Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Welcome to the Pumpkin Patch!


Hi everyone!
I'm nowhere near ready for fall yet, but I did get a head start on my pumpkin cards for this year!   I only made one of these little ghost cards but I think I'm going to make a few more.   Here's a few more pumpkin cards....





I wasn't sure if I liked the darker orange pumpkins at first - but they've grown on me.   I even did some pumpkins with googly eyes too!




And of course I had to do a fall inche card as well...




And then I started on some fall cards with my Cricut.   The apple was cut from the Preserves cartridge.   I swear I don't know how I ever lived without my Cricut :o).   I have so much fun with that thing!




There are lots more cards in my Etsy shop, so go take a look!   Right now I'm off to clean my craft room - again.  Sheesh.   Doesn't it seem like I'm always cleaning in there?   I hope you're all having a great week!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Monday, September 13, 2010

More Medallion Cards



Hello Blogging Friends!
I thought I'd share some more medallion cards.   I'm finding these medallions kind of addicting!   It's a bit of a challenge limiting the design to a 2-1/2 inch circle, but as I start adding layers I begin to see something evolving.   I'm not really planning them before I start - just cutting circles and squares, digging in my stash of accessories and seeing what happens.   On the card above I used DCWV Green Stack paper.   The circles were cut on my Cricut, and the leaves and the label were cut on my Cuttlebug.   The label is a Nestabilities die and the leaves are Sizzix.   I also added some texture to the white circle on the medallion with the Birds and Vines embossing folder.



Here's another one!   Again, the circles were cut on the Cricut.   I used a Nestabilities scalloped circles (2 layers) to make the flower, cutting the petals by hand.   The leaves are a Martha Stewart punch, and I added paper flowers (the little red ones) and a chunky sticky-backed pearl for the center of the flower.




Here's a close-up of another one that has a bit more detail.   After cutting the circles I added a die-cut heart, punched flower, stickers (the Wisteria seed packet and the word Adore), and then I cut out a sparkly pink bird from a scrap of background paper and adhered it to the medallion with foam tape.   Ooh I also addes some pink rhinestones too.

I'm planning on heading back to the craft room tomorrow - after I run errands.   I'm working on lots and lots of pumpkins for fall cards and I'm thinking about making some as scrapbooking embellishments to put in my Etsy store too.   I can hardly believe it's almost fall!   The pool is getting cold now and my garden is starting to wind down, which is kind of sad, but it's okay.   Usually by the end of September I'm ready for a break from working in the yard anyway.   I do have a new flowerbed to plant with spring bulbs though.   I was thinking of planting a huge mass of white tulips there, but my hubby says he'd rather have red, so I'm thinking we'll have a huge mass of red and white tulips instead.   Marriage is all about compromise, right?  :o)

I'll leave you with another shot of something that's been taking up a lot of my time this summer.   Mind you, this was all harvested this last weekend, so you can see the vegetable garden is still going strong...



Yes, I'm still picking veggies pretty much every day - tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, jalepenos, banana peppers, green peppers, eggplant, cucumbers and lots of herbs too.   This is the first veggie garden I've planted at this house so I'm quite happy with how much we got!

I hope you're all having a great week!   Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Long Time No Blog!



Hi Everyone!  Long time no see, huh?   I feel like I haven't been here for ages, so I'll get down to sharing what I've been working on.   I've been addicted to making these little inchie cards lately, and on this one I used some of those quilled flowers I wrote about a few posts back.    I learned to quill back when I was in junior high and I've been getting back into it lately.   It's relaxing to sit and cut and twirl paper while I'm watching tv with my family - and then I get to use the flowers on cool cards like this one.   This card is in my Etsy shop right now.



Here's another card I did a few weeks back.   This baby sold right away, so I'm thinking about making a few more for myself.   I just love the colors!    I've also been making sets of notecards with a similar design.   Like these....



I used all sorts of goodies on these cards - buttons, punches, dew drops, rhinestones, sticky backed pearls, epoxy stickers, etc.   They're really easy to make too.   I cut the little square out on the Cricut, tape them down to a piece of card stock, and then decorate each little square with something different. 

So what else has Mousemom been up to?   Oh lots!   My son started high school this year so now we have a new schedule (that starts quite a bit earlier than our old one - grrrrr) and I've been getting used to that.   I've also been out in the garden quite a bit.   We started a vegetable garden this year so I've been busy freezing green beans and tomatoes, and making refrigerator pickles and pico de gallo.   I've also been trying to get out and visit my grandmother more often.   She's 92 and has a lot of health problems and can't get out of bed anymore, so I try to visit a few times a week.   I've also been busy with card orders too - which is good because that's my favorite thing to do next to spending time with family and friends. :o)  

Well I hope you are all doing well!   I'm off to catch up on blogs!  Thanks for stopping by - see you soon!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Camping Trip



Hi Everyone!
We just got back from a few days of camping so I thought I'd share a few photos.   We went to Turkey Run State Park in Indiana - and boy was the scenery beautiful!   I didn't see any turkeys though - go figure.




We did see lots of trees though.   We've camped in a few places that don't have a lot of trees on the campgrounds and well - camping in direct sunlight all day is not fun.   The trees made it nice and shady.



We also met some interesting friends on this trip.   My girlfriend was talking to me this morning and stopped mid-sentence and said "You're not afraid of bugs are you?" LOL.   I turned around and found this little critter on my chair.   I have no idea what it is but as we inspecting it and photographing it someone wondered aloud if it could fly - and then it did.   I also made friends with a little butterfly who perched on my arm and wouldn't leave for about 20 minutes.   What an awesome experience that was!




This photograph is from a short hike we went on this morning.   I'm a wimp and only do the easy trails but this one was really cool.   We were in one area with large rock formations towering on both sides of us and it was just amazingly beautiful.   There's nothing like walking in the midst of God's handiwork on a Sunday morning - and in fact I felt like we were in a sanctuary He made instead of one with four walls.



We had a great time on this trip.   We got to see one of the big wind farms out in the cornfields on the way down, the scenery in the park was gorgeous and of course it was wonderful to spend time with friends - and bugs! :o)

I hope you all had a great weekend!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Flowers Anyone?



Hi Everyone!

Look what I did the other day --- well really I've been doing it for a couple of days.   I decided to dig into my quilling supplies the other day and well - one thing led to another.   I figured if I was going to make one I might as well make a hundred, right?   Really I only made about fifty of them because I had to cook and clean house and sleep.   You know how it is.



What would possess someone to make all these flowers you ask?   Well, I was thinking about using them as embellishments on my cards - because they're much cheaper than Primas, but now I've got some other ideas rattling around in my head too.   I'll be back (hopefully) later this week to show you what I did with them!   Until then - have a beautiful week!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Trip to Chicago


Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to share some photos of my trip to Chicago last Friday.   My Sister in Law and my son and I took the train into the city and headed right for the Art Institute.   I just love those big lions out front!   Inside, we made a beeline for the Impressionists and spent quite awhile in those galleries.



Being the avid gardener, I always swoon over the Monets - especially the big ones like this iris painting.   I could literally sit and stare at these things all day which - probably makes me a little weird.   :o)



I had to get a picture of his signature too.   Don't ask me why.   Just seemed like a good idea at the time.



My second favorites are the Renoirs.   I just love the beautiful colors and all the little details in his paintings.



And of course I had to pay Vince a visit - since I was there.   A few years back my Aunt Jo and I went to the museum solely to see this painting and after searching for it for about an hour we discovered it was on loan to another museum.   He was there this time though!



This is also another favorite of mine by Berthe Morisot.  



This is my lunch - not art.  LOL.   BLT salad and a roll that we ended up feeding to the pigeons in the courtyard.   I wish I could post all the pictures I took but I don't think they give me that much space per blog - plus I'd be here all night downloading pictures.    We spent about 3 and a half hours in the museum and then headed across the street to Millenium Park which is TOTALLY AWESOME.   I finally got to see the big bean in person.



My reflection is on that bean somewhere LOL.   After that it was time to head back to the train and home to Indiana.   I love visiting the city and all the spectacular sights but .... I still love home best.

Well, I think I'm going to turn in early tonight as we had a rather late one last night.   My son and I went to the book store yesterday evening and when we pulled onto our street we found a little baby racoon that was injured.   A friend of mine has rescued them before, so I called her and she was nice enough to come over and get it.   But alas - the poor little dear didn't make it.   I've been wondering why God put that little critter in my path if it was just going to die - but then at church this morning I think He answered me when the word "compassion" just popped into my head for no reason.   I do believe that everything happens for a reason - even if it's just to teach a simple little lesson - so that's what I'm going to take from this experience.  

Boy - I'm really running at the keyboard tonight.  LOL.   Seriouly though - my Advil PM is kicking in so I'm signing off for the night.   I hope you all had a great weekend!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

More Collage Cards



Hello Blog Friends!

I hope this post finds you all well and enjoying your summer.   I've been running like crazy with Vacation Bible School this week.   It's a TON of work but it's so worth it.   So far this week we've made little rainbow fish and bookmarks.  Tonight we're making faux aquariums of out blue plastic plates and foamies (gotta love foamies), tomorrow we're making jellyfish (I'll post pics of these later this week), and Friday we're making fleece blankets that are going to be sent to Africa through Samaritan's Purse.   I'm really excited about that one because all our little kidlets are going to make something with their hands and send it to another child who has next to nothing in this world.   The kidlets are excited about it too and keep asking every day if we're going to make blankets yet.  LOL.

So I thought I'd share some more of my collage cards today as I haven't been in the craft room much this week - well - except to cut foam bookmarks.   The one above was made using a ton of scraps in my handy dandy little scrap bin.  The circles were all cut on my Cricut, and the texty flowers were made with the Cuttlebug.   Other materials include stickers, chipboard, buttons, and sticky rhinestones.




Here's another one!   The little turtles and butterflies are from a sticker sheet I bought at the Dollar Store (gotta love the Dollar Store too).   Again I cut the circles on my Cricut, and added paper flowers, brads, clear dew drops, and some dry embossing with the Cuttlebug.   As soon as this week is over I plan on making a bunch more of these cards, both for my Etsy store and some to go in a gallery that my friend has just opened.   The green card above is still in my shop but this little bug one and the blue one I showed you last week have already sold.

Well, I'm off to finish prepping crafts for tomorrow night.   Thank you all for your sweet comments!  I'll talk to you soon!
Sue :o)

Friday, July 9, 2010

Collage Cards




Hello Crafty Friends!   
I know I've been a bit MIA lately but seriously - I've been busy!   We went camping, had a birthday party for my DH, had a 4th of July party (same day as DH party), and now I'm in the midst of preparing for VBS the week after next.   I betcha can't guess what I'm in charge of this year.   CRAFTS!   Ha!  You won't hear me crying about that --- well --- until the last day of VBS when I have to clean up the craft room at church after a week of little ones wreaking crafting havoc!   It's all good though.   VBS rules!

So I've been feeling a little stuck lately.   You know the rut of doing the same thing all the time until your mojo just leaves without saying a word?   That was me.   So as is often the case when I've got crafter's block, I went searching for some inspiration on blogs.   I found a really cool idea here on this blog - and boy - I spent nearly an hour looking over Christine's embellished paper doilies.   That was the jump start I needed - an idea - so I went to work and came up with this.....



Now I didn't do it exactly like Christine did, but I did use the idea of embellishing circles and using lots of layers and embellishments, and well --- I like it.   This is only one of six cards I fired off in one week.   I'll share more later - otherwise you'll be here all day!

I used a variety of materials on this card.   The circles were cut with my Cricut.   I also used some Nestabilities dies, punches, sticky backed pearls, die cuts from K&Co., dew drops, ribbon and oh yeah - the polka dots embossing folder for the Cuttlebug.   This is a lot different than what I usually do and trying something new really helped me get my mojo back.   If you get a chance go check out her blog here and be prepared to be amazed!

I hope you all have a wonderful, sunny, blessed weekend!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Stormy Weather




Hi all!   I just wanted to share some pics of a "lovely" little storm that rolled through NW Indiana tonight.   I'm not usually one to take pictures during these things but I was intending on taking some pictures of my garden when I saw the clouds approaching.   Within about 5 minutes of this picture, this is what I saw....




Then it started getting a little scary...




This is the last picture I took before the tornado sirens started going off.   That's when I decided to go inside and get in the basement.



Pretty scary stuff, huh?   Thankfully there was no tornado, but when I saw that sky - yikes - I was worried!  My son and I went in the basement and prayed (hubby was upstairs watching - grrrr) and thankfully God kept us safe.  :o)

I hope you're all having a happy sunny week so far.   Thank goodness the forecast is good here for the next couple of days!
Hugs!
Sue :o)




Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Pink Treats



Hello Everyone!   I thought I'd share a little project I made on my Cricut the other night.   I thought it would be cute to make a matching tag for the card this time.   Both the cake and the ice cream cone were cut with the Sweet Treats cartridge and I used DCWV Sweet Stack paper.



Now that I've really gotten used to the Cricut I'm finding that I like the images better when I add details to them before assembling.   For instance on the ice cream cone I used my stylus to add a crosshatch pattern to the cone, I added chalks to the edges of each piece, and then finally added highlights with my white gel pen.   I did the same on the pieces for the cake, and then added dots along the scalloped edge on the top of the tag.



I finished off the inside of the card with some punched hearts that I sponged with ink on one side and then accented on the other with the white gel pen.   I suppose I could have cut them on the Cricut but that would have require switching cartridges.   Looks like I'm going to have to get that thing (I think it's called the carousel) so I can avoid having to switch out cartridges in the middle of a project.

Well I hope you enjoyed my project today.   I'm heading back downstairs to play until dinner and then I'm going to work in the yard this evening.   My vegetable garden is really coming along and it's time to stake up the tomato plants and weed again after all the rain we've had.  I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Hugs!
Sue :o)

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Cleaning The Craft Room Today



Hi Everyone!
It's rainy and soggy and muggy here today so instead of playing in the garden I decided to clean up the craft room (or the craft pit - depending on how you see it).   I've had this idea in my head of lining the face of these storage drawers with patterned paper, so I got started on that first.   These particular drawers are pretty old and looked beat up, so I like the makeover!



I also used some of the same papers to line my cups where I keep my tools, pens and painbrushes.



 I got my Cricut cartridges all in order too and tidied up the little box where I keep precut card stock.



This is the storage drawer where I keep all my scraps of patterned paper.   Each color has it's own cellophane bag and I keep one for large scraps and one for small scraps.   I throw away nothing!



Here's a jar of my grandma's buttons I keep on one of the shleves above my workspace.   This is the grandmother who taught me to plant flowers and sew and cross stitch, so  I don't use these buttons on projects because they're sentimental.   When I was little she used to let me sprawl them out all over the floor so I could look at them, and sometimes I still do.  :o)   If you look at the bottom of the glass jar next to the buttons you'll see a bunch of rocks that my son gave me when he was little.   He colored some of them and I'm just too sentimental to get rid of them.



Next we have one of my punch drawers.   I keep all my huge ones in one drawer, border punches in another drawer, then medium and small in their own drawers.  




And lastly I have my ribbon drawer which ... errrr .... needs some work.   LOL.   I wanted to point out the ribbon wound up on clothespins though.   These are my grandma's clothespins and sat in a bag in my closet ohh... for the last 30 years since she passed away.   I finally put them to good use in a place I could see them all the time.  




Well I hope you enjoyed your view into my craft room today!  I'm back downstairs to continue cleaning!
Have a blessed day!
Hugs!  Sue :o)




Thursday, June 3, 2010

Gift Tags



Hello everyone!    I've been on a bit of a tag making kick lately so I thought I'd share a few of my creations.   I actually have a whole container of them in my craft room but you can only share so much on your blog at once, right?   These tags were actually pretty simple once I got in the hang of making the rosettes.   I found a tutorial on making them here on Lolly's blog.   She is so fun, isn't she?   If you've never visited her blog before do so right now.   She's hilarious and actually very informative.



Along with rosettes I added some quilled fluffy flowers too (that's what I call them anyway) and I think they added a nice touch!   I used card stock to make the rosettes, quilling paper to make the fluffy flowers, and the tags were cut on my Cricut from K&Co. paper.



These tags were super simple to make too.   Much simpler than the rosette/fluffy flower tags.   I cut the tags on my Cricut (again K&Co. paper) and the flowers were also cut on the Cricut using A Walk In My Garden cartridge.   I added the buttons because ..... I like buttons.

That's all I have to share today.   I hope you're having a lovely start of summer.   Today is my son's last day of school and then (hold on a minute let me get a tissue) I'll have a high schooler on my hands.   Seems like just yesterday I was fretting about leaving him at preschool and now I'm starting to panic about college savings and just how much money it's going to cost to insure him when he starts driving.   :o)   God is good though and I know He's gonna see me through this just like He has everything else in life.

Have a blessed day!  Hugs!
Sue :o)

Thursday, May 27, 2010

It's a Happy Flowery Day



Hello Friends!
Today's blog entry has nothing to do with stamps or paper.   I'm one of those crazy people who have a BUNCH of different hobbies and I regularly bounce around amongst them.   Next to paper crafts, gardening is my favorite hobby eveeerrrrrrr, so come take a look in my yard and see what I do in when I'm not crafting or cleaning my house.  :o)



This is the view you'd see if you were sitting on my deck and looking through toward our little pond.   Notice my husband's gargoyl?   I hate that thing but I let him keep it because he lets me have real pets. 



Here's a clearer view of the pond.  



This is a view standing by the pool and looking back at the house.   I feel like I need a tree in there somewhere but hubby is saying no.   I'll work on him.



This is a view of the front of my house.  Notice no gargoyls.   



A closer view of the little bed by my front door.  Something is already chewing on my rose.  Grrrrr.



This is one of  a bunch of allium I planted around our river brich in the front yard.   I had to straddle a bush to get this shot, but you gotta do what you gotta do to document your hobbies, right?



And finally, some happy yellow flowers on my front porch.

I hope you enjoyed peeking into my yard this afternoon.   I don't know about you, but flowers just make me so darn happy.  :o)   The way I see it, flowers are a visible manifestation of God's love and creativity and beauty.   HE created these things.   He thought up what every one of them should look like, smell like and where they should grow, and I do believe He delights in their beauty every bit as much as we do.  

If you scroll down to the very bottom of my blog, I'll be posting weekly pictures of my garden until it starts to snow!

Here's wishing you happy yellow flowers today!   Hugs!
Sue :o)