Thursday, July 30, 2009

WTC229 - Office Supplies & My 1 Year Anniversary on Etsy



Today's challenge over on SCS was to create a card using office supplies. How fun! The supplies I used on my card are the brass fastener (technically a brad but they were in my office supplies, not my craft supplies), the staple for the ribbon on the tag, and the little pocket that the tag fits inside is actually a normal old envelope that I sealed and then cut to make a pocket. I haven't been making many of the 5.5 x 5.5 cards lately because I'm out of envelopes, but I needed a bit more room to work on this card so I went big. Maybe I'll get brave later and make an envelope. Or maybe I'll just order more! LOL.

Card recipe:
Stamps: Stampin' Up!
Paper: All K&Co.
Ink: Colorbox black & ZIG Markers
Accessories: SU photo corner punch, MS lace border punch, SU flower punch, brass fastener, ribbon, staple, white envelope, ripple scissors

Oh, and before I forget - I've got some news about my shop on Etsy! In August, I will be celebrating my 1 year anniversary with Etsy! How exciting is that? When I started up the shop it was kind of an experiment - a "let's see what I can do with this" sort of thing, but it's really taken off and exceeded my expectations. Sooooooo I am going to celebrate my success with a sale the week of August 23-29 (my official anniversary is that week) and weekly drawings for free cards. The free cards will be advertised here on my blog so stop by weekly to see what's up for grabs!

Hugs!
Sue :o)

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

CC229 A Tulip for You



I made this card yesterday for the color challenge over at SCS. The colors were apricot, pink and celery. I didn't have any Stampin' Up! card stock so I improvised with stuff I had on hand. I often use these colors together and was in the midst of whipping up this card when all of a sudden I noticed a piece of black card stock sitting by my paper cutter. It beckoned me, so to speak :o) so I tried it and loved the results.

The tulip is embossed on watercolor paper and I colored it with my ZIG markers. They're actually scrapbooking markers, I think, meant for journalling but I use them to color all the time. When you only use marker the color is sort of flat, but when you layer colors they really pop! For the apricot and black background, I actually taped the two pieces together first - trimmed the edges with the ripple Fiskars scissors and then ran them through the Cuttlebug with the argyle embossing folder. I then added some pink polka dotted ribbon from Joanne's and the pink rhinestones from Michaels and viola!

Card recipe:
Stamps: Inkadinkado
Paper: Misc. card stock I had on hand
Ink: Colorbox black/ZIG markers
Accessories: Cuttlebug, argyle embossing folder, Fiskars ripple and deckle scissors, ribbon from Joanne's and rhinestones from Michaels

I've got a full plate of errands today unfortunately, so I might not get to stamp much. I was a lazy girl today and stayed in bed until almost 9:30. Eek! I guess that's what I get for staying up until 1:00 in the a.m. I keep forgetting I'm not 20 anymore and I can't get by on 3 hours of sleep.

Have a great day everyone & God bless!
Sue :o)

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Getting Organized




I whipped up this little project yesterday and although it's nothing that spectacular as far as stamping goes, I thought I'd share it with you all anyway. I love to be organized and I love making lists. It just makes life simpler, I think, when you know what you're doing, what you need to do it and when you need to have it done.

One of my least favorite housewife/mom duties is grocery shopping. Ugh. I love to plan meals and I love to cook, but if I could get away with going to the store once a month I'd be tickled pink. For that reason, I try to be very thorough when making my shopping list. I sit down at the beginning of the week and make a menu, and as I make the menu I go through the kitchen to make sure I have everything I need. If I don't have it - I put it on the list. I find that it really cuts down on $$$ spent buying things I already have or don't really need, plus if I get it all in one shot I don't have to go back to the store.

So this is what I made to keep all my grocery shopping/meal planning stuff organized. I just took a regular old school folder and decorated it up with background papers and a cute stamped image and now I've got all my things in one place. I even took half an hour and typed up another list (see what I mean!) of meals I know my family likes, for those times when I'm having trouble deciding what to make on a particular night.

I hope you find this idea helpful! I think I'm going to make another one for Christmas - to keep my shopping list, card list and receipts organized over the holidays.

Hugs!
Sue :o)

TLC231 Quilled Flowers




This card is for TLC231 over at Split Coast Stampers - to use quilling on your card. I was so excited to see the challenge yesterday morning! I learned to do quilling when I was in junior high after I signed up to take cooking and the class filled up. I was really ticked off about it too and thought for sure I'd hate it. I didn't though LOL and have continued to do it for the last 25+ years. Sigh. That just made me feel old!

Anyway, I love making these little fringed flowers. You can buy a tool to make the fringe but I'm cheap and cut it by hand. The white part of the card is actually an old sampler card I had from SU (not sure if they still sell them) and the leaf stamp is an old one I've had in my drawer for years. I'm not even sure who made it because the wording on the side of the stamp is worn off and covered in ink. There's another secret in addition to my age - I'm a sloppy, sloppy stamper. LOL.

I've got a ton of stuff planned for today. I'm getting ready to put some new stuff in my Etsy shop and I have another project I'm going list here on my blog as well. Even though I'm a sloppy stamper I am addicted to organizing things and making lists so I came up with something that feeds both of those addictions.

I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday! Hugs!
Sue :o)

Friday, July 24, 2009

HSC79 Riley Circle Birthday Card


Boy this has been a busy week with VBS. I've hardly had any time to stamp. I did have time for one challenge today though and found it in the Hanna Stamps forum on SCS. This card is for challenge 79 - to make a circle card. I used the scalloped circle dies from Nestabilities for the base of the card and the layers. Riley was stamped and colored, and then his face and the bottom part of the cake were popped up on foam tape. I added some polka dots with a red fine tipped marker and some punched flowers as accents. Quick & simple & perfect for a busy day.

Card recipe:
Stamps: Hanna Stamps
Ink: Memento tuxedo black/ZIG markers
Paper: K&Co. & Misc. card stock
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities dies, flower punches, hole punch, foam tape

Thank God it's Friday! I hope to have more time to stamp this weekend!
Sue :o)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

CC228 Pretty Rusty? Not Quite



This card is for today's color challenge over on SCS. The challenge was to use Not Quite Navy, Pretty in Pink and Really Rust. I don't have those exact colors so I used Basic Grey papers from the Marrakech paper pad. The pink on the front of the card is just card stock. I've had this image from The Greeting Farm already embossed and colored on my desk for quite some time and I happily surprised to find it went well with the challenge colors today. The flowers were cut out and popped up on foam tape for dimension and I used the MS lace border punch for the pink paper. I never would have thought to put these colors together but I do have to say I like it!

Well, I'd love to work on some more challenges today but I'm due to pick up my son in a little bit here, cook dinner, get changed and then run straight to Vacation Bible School to craft with the kiddies. Maybe later - if I can keep my eyes open! LOL.

God bless!

Sue:o)

Monday, July 20, 2009

All Those Scraps




I'm sure I'm not the only one who keeps every scrap of leftover background paper. I'm also sure we all have our own way of organizing them. Me? I have a basket where I keep my smaller scraps. Large scraps (over 1/2 a sheet) are kept in plastic envelopes up on my shelf. The smaller ones are sorted by size and color - one baggie for big scraps and another baggie for small scraps. Am I bit compulsive about sorting? Maybe. I've posted a picture of the scrap basket so you can draw your own conclusions. LOL.

Anyway, I'm always looking for a way to use up these scraps and I've had this idea in my head for awhile so yesterday I decided to try it out. It was really quite simple and didn't take much time to do. I just took a sheet of 5.25 x 4 card stock and began laying out coordinating scraps of background paper on it until I found what patterns and shades worked together. Some of the scraps fit perfectly and others I had to trim down a bit so they fit on the card stock, but really I didn't do much cutting. I use double sided tape on all my cards, so once I was happy with the way my papers looked, I taped them down. Then I ran the whole sheet through my Cuttlebug with the Paisley embossing folder - to give it a quilted look. Then I just used that sheet like it was a piece of background paper for my card. I think it turned out really pretty!

Stamps credit: Great Impressions

I hope this is helpful to other scrap hoarders out there!
Blessings!
Sue :o)

Sunday, July 19, 2009

New Stuff Alert!


I've got a whole new pile of good stuff going into the shop tomorrow so stop by and check it all out! You get to the shop from the link on the right, or click here. I posted a picture of the pile of goodies above. There are some new cards, a few card bundles, and some new tags. I was going to keep the little chickadees as tags, but after I took the picture I decided to put them on cards instead. They turned out so cute I almost contemplated keeping them for myself!

I am going to have SUCH a busy week this week. My church is having their VBS and I'll be assisting in the craft station. Big surprise, huh? :o) I am excited about it though. The kids always have so much fun and it's such a blessing to be able to plant seeds. It's like Christmas in July only with no snow and no shopping in crowded stores to buy presents.

Talk to you soon!
Sue :o)

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Busy Busy Busy



It has been a crazy couple of weeks here so I haven't posted much. I've been busy in the craft room though and will be adding new items to the shop on Monday morning. I wanted to post a picture of an ATC I made for a customer this weekend. I just love this little bird from The Greeting Farm. I don't often make ATCs but I think this one turned out really pretty with the dry embossed birds and vines paper, the jeweled brads and the flowery K&Co paper.

I'm also posting a picture from my garden. I love walking out there in the morning and looking at all the flowers . I believe that God speaks to us through the beauty of His creation and it's such a nice way to start the day - looking at what He's made. How great is our God, right?

I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! God bless!

Sue :o)

Friday, July 10, 2009

Here Fishy Fishy & Blog Candy Alert


Here's a card I made the other day with this cute little fish stamp from High Hopes Rubber Stamps! I'm really getting into the clean and simple cards lately, but sometimes I just have to go back to my old ways of layering and embellishing. The fish was embossed and colored on watercolor paper and then cut out and popped up on foam tape. I then added swirly dry embossed paper and sticky back rhinestones for some bling. For the stampers out there, Crissy is offering some awesome candy on her blog! Go check it out here! She's giving away 7 fabulous prizes!
I hope everyone had a good week! We're going to the air show this weekend (whichever day isn't going to be rainy) so I'm looking forward to that. It's fun to go sit out by Lake Michigan and watch the big fighter jets. We've been having such crazy cool weather up here. I hope we finally get a warm spell so I can soak up some sun!
Have a great weekend everyone!
God bless!
Sue :o)

Monday, July 6, 2009

Penny Black Challenge - Week 56 - Red White and Blue!


I had time to squeeze in another challenge this weekend - this time the Penny Black Saturday Challenge which was to use red white and blue. If you'd like to play along here is the link: http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/2009/07/week-56-colour-challenge.html

This card is 5x5 and really it was pretty simple to make. The image was embossed and colored on watercolor paper, and the background paper is DCWV. I used my scalloped oval Nestabilities dies for the image and the blue paper behind it, and then I added punched flowers as accents. The brads (I think) are from K&Co.

I hope everyone had a great Monday!

God bless!

Sue :o)


Sunday, July 5, 2009

High Hopes Rubber Stamps Challenge #38 - Polka Dots




I've been watching the challenges on the High Hopes Rubber Stamp blog for awhile now and I finally found the time to participate in one. This challenge was to use lots and lots of polka dots. I think I achieved the objective. :o) The background paper (all by DCWV Animal Crackers) is polka dotted, and so is the ribbon and the punched photo corners. I also ran the pink and brown scalloped circles through the Cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder AND I added freckles to the little girl's cheeks. I always have a good time coloring the High Hopes Rubber Stamp images. They are WAY cute. If you feel like playing along with this week's challenge here's the link: http://highhopesstamps.blogspot.com/ If nothing else, go check out the awesome design team cards and gather some inspiration!

God bless!

Sue :o)


Friday, July 3, 2009

Sparkles


I only had time for one card today. I've got people coming over for a cookout tomorrow so I had shopping and cleaning to do today. What was I thinking when I decided to go to the grocery store the day before the 4th of July? Sigh. The checkout lines were crazy and I was a bit cranky by the time I got home!

Anyway, back to my card. This stamp is from The Greeting Farm - one of my FAVORITE stamp companies. I stamped and embossed the image twice, and then cut out the pink flower and the center of the purple flower, and then I popped them up on foam tape. Then I got the Stickles out and gave the flowers a healthy dose of glitz.

This card is in the shop now. You can find the link for it in the sidebar to the right.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July! God bless America!

Sue :o)

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

SC235 - Split Coast Stampers Sketch Challenge


Here's a card I did for SCS sketch challenge SC235. I've been a stamping fool this evening after I finally cleaned my craft room and can see my desk again! This card was super simple. Because of the layout I made this card 5.5 x 5.5. The squares were cut on my Cuttlebug and I raided my scrap bin for background papers to make the punched hearts. All the hearts are raised up on foam tape too. The hardest thing about making the card was punching out all the little cutouts on the frilly circles.

Sue :o)

New Goodies In the Shop







Boy I've been neglecting my little blog here, haven't I? I guess that's what happens when children are out of school and hubbies are on vaction! It's been a great summer so far. We've done some camping and hanging out in the pool and we've got a fishing trip planned later this weekend. I gotta remember to take a good book with me as I'm not as avid a fisher-person as my hubby and son are.

I wanted to post some pictures of new stuff I have in the shop. A valued customer of mine (you know who you are V) got me addicted to mini cards and tags so I'm expanding my line of goodies! In the coming weeks I'll have more of these in the shop! All mini cards come with mini white envelopes too. You can get to my shop by clicking on the link to the right.

I really like the Quick Notes Sets too. They're perfect for sending a quick thank you note to someone AND they only require one postage stamp to mail. Plus, they're cheaper than cards - you get 6 for only $3.50 (plus postage).

Well, I'm off to do lunch with my boys. I hope to be back later with some new challenge cards for SCS. I hope everyone is having a great week! God bless!

Sue :o)