Peachy Keen

I decided to join in the Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge this week.

My youngest is always telling me the cards are cute, pretty etc but that they are all vintage. :) I decided to switch it up and used Mo Manning's image from Penny Black to create an easel card.

I think this image is so sweet with her over the top peach and her little frock. I LOVED dressing my girls in these outfits when they were little. Of course they don't remember it but they adorable in them!

I colored the image using my copics (I need to pull them out more often!)  Coloring with my watercolors is so much easier for me that I tend to go there first. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Thoughts of You

This card was for the Frilly and Funkie challenge to use a mask or a stencil and I just missed the deadline. 

I loved this scrap of the masked flower with glimmer mist overlay. I added to it a layer of embossing and wildflower silhouettes.  The sentiment is cut into two pieces so it starts on the outside and finished on the inside. 

The flowers are Hero Arts and the background Script is Hero Arts as well.  The sentiment is Verses Rubber Stamps.

Hope your day is wonderful!

Suzz

The Mighty Sea

Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge this week is Show one for the Boys. I started from a scrap on my desk.

I had cut a gray circle for my previous card and had a piece of cardstock with the circle cut out. I thought it would be fun to make it like a giant knot hole in a tree. I stamped the Our Daily Bread Designs Wood Background  over the gray cardstock using a darker gray ink.

Then I had to think what would be inside the knot hole and I decided to create a portal to the ocean. I combined the lighthouse from Light of the World with The Mighty Sea to create a fun little scene. Of course than I had to add some thick twine to add to the nautical theme.

Can you tell I picked up some new stamps this weekend?  I went out to a show over the weekend and stopped by the Our Daily Bread Designs booth and did some shopping. I also got to meet Kelley and Rick (the owners)  in person along with my friend Lisa. A lovely visit along with new stamps!

Have a lovely day!

Suzz

Happy Memorial Day!

Today we think of all of our fallen heroes and celebrate their memories. I hope you all are having a lovely day off in the U.S. I have been busy doing a lot of nothing this weekend.  Just lazing around and taking kids to and from places. 

I created a new card this morning for a few challenges: Mojo Monday Sketch #239, City Crafter Challenge - A Rose is a Rose and Our Daily Bread Designs - ODBDSLC110 - Color Challenge.

The flower is a Christmas Rose from ODBD, The background stamp is ODBD - Wood,  The rest is just a touch of flourishes, flowers and seam binding.

The lovely layout is from the Mojo Monday sketch. 

Hope your day is wonderful!  We are not planning too much other than swimming and a little cooking.

Suzz

Embrace Happiness

Welcome to CR84FN55 a palette of beautiful springtime colors!

I created an ATC for a swap using a beautiful vintage image which I tinted with lavender to coordinate with the flowers.

The flowers are Hero Arts Real Wildflowers Cling and the paper is from the Prima Almanac Collection.  The sentiment is from the Flourishes set. The image is from the Graphic Fairy blog.

Here are the sweet colors:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog. 

For more inspiration the CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville * Shannon White* Pauline Pollington

Happy Sunday!  I hope it is a wonderful Memorial Day for all my U.S. friends!

Suzz

Summer Time

Simon Says Stamp and Show a Summer Holiday is the challenge this week at SSSS.

I created an ATC using some of my favorite AO stamps depicting summertime:

The shape of the ATC is from the Whimsical Melange plate. I added the trees from the Home plate in the background.

The image is from an ATC book of images. The sentiment is from Flourishes.

Another short and sweet post... I am still working on projects for future releases. It is hard for me to swap out from working on something into another project. :)

Have a wonderful Friday!

Suzz

Artistic Outpost May 2012 Release - Kudzu Kafe

Today is the May release day for Artistic Outpost!  The new set being released is called Kudzu Kafe.

The new plate includes nostalgic images featuring a roadside cafe, children from the early 1900's,
and Thoreau sentiments  which work beautifully with so many of the
other collections.

I was inspired by the Kudzu Kafe stamp shape to create a mini book:

The book partially opened to the center:

The first two pages:

I used the birds from the Bluebird set along with the Kudzu Kafe images. I added a little banner along the side from the Country Life plate.

The images and backgrounds are from Bluebird, The Flower Market and Kudzu Kafe.

 

The last two pages on the inside use The Outpost, The Flower Market, and the Bluebird set. 

 

The back cover is from The Outpost and I  love the contrast from the store to the scenery.

For more inspiration and fabulous creations take a peek at what the rest of the DT has created!

Anita Houston  

Gerrie Johnnic

Lisa Somerville  

Linda Coughlin 

Yvonne Garner

Thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz

ODBDSLYLS17 - Scrapbook Challenge

The Monthly Scrapbook Challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs is a sketch with the addition of using circles somewhere on the layout along with your ODBD stamps. 

Here are two different layouts that were inspired by the sketch: 

 I used the new Happy Retirement set along with the Time.  The papers are from the Bo Bunny Garden Collection. 

The next one uses the new quote from Dreams and my kids:

 

 I used the Simple Things, Honeycomb, The papers are from the Bo Bunny Papers.


Go check out Lisa's Fabulous page.  The ODBD Scrapbook Challenge runs through Thursday, May 31st, at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, click here for more details!

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Lady in Blue

Well Hello There... I am up early with a sick dog. I thought I would share what I worked all day yesterday on... I am in this wonderful swap with some talented ladies to share Shabby  Chic ATC's. The shabby chic ATC's are also inspired by Cath's Moxie Fab challenge to use Doily/Lace.

The Lady in Blue is from the Graphic Fairy site and is featured on a few of my ATCs.

The Eiffel Tower is Memory Box. The word Love is from a Stampington Clear Set. The flower is Prima and the butterflies Marvy Uchida.

 I also couldn't resist the Graphic 45 papers with those sweet children and used this little girl on my next ATC.

 

It was different for me  focusing mostly on the layering of images and embellishments instead of stamping. A good creative twist. I pulled out lots of odds and ends from around the craft room to embellish!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz

Drop A Line

Welcome back to week II of the lovely  CR84FN54 colors. 

When I was working on the colors for this challenge I used two different Mo Manning images to create my cards. 

I used  Memory Box paper in the background.  The image is from Penny Black.  I was so happy to find out that Penny Black is now carrying Mo Manning images too.  I was able to purchase this image at my LSS and love it for the fisherman in my family.

The image is stamped in Ranger Archival ink. The coloring is watercolor pencils and a waterbrush. The background is sponged with dye ink and a few little waterspots to add a little texture.  The EK Success border punch is perfect for a masculine card.

I added a few accents on fish line to emulate a lure. 

Here are the pretty colors (love that they work for masculine or feminine cards):

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog. 

For more inspiration the CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville * Shannon White* Pauline Pollington

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Embrace our Memories

Happy Thursday! Things are winding down at school for the kids which means lots of activities. We are definitely getting into the busy season for the kids. I too have been busy with my day job and creating fun projects with new releases which means less to share on my blog.  I pulled out a card I made last week with a leftover background to share:

The background was made with glimmer mists and the ODBD Honeycomb Background stamp.  I sprayed a combination of yellow and orange glimmer mist onto the craft mat and inked up my stamp in the glimmer mist and stamped repeatedly on white cardstock.

The next step was to ink up the acrylic block with Ranger Distress Ink Rusty Hinge.  Spritz it with Perfect Pearls mister.  Stamp it over the honeycomb background.  Stamp the lovely sentiment from Verses Rubber Stamps using black ink.  Stamp the dragonfly from ODBD Faithful Friends onto the background and onto tissue paper to create a second layer.

A quick little card.  I just realized I am in an orange and yellow mood since a lot of my cards have been popping up in these colors.  I must be getting ready for summer too! 

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Road Trip

Welcome to the May Artistic Outpost Blog Hop!   Today the Artistic Outpost Design Team  is sharing projects featuring either Huck Finn or Route 66.

I decided to use the Route 66 plate for my project: 

I used a piece of a map from an atlas including the route 66 on it... I tried to match the map by stamping the background using a gray ink on the white background and adding a touch of blue dye ink sponged around the edges.

The layout is from the Mojo Monday Sketch #241 and also playing along in Simon Says Stamp and Show Anything Goes.

To see all the other fabulous projects from the design team:

 Gerrie Johnnic

Lisa Somerville 

Suzanne Czosek 

Anita Houston 

Linda Coughlin 

Tracy Evans 

Yvonne Garner

Thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz

Queen B

Monday Monday.... The Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge this week is Anything Goes....  

Here is my project:

I also created this for an art swap where the challenge included an arch, window and the color Periwinkle.  I started with the beautiful Memory Box paper in the background.  The next layer was the window die from Memory Box with a stamped music background (Memory Box) and distressing using Ranger Distress Inks.  I accented the lovely lady (Ephemera) with the stamped wasps and the Queen B.

A little different effort for me but I like trying new things to shake up my creativity.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!  I forgot that my card this week for the beautiful CR84FN54 colors would be on Mother's Day here in the U.S.  Funnily enough it seems very appropriate for some of us who have had children who might have acted a little like this when overtired. 

I decided to play around with a Mo Manning image and my copics:

I used some beautiful Memory Box paper in the background and stamped the new Artistic Outpost Secretary Pool background in the panel behind the main image.

The Mo Manning image is from Stamping Bella.  I colored with copics and added shading with my watercolor pencils.   

Here are the pretty colors (love that they work for masculine or feminine cards):

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog. 

For more inspiration the CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville * Shannon White* Pauline Pollington

Happy Mother's Day!  I hope it is a wonderful day for all of you!

Suzz

Vintage Wedding Tag

Time for Tim's Tag for May!  I combined it with the Moxie Fab World Challenge to use Lace/Doilies, I have a little of both on my tag. 
 

My younger brother is getting married and I am thinking this is going to have to be part of his gift!

I started with the manila tag and added the layer of the sewing pattern paper.  I cut the pattern to capture the bits I wanted on my tag.

Stamp the dress form onto sewing pattern using purple ink.  Stamp button in black over the dress form. Cut out.  Stamp the dress form in purple directly onto the tag with the sewing pattern applied.  Attach the dress form over the stamped dress form. Stamp a row of the needle book along the top using purple ink.

The rest was a little sponging around the edges with Ranger Distress Inks - Concord and piling on the lace, tulle, doily, pearls, flowers and accessories. In real life it is so much softer and pretty. :)

I dipped the flowers in the beeswax mixed with a touch of glitter.  My flowers are flowers from the wedding section and it has a much heavier in the effect than the UTEE and paper flowers.  I like the effect Tim had on his flowers much better. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

The Birds of Spring

Yeah it's Friday! I created a card this morning for the Moxie Fab World challenges: Postage and Lace/Doily. 

My main image of the birds and branches is from Le Blanche.  I stamped it originally on regular cardstock and didn't like how it didn't get all the details.  I pulled out the Le Blanche paper which has a matte finish and stamped again and it made a world of difference.  The paper also absorbs the distress inks beautifully and was fun to play with.

The postage stamps are from Stampendous and the sentiment is from Memory Box.  

Hope you have a lovely Friday!

Suzz

Summer

I'm back with my MIL birthday card.  I was working on something this morning went into the paper drawer and got distracted with an inky background created a long time ago with spatters. Cathy at Moxie Fab World is hosting a series of Card Creations Challenges and one of them is spatter technique.  I also decided to pair it with one of my favorite stamps for the Simon Says Stamp and Show your favorite.

 The background was actually spattered by too much ink on the reverse side of the paper... I had been playing with distress re-inkers on my craft mat and picking up the excess ink onto white cardstock to use later.  Well if you saturate the cardstock with too much paper it bleeds through.  This is the back side of the inked cardstock.  I saw it this morning and thought it looked cool and wanted to create a hot summer day with a little haze from the heat and maybe a few lazy seeds floating in the breeze.

The pussy willows(Serendipity Stamps)  has to be one of my favorite stamps I own.  They will also be nice for my MIL as I know they had a bush with these in their yard many years ago as we have talked about it before.  I added the little butterflies from Hero Arts along with the Verses Rubber Sentiment - Wings of the Butterfly.

Have a lovely day and hope you are seeing some lovely summer temps where you are!

Suzz

Great Love

 With Mother's Day coming up I decided I better get cracking and get a card created for my MIL.  She has a birthday and Mother's Day within a few days of each other.  I will have to be working on the birthday card next!  This card started with looking for some favorite stamps for Simon Says Stamp and Show your Favorite stamp (which is like picking your favorite child) and also is for the Moxie Fab World Challenge - Damask or Brocade.  I used some of my much loved Hero Arts stamps (Classic Tea Rose, Fabric Background, Thanks Definition Cling) along with the sentiment which is from Verses Rubber Stamps - QQ0846 Mother Teresa quote.  I think a mother & father's love is all about the small things. :) 

The background is stamped with the beautiful damask pattern using a mix of yellow and orange dye inks spritzed with Perfect Pearls mister.  Overlaid is the thank you definition (again as a thank you to his mother for all she has done for him). 

The flowers are stamped and colored with watercolor pencils. My DH helped with the design too. I had two different backgrounds and he selected the design he liked better. So he did help with his Mother's card. LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Friends are Treasures

I started with the beautiful  Mojo Monday Sketch #240.I feel like I have been in a nautical mood for awhile...

I laid out the sketch and cut all the pieces using the beautiful Bo Bunny Country Garden collection.  The next step was to select a sentiment. I picked up the beautiful ODBD Faithful Friends for a sentiment to put on my banner. Then I was trying to think of something that provides shelter and the lighthouse from ODBD Keep My Lamp Burning  was sitting on my desk from another project and seemed like the perfect fit.  After I stamped it on my smaller circle I of course smudged black ink in the background on the circle.  No problem... just add some acrylic paint over the background to add a nice distressed touch. :)

Than the sketch with the banner covered up too much of my light house so I had to modify it slightly?  :)

Anyways, I am happy with the end result.  The Sketch:

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Eternal Summer

Week II of CR84FN53:

 

The layout was an attempt to try something different.  I had the lovely sweet peas from Flourishes on my desk and decided to use them.   I used some scraps from my pattern paper to stamp over. I added a hint of pink in the flowers and sponged the blue around the edges.  Added a few punched butterflies, lace and ribbon and done. 

Here are the soft and dreamy colors:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog. 

Please visit the fantastic CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville * Shannon White* Pauline Pollington

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

Today is the first Saturday in the month  which means Stampendous Monthly Challenge starts with something new! Simply make a gift, gift set (could be cards, could be an altered item), or a gift card holder of some sort no later than Thursday, May 31 at 11:59 PM EST .

I didn't have a gift project created yet to share but wanted to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day and am sharing a layout using the lovely Stampendous stamps.  The ODBD blog is celebrating National Scrapbooking Day as well with a ODBDSLC107 - Layout Challenge this week to create a layout.  I have included another layout in this post for that challenge too!

My first layout:

I water-colored the beautiful Cottage Roses a few times using watercolor markers and watercolor paper. I stamped the text in the background and on some scraps (for my banners).  The rest was cutting and layout.
The stamps are: Stampendous - Jumbo Cling Cottage Rose, Stampendous Dream Text, Stampendous Small Typewriter Alphabet, Recollections Flourishes.

My second layout:

This is a mix of two different family trips at Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon.  I usually make them line up for a traditional family pose!  You can see how much they have grown in the two years!

I used the Our Daily Bread Designs - Honeycomb, Brocade Background and It is Well With My Soul.

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Circus Time

Simon Says Stamp and Show is  Kaleidoscope of Color and the ColourQ challenge inspired me to create a birthday card.

I started with this wonderful Memory Box paper that I love.  I haven't used it enough but I love all the happy circles in the different colors.  I toned it down with some brown distressing around the edges.  I went into my circles bin and pulled out a brown circle and cut a coordinating pp circle.  The rest was just picking a design and adding the fun Artistic Outpost Vintage Circus images in the background an as my focal point.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Text & Tulle - City Crafter Challenge

I had an idea in my head when I saw the Mojo Monday sketch but my card had it's own idea...I started with  the City Crafter Challenge of Text and Tulle... (Love the alliteration and the idea of tulle and text). That inspired the text background and putting the tulle on the card...

All of the card was made up of pre-cut pieces in my pending folders. (Sounds better than scraps.)

I stamped the lovely mail definition from Memory Box in the background in gray.  I added a layer of the Elemental Damask in Peach Bellini.  Then the birdcage was sponged with the peach color and stamped over with the damask in gray.  The butterfly followed the same stamping as the background.  The ribbon and flowers were leftover from other projects using these colors. The is a layer of tulle behind the ribbon. Hard to see in the picture but very pretty IRL.

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

ODBD May Release Blog Hop - Beach Journal

Welcome to the Our Daily Bread designs May Release Blog Hop! If you got here from Angies’s beautiful blog, you are in the right place. If not you might want to start at the Our Daily Bread designs Blog and start from the beginning.

For my project I decided to create an envelope journal. I apologize up front as there are quite a few pictures of the different pages. :)  My inspiration was the new release and my family is going on a cruise later this summer somewhere tropical and warm.  I created a travel journal to hold all the bits and pieces of paper we will gather on our vacation.

The front of my journal:

    (To see any of the pictures close up - click on the image)

I used the brand new set Happy Retirement from Our Daily Bread Designs which works beautifully with The Lovely Sea. I merged the two images together to create my beach scene.  The background papers on the entire journal are from the new Bo Bunny Country Garden collection.  The sentiment is from the Simple Things set. 

The back of the journal:

 I love this lighthouse image.  So lovely.  I don't think we will be seeing any lighthouses on our trip but it definitely fits with the nautical theme.  The sentiment is from the new Dreams set. The image  is from the Keep My Lamp Burning.

Next is the first set of pages. 

 The fun part of the first set of pages includes  both envelope pockets. I enhanced the opening of the envelops by using a circle punch to create a different look on each envelop pocket. 

The paper is stamped with "It is Well Within My Soul" and the fishnet was laid over the paper and glimmer misted blue.  The Mini Dogwood and the bird from You Will Find Refuge are stamped in the left hand corner and the sentiment from the same set was stamped.  On the right page the cattails and dragonflies from the With Heartfelt Sympathy set were stamped and colored.  The tags use a repeat of the images.

On this page I used the new Dreams images with the olive branch on the frame and the dove over on the other page.  The sentiment is from the You Will Find Refuge and the tag uses the As You Graduate set.

My next page uses the beautiful The Lovely Sea and repeats on each panel.

I added a tropical flower and butterflies page using the Sweet William Small stamp.   They were stamped multiple times and colored with watercolor pencils.  There is a second layer of flowers on the larger flowers to add depth.

The last page is the beautiful butterfly bush from the Faith set.  I used a coordinating paper with butterflies and colored my butterflies to match the butterflies on the paper.



The  Hop Details:
The Hop will run 8am EST May 1 until 8pm EST May 2. The winners will be announced on the ODBD Blog on May 3. Three hoppers will be randomly selected to win ONE FREE SET of CHOICE, and One blessed hopper will win this month’s BREAD BASKET BUNDLE!!!

Here is what you have to do to be qualified to win one of these prizes:
Hop to each designer’s blog and leave a comment Return to the Our Daily Bread designs blog and leave a comment telling us that you completed the hop, making note if there were any you could not comment on. Answer the question on the ODBD blog when you leave your comment.

From here hop on over to the talented  Rosemary's blog.

Suzz