Eat something cute!

Happy Saturday, friends!  I'm excited to share this card with you today because I've found a new stamp company that has images right up my alley!  I stumbled across 2 Cute Rubber Stamps in my blog travels and I don't usually order on a whim, but Heidi's stamps are SO cute (2 cute, even! lol) that I had to place an order right away.  :)

I can't tell you HOW I got this little turtle (not for a few weeks, anyway) but he's a digital image and you can pick him up in her etsy shop.  I strongly encourage you to check out her shop if you like cartoonish images like I do.  :)  I colored my turtle friend with Copics (and you can tell when you zoom in that I used the wrong kind of cardstock, so some of the green ink spilled outside of the lines) and decided to go with a happy rainbow of sauces on vanilla ice cream.  :)  The sentiment is Darcie's and it just seemed to go really well with the image. 

The sketch is the most recent one from Clean & Simple Stamping:

The papers are all DCWV except for the pink cardstock and orange gingham which were in my scrap pile.  I added a few gem brads not only to balance out my card, but because the DT for 2 Cute Rubber Stamps has a challenge going on to use bling.  Here's another shot of the card- I was trying to get the gems to look lit up (that's always so hard for me!).

I hope your weekend is off to a great start this morning!  This afternoon I'm teaching a card class at the nursing home by request.  I went 2 weeks ago and couldn't get any participants because the activity that was concurrent with mine was to go outside and I couldn't compete with that, so I headed home thinking I would just go back to the nursing home in the fall- my card making class would be better for the cooler months since it's a good indoor activity.  I wasn't upset, I just wanted to offer this class if people were interested.  So anyway, I had resigned myself to coming back in October when my mother spoke to a woman who said she only had one card left and wanted to know when I was coming back.  LOL!!  I'm glad to hear she's been using her cards and she's a really sweet lady, so of course I agreed to go back- I just hope she doesn't have other plans when I get there!  hah!  Anyway, thanks for bearing with my babble, and thanks for stopping in!

-Suzanne :O )

Easter Parade of Cards, 2011

Happy Easter, everyone!  Below are the rest of the Easter cards I made this year.  I used lots of scraps, some more Cosmo Cricket Honey Pie papers, and my new shaker pouches from Impression Obsession (finally found a use for the confetti and seed beads I didn't know what to do with!).  I hope you enjoy my cards and have yourself a lovely Easter!


-Suzanne :O )


PS-  Stay tuned this week for my carrot cake in a jar project!  :D

Riley!

Good morning, friends!  I have a 2 hour delay as a follow up to yesterday's yucky weather.  It's always nice to have a little extra crafty time- I've made 10 Valentine's Day cards so far, so I'm doing really well with my progress.  :)  


Today I want to share these focal pieces I made for a swap I hosted a few months ago.  My idea was to have everyone make a piece that would have all the bells and whistles, so you'd just have to slap the piece onto a piece of cardstock or patterned paper and your card would be ready to go.  I made two sets of focal pieces- I'll share the other ones tomorrow.  This first set uses my new Riley stamp.  I've been wanting Riley in some form since I first saw him a few years ago, but was never able to find him at stamp conventions or LSSs.  Back in the fall, I went shopping in the city and went to The Ink Pad, which was a tiny little store crammed with stamps.  I love how those kind of stores use every available inch of space to display their merch!  ;)  I bought the image you see below, plus one with Riley holding a turkey and one with Riley building a snowmoose (well he wouldn't build a snowMAN, would he!?  hehe).  The stamps were $10 each, which was quite a splurge for me, but Riley's just so cute I couldn't resist.  I'm sure he's half the price anywhere else since NYC's so darned expensive!  Here are the eight focal pieces I made:

I used some kraft cardstock, some cupcake paper by DCWV, a bit of ribbon, and a Darcie's sentiment that I thought fit the image pretty well. Here's a close up:

To make this birthday card, all I did was mat the focal piece with some patterned paper by My Mind's Eye, add a strip of scalloped punched cardstock and mat that piece with some more paper by MME.  See how easy it was to make the card?  

The inside of my card was created with a sticker from SRM- LOVE how easy these are to use- no stamps required! :)

And that's it!  I have to get my bucket ready for work now, but I'll be back tomorrow to show you the other focal pieces I made.  Thanks for stopping by!


-Suzanne :O )

The spirit of the season

Hi friends!  Just a quick post today to share a set of Christmas cards I made.  I won this Darcie's stamp set a few months ago and couldn't wait to ink it up.  Since the frame and sentiment had a vintage feel, I thought I'd pull out my vintage sheet music and buttons and try something besides my usual cute-and-colorful style.  The paper is DCWV- a couple more sheets I wanted to use up, but I think it works well here.  :)  I tore the sheet music in strips, added some fabric flowers (by Darice, I think?) and inked the entire piece with some Moss Green ColorBox ink.  To fill the space, I wrapped some floss around the card.. it was kind of time consuming, so I'm not sure I'd do it again, but it adds interest, I hope. I loooove the vintage buttons!  I've had them since the summer and haven't really used them yet, so this stamp set was the perfect way to show them off.  I hope you enjoy these vintage-y cards, and thanks to Darcie for being so generous! :D


-Suzanne :O ) 


PS-  Sorry for the dark pictures, I don't think I had my flash on! :(

Fun Fall Wishes!

Hi friends!  Just wanted to share the 8 fall-themed cards I made for some of my friends, just because!  These cards came together naturally- for years I've had this chipboard sticker set from Doodlebug (love!) which I was hesitant to use because it was just so fun to look at.  You know what I'm talkin' about, hoarders!  lol   But I've been trying to work on my stash, so I thought I should use what I love, right?  Well I had picked up some Doodlebug paper by Cricut a few months ago, and realized that the fall-themed papers in that set matched my chipboard.  I love that about Doodlebug- all of their products match. :)  Then... I went to a stamp show Saturday and came across more (but different) Doodlebug patterned paper, sold in a little pre-cut kit for $6, so of course I had to have it.  The only paper that's not Doodlebug is the brown cardstock.  

Anyway, at the stamp show, I spent way too much money at the Darcie's and Inky Antics booths.  I just LOVE their stuff, and since I can't find anything like that in Michaels or AC Moore, and since my LSS closed a few years ago, I tend to go nutty when I find a vendor that I really love at these stamp/scrapbooking conventions. I went gaga over these 2 Darcie's sets, and had to use them right away:

I tried to be lazy and stamp the stack of pumpkins instead of stamping a whole bunch of single pumpkins to make a wagon-load, but I ended up doing a ton of work anyhow.  :)  First, I colored them sloppily with my watercolor pencils and then actually added water to blend the colors.  I really like how they turned out- I think I'm getting a teensy bit (I said teensy, not much! lol) better at my coloring/shading.  Then I cut out each stack of pumpkins so I could put them in the wagon (I had previously stamped the wagon right on top of the pumpkin stack so I would know exactly where to cut).  I also cut out my teddy bear guy- isn't he adorable?!  Just marchin' along, delivering his wagon full of pumpkins!  hehe :)  After I assembled all of the paper pieces, I stamped the sentiment on various pieces of chipboard, and added brads or ribbon as necessary.  The inside of the cards read "... by the wagonload".

I figured I'd post all 8 cards so you could see how each one is just a tiny bit different.  These cards literally took me all day, but I loved every single minute of it!  These cards are so ME, I just can't even stand it.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy them too, thanks for stopping by!!

-Suzanne :O )

Let's Win a Free Stamp Set!

Hi everyone!  I need your help- here's the background story! :)  Back in September I went to a stamp convention in upstate NY and came across this FABULOUS company called Darcie's.  My heart nearly exploded when I saw her stamp sets, they're seriously too cute.  What I love about her stamps is that the images come with tons of matching sentiments that actually SAY something... too often you buy a set of Christmas stamps, for example, only to find that the sentiments say boring things like "joy" "peace" and "merry christmas".  I bought a set called "You Look Like Santa" and it's as funny as it sounds ;)  Plus, the images aren't teensy weensy- you can stamp a single image and call it quits, instead of having to use embellishments to fill space. Can you tell that I'm thrilled to have found this company??  Darcie's blog is chock full of adorable, colorful goodness- check it out here:  www.darcieheater.typepad.com  

She also has tons of U-Cuts, which are giant project sheets that you cut out yourself and assemble.  They're already colored, so you just have to add some embellishments and you're done!  I haven't tried those out yet, but if I catch her at another convention, I'm going to explore more!  Anyway, why am I gushing about this company?  She's offering free stamp sets!  Here's what Darcie's asking (on this post):

Leave me a comment at the end of this post stating who you referred the blog to (list your friend's name).  Have your friend leave a comment, and have the friend list YOUR name in her comment at the end of this post.  You can do this with as many friends as you want between now and Monday, November 16, at midnight Pacific Time.  And...If you sign up to be a follower on the blog I'll enter your name in the drawing two more times, in addition to the comment entries.  On Tuesday, November 17, I will randomly draw a winning comment.  Both you and your friend will win the Wagonload of Wishes Clear Polymer Stamp Set, the Gable Box Pattern, and an assortment of my printed card stocks.  Woohoo!  Let's see how many comments and friends we can get on this one.

This is the stamp set she's offering to you and me if we win:

 

Adorable, right?!  So if you'll be so kind as to mention my name when you comment on her blog, we might both have a chance at winning!  Be sure to check out older posts on her blog and check out her catalogues too to see her other stamp sets!  I haven't inked up any of my 4 stamp sets yet, but I will be sure to post pictures when I do!  Hope your week is off to a great start and thanks for stopping by!!!

-Suzanne :O )