast the Hershey filled Sour Cream Containers would go! I stamped the acetate using Stazon Ink to decorate them. Two ladies came in made their rounds through the bazaar, came to my spot and bought them all. Again I could have made 100 of them and I believe there would not of been one left. (I'll remember this next time) LOL! These were so easy to make and I should had thought to make these back at Christmas time. I saw these heart suckers and knew I could do something with them and decided to use my Cricut cartridge Tags, Bags and More to make the cover for these suckers. I ran them through the cuttlebug using the the new Valentine folders to give them a special look. The MS punch I used was the lattice heart. I was fortunate enough to be asked to be in another one in March by one of the other crafters at the bazaar who is in charge of it. So I am now busy working on what I plan on selling and of course ideas are running through my head as I type this and we shall see how much I get done with these grandure ideas running through my head. Hope the Lord blesses you this week in some way as we gear up for Valentines Day.

Heavenly Angel

Hope you are having a great Sunday afternoon. My sis Beth is going to be over later and we will be BBQ'ing and finally catch up on all the latest. Had the four grand kids again yesterday but have to admit I am tired and am not as young as I used to be. LOL!!!!I have another ornament to show you. This one sat on my table for quite sometime as I had stamped the angel, colored her in and then just couldn't decide on how to finish her until late Thursday evening. Kinda a "light-bulb" moment if you get my drift. LOL! Found this fantastic folded ribbon at Michael's and thought it was just perfect to give the ornament the softness associated with an angel. Again, each ornament I make I seem to like it better than the last one. I will say trying to take pictures of these are a pain at times as there always seems to be a shadow casted on the part of the ornament as you can see on this one on the lower left side. I think it was part of my DH head when he tooks it, but there is no discoloration on it even though it shows there is. I have had several inquiries wanting to know if the ornaments are for sale. They are and if interested in purchasing one please contact me at heartdb@yahoo.com. Hope you have a wonderful restful Sunday afternoon. Thanks for looking! Supplies: Stamps: JustRite, Stampin Up; Ink: Stazon; Ribbon: Michaels; Sparkle: Stickles and Westrim mini rhinestones.

The Spirit of Joy

This is the second card I made for the Papertrey Swap. Again I had forgotten I had this set and remembered it was one of my favorites. Why is it we forget what we have in our stamps? Could it be we just have to have it, can't live without it and then it stay stashed in a drawer until we realize..oh yea, I have that set LOL!!! I used three different colors of blues to make the snowflakes stand out and then of course had to add Stickles to make them look sparkly and light. I remembered I had the Stardream Paper (which you really can't see in the picture) which is sparkly as well. I added the scalloped nesties as the double layering for matting behind the saying. Thanks for taking the time to look.

Supplies: Stamps-PTI Snowflake Serenade; Cardstock-Stardream Midnight Blue, Basic Gray Silver and SU Whisper White; Ink-Stazon Midnight Navy, Encore Ultimate Metallic Blue and Encore Silver. Stickles-Icicle and Rhinestones. Ribbon-Offray 1" Blue Sheer.

Dreams are...

Sorry for being MIA! Down with my back a few days and was nursing it to help my daughter unpack her house, which we didn't get very far because of it, but thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with her. It definitely gets cool up in the mountains and I am glad I remembered to pack my long pj's. LOL! By the way she loved the "Just Moved Cards" (see in lower post) I made for her which of course just warms my heart to no end! I have been working on getting cards done for swaps and wondering why I signed myself up for so many as I have so much to do, but felt I needed a break and need some cards to have on hand. This is one of the cards for the Papertrey Swap. Wasn't sure about it at first, but thought everything finally came together. I have been working on several more of the Ornaments. I am hoping that this weekend I can get them posted as there are another 7 done and about 4 more in the works. I am thinking these will be a major hit at the ACS Christmas Bazaar. If you would like to purchase one of these ornaments, please contact me and let me know which one(s) you would like or want made. I'd be more than happy to accommodate you. :) Thanks for looking!
Supplies: CS-SU Razzleberry & Soft Suede; Ink-Rich Razzleberry & Soft Suede; Stamps:PTI Spiral Bouquet; Stickles and Dew Drops.

Just Moved...

I have been making these cards for my daughter in secret. They are getting ready to move into a home of their own as of today and thought this would help alleviate the stress of telling everyone their physical and P.O. Box address and phone number. It took me the longest time to figure out a design and then I vaguely remembered seeing one on someones blog or SCS (and if it is you please let me know so I can give credit where it is due). Mine isn't exactly like the one I saw so it isn't totally cased, but still would have liked finding it again. Their home is way up on top of a mountain surrounded by the national forest and I thought using the pine tree from the "Lovely As A Tree" and matching it up with Papertrey Ink's Board and Beams House and sentiment so it would be depicted correctly. The house is exactly these colors, and thankfully I happen to have them in my Prismacolor markers. I am hoping that she will be happy with these as it took a while to color them and make sure they were perfect. I just know she is going to ask me for more of these and I will gladly make them but maybe just not as fast. LOL! I used the MS Punch for the look of the pine needles. Ink is SU in Chocolate Brown, Black and Old Olive. I used Crystal Effects to give the windows the look of glass. Thanks for taking the time to look.

Sweetest Ever

Hello! It has been awhile since I have posted, but have been busy creating and just haven't taken the time to post as I finished each project. Saturday I was invited to a SU Stamp-n-stak and wasn't going to go, but decided it would be fun. Out of all the favorites she had in our packet to make 20 cards (4 each) I fell in love with the Hostess set "The More the Merrier". She had stamped the cupcakes and then provided the necessary papers and ribbon. I only made one and then came home and put my own twist on it as I cannot get myself to be just a plain simple type card gal. LOL!!!

I just had to add more in-color cardstock, dp, stickles, and of course scallops to decorate it up more and I needed the CB effect on the card stock itself. All the coloring of the images, ribbon and solid cardstock are the new In-Colors and the dp is the Razzelberry Lemonade. I changed up the layout from the original card she had as a sample so I could call it my own. I think this card would be fun to give to anyone for any occasion. Thanks for looking.

Friendship

I had forgotten that I had made this card until I was going through the pictures on my computer. I had sent this card to a a friend who was going through a divorce. I remember her getting it and calling me to say that my card had lifted her spirits more than I could have ever imagined. That it reminded her that no matter the trials we are going through there is always those 1-2 friends who can ease the pain of it. I know the the saying has the word grief on it, but if you have ever been through a divorce that you never saw coming..it just shatters your world, breaks your heart in a million pieces and the tears never seem to stop and trust me I have been in those awful shoes. And like her I had 2 great friends who helped me make it through and realize that my life wasn't over, it was just taking a different path than I had planned. And it was up to me to pull up my boot straps and get back on the horse and someday know that I would re-marry again and take a chance of my heart not getting broken. I did take that chance and this time I truly found my prince charming who swept me off my feet 17 years ago and had no problems adding two little ones to his life. Now that is a Blessing from the Lord.

Whew!!!! Hot! Hot! Weekend!!!!!

I am not sure where you all live but if you live anywhere near the central part of California, then you will know the temperatures were a scorcher this weekend and looks to be that way into the middle of the week. Saturday was 110 degrees, Sunday was 113 and tomorrow, Monday they are prediciting 115 degrees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The grandkids visited this weekend and were in the pool only about 4 hours as there was no way we could be out there all day. Those sweet babes would of looked like a burnt tomatoe. They had sunscreen on, but still they could of had heat stroke even at their young age. They left today and I was able to get a card made. A very simple one but still a nice card. It's nice once in a while to not make a big fuss over a card and worry if it has enough embellishments on it. LOL!!!! Supplies: Stamps-SU Priceless, Ink: SU So Saffron and Pink Passion, Embellies: Gold Rhinestones and sheer ribbons; Paper-SU So Saffron, Pink Passion and Whisper White. CB Folder-Swiss Dots.

Birthday Wishes

Afternoon Everyone..This past week has been rather difficult trying to recover from the fall of stairs at work, bumping my head and try walking around in a moon boot! But thank goodness a new week is about to start and I look forward to healing and to get ahead on making Christmas Gifts for family and friends. I am always short on Birthday cards and always promise myself to have a stash of them, and yet I never seem to have enough. I thought this card turned out okay, I am not really sure I am happy with it but for now I'll leave it alone and see if it grows on me. LOL!! I had received this image through Wish-Rak for the SU Stipple Butterfly. At first I was going to color it only yellow and orange, but as I looked at it, it just needed more color, so I decided to make it more of a rainbow effect. But after I colored it, it just didn't pop like I wanted it to. So I decided to cover the entire image with Diamond Glaze and let it dry and then cut it out to give the card a 3-D look. I wanted to card to be simple, but yet catching at the same time. So here is my "Simple Butterfly". Hope you enjoyed looking at it.
Supplies: SU Stipple Butterfly, Bazzill papers, MS Punch, Diamond Glaze and Spellbinders Dies.

CONGRATS!

I could not help but select this image and make it a special card for my sweet precious granddaughter. She has been in dance since she was two years old and is now 7 and Friday is her last recital until the fall classes begin. I always present her with a miniature rose bouquet and a card to say "You Were A Shining Star". My sweet friend Carisa RAK'd me these images on a day that I was feeling blue. This little Stampingbella MissMatch Ketto reminds me of Mikayla. She thinks she is a princess (of course to Grandma she is..LOL!!!) and when she dances she is always right on step never missing a beat and gives 110%. Pink is her favorite color. I think she will be quite pleased with this card all because it is in her favorite color pink, its glittery, has a crown with tiny rhinestones at the tip of it and it was made expecially for her by G'ma Dee. I think I may have to purchase several more of these sweet stamps, as they all seem to resemble my sweet Kayla in one way or another. Supplies: Paper-Bazzill Tink Pink, Polka Dot Paper-Bazzill Creative Imaginations Pizzazzill, Prima Flowers, Pink Rhinestones,-Markers: Prismacolor Mulberry and Blush Pink, SU Stamp Sentiment-Say It With Scallops, Martha Stewart Punch, Nestabilities Oval Plain and Scallop and Cuttlebug Scalloped Die

A Rose Is Just A Rose...

This picture I think has to be my all time favorite. This beautiful rose picture was taken in our neighbor's yard during one of our evening walks (DH always has his camera around his neck in case he spots something worth taking a photo of or an opportunity for a great picture for a card LOL!!) and if you didn't know better, you would of sworn that the rose buds behind the large rose was just placed there, but NO this is how it was growing on the bush. In fact all of JoAnne's roses were blossoming like this. Of course my DH was ecstatic and couldn't wait until we got home from our walk that night for me to upload and see what it looked like. And here you have it. This card took me awhile to assemble as I had to figure out the pleating and knew I had seen it done with tutorial instructions from one of the DT members for a specific stamp company ( I promise to locate it and place the link HERE). I had to search through endless files of papers to get the right combinations to pull the colors out of the rose to make it pop. I realized I had the perfect papers sitting in front of me from a previous project the whole time I was searching..LOL! I began the card at 5:00pm and finished it around 10:00 pm. Again I finished the inside of the card to make it complete. If you have not discovered the newest and easiest way to make a bow, head on over to Sharon Johnson's Blog and order the Bow Easy. I am so glad I purchased it and now my bows come out perfect everytime with the tails behind it instead of one in front and one behind. You'll wonder how you ever made bows without it.
Supplies: Paper-SU Pink Pirouette and Kiwi Kiss, Paper-PTI Berry Sorbet, Stamp-SU "Say It With Scallops", Cuttlebug 2x2 Die, SU Top Note for inside of card. 1/2" Pink Satin Ribbon and MS Pearls.