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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)