This is the Day

Howdy!

This summer is flying by and my poor craft room is neglected... I am hardly in here with all that is going on. I have a simple card to share today that I created with while playing with new stamps from Spellbinders.

A very pretty set of stamps which got a quick pass from me. I will have to play with them some more when things settle down.  I did cut the edges of the flowers and leaves to try to raise them up and give them some texture.

I hope your summer is going well!

Suzz

Wee Memories - Woodland Friends Challenge

This weeks challenge over at Wee Memories is Woodland friends.  I had this wonderful fairy bunny image from the extremely talented  Kiara.   This is my woodland creature.  A bunny with wings definitely belongs in a woods with the fairies. 

 

 

I decided to create a shaker card as I had the sweetest little heart glitter. The papers are from Making Memories J'T Adore  and the stamps in the background are Hero Arts. The sentiment is from Memory Box. 

Have a fabulous Monday! 

Suzz

New Memory Box stamps

I promised to share some of the new Memory Box stamps and here they are...

My idea was to create a pocket card...

Which I did but I ended up using the same image on the pocket insert as the inside so it really didn't need a pocket. :)

One of my favorite from the new stamps is the tree stamp.

The recipe is very simple. The only thing I did that required some pre-thought was to die cut the paper and lay them all together when I stamped the corners.

Products:

• Memory Box Gossamer
• Memroy Box - Tree of Life
• Memory Box - New beginnings
• Memory Box - Script Block
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Memento - Bamboo Leaves, Rich Cocoa, RoseBud
• Spellbinders Nestabilities - Labels 2

Everyone have a lovely weekend!

Suzz

Lovely Pinks and Browns

The inspiration for this card is this new paper from Memory Box. I love the pinks and browns. They are so pretty together.

The birds in the nest are new from Memory Box as well. They are stamped in Versafine Vintage Sepia and cut out. I colored them using my Prismacolor pencils and added a little accent from my gel pen.

Products:

• Memory Box - (6 x 6 Gossamer)
• Memory Box - D1315 Nesting Birds
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Vintage Lace & Button
• Twine
• Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen
• Spellbinders - Nestabilities Label 8
• Memento - Rich Cocoa
• Prismacolor Color Pencils

Hope it is warmer by you. We are in the teen's and it is really chilly outside.

Suzz

A whirlwind of fun...

I have a couple of exciting things to share:

First... Finished this card last night after playing with my spellbinders die cut and some fun Memory Box stamps.

I had seen a gorgeous and I mean stunning card on Yvonne's blog here: http://yvonne-anabelle.blogspot.com/2009/11/serendipity-november-challenge.html. I have this stamp too and am re-inspired to use it for my Christmas cards. (Will share if and when they are created).

I used the same Fleur De Lis die cut and cut 12 from a Memory Box card which I had stamped with a Memory box flourish stamp in Stonewashed dye ink.

The flowers are Memory Box - Black Eyed Susan E422 stamped in versafine black onyx and colored using watercolor pencils. I used the same colors on the butterflies (memory box - periwinkle B1181)

I sponged the outer circle to give it the orange-yellow effect to match the butterflies and flowers.

Second exciting news:

Tim Holtz started his 12 days of tags today... So much inspiration in techniques all jammed into 12 days. Also he has wonderful prizes so go check that out. I think I am going to try to play along as it fits in with the HA blog challenge this week and Louise's tag Tuesday challenge too!

Third:
My card is posted on the Moxie Fab World as a Tuesday Trigger! and as a bonus I also won a pack of paper from another post on Cathy's blog.

So I am having a wonderful day.. I hope you are too!

Suzz

Trimmings...

We are getting prepared for Thanksgiving.. Part of that is planning to pull out all the Christmas decorations and setting up the tree.

In that spirit.. I created this ornament for the Trimmings challenge on the HA blog. I apologize up front because I am sure this has been done and I have seen it somewhere but can't credit the site I saw it on. (Probably Spellbinders Blog)

I shared two versions of the picture one without contrast:

One with the contrast applied:
Really simple. Stamp the design block background (Hero Arts - Antique Flower Background) on white card stock. Heat emboss with Enchanted Gold Embossing powder. Die cut 5 Pendant shapes (Spellbinders - Shapeabilities -Fleur De Lis Pendants) with the smaller pendant shape centered in the middle.

After all the die cuts are cut and all the little pieces are knocked out (Very tedious and time consuming) you can assemble. Fold the large and small pendent shapes with the plain white side facing out in half. Glue together white surface to white. Continue until the last piece which you glue to the ornament.

The only thing to remember is to run your string through the center before you close out your final pieces.

I would have to redo mine as I didn't get clean cuts on my dies for all the pieces but wanted to share how it will look. :)

Hope you have a fabulous day!

Suzz

Stamped Mask

One of the challenges at Stamptoberfest or Stamptoberfest over at Two Peas was to create a mask. I was intrigued by it because I had never created one before. I think inspiration takes all forms and trying something completely different stretches the brain and keeps it creative.





This was so much fun to do and when I got done I realized my butterflies really looked like fire because of the colors I used. I also got comments that it looks like leaves.

I also promised Tanya (my youngest) that I would share her halloween banner. I think it was very cute. I cut out the shapes and she took it upstairs to her room on her table and created it.

This is the full string of pennants. You have to see all her hand drawn Halloween items and the phrases she put on there cracked me up.

I think the Wiztober comes from Disney channel. We love to watch Wizards of Wizardly Place.

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Last couple of days...

I have had so much fun in the last couple of days....

We had a global day of service for work where we were able to pick a location from a bunch of different volunteer opportunities to spend a half day volunteering.

This year I selected the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I have never been there before and wanted to check it out. The gardens were gorgeous and I didnt' even get to see that many of them. Definitely worth another trip out... I will be planning on that another day.

When we arrived they have a few speakers to kick it off and then you split up and get assigned to your activities. I was dressed and geared for weeding, raking, outside work in the gardens. I was assigned to a leader and lead us out to see his garden he was responsible for and then told us we got to spend the morning making creatures/animals for their annual halloween event. So we basically created animals from dried leaves, berries, pinecones and flowers. I couldn't believe how much fun we had. I wish I had pictures but I didn't know we were going to be doing something like this. What a wonderful morning.

I followed that up with meeting with a friend who is also a stamper for lunch. Where we proceeded to have a lovely lunch and talk stamping talk for an hour!

Then Thursday I had another lunch with another my friend Lisa yesterday! She is the one who started me down this stamping path!

My friend Lisa made me this lovely card for my birthday. We both love the Asian influenced stamps, so she made me this lovely card using the Hero Arts stamp in the background and the main image is from The Greeting Farm.

Gorgeous card! Thanks Lisa!

Just a couple more things and then I will stop rambling...

Two Pea's stamping board is having a fun Stamptoberfest which is being held Oct 17th through Oct 25th.

The thread describing all of the challenges is located here. I am hosting a foiled again challenge. There are always so many fun and different challenges that if you get time you should go play along.

Finally... Here is my card to share with you today. It is for 2 different challenges. Hero Arts Holiday Add On challenge and a 2Peas class that Jennifer McGuire was teaching on embossed backgrounds.

The background is just an stamped and embossed with clear embossing powder. I then sponged on purple and blue dye inks. Add some water drops and you have the background. I then took the felt snowflakes from Hero Arts and sprayed glimmer mist on the white ones to give the blueish - purple effect and created a wreath of snowflakes.

Products:

• Hero Arts - CL112 - Classic Christmas Borders
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Snowflakes
• Penny Black - A Merry...
• Ranger Distress Inks - Concord, Broken China
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Versamark Watermark Ink
• Versafine - Deep Lagoon
• Spellbinders - Nestabilities - Labels
  

Sorry for the long post. Have a lovely weekend...

Suzz

Taffy Apple Time

This time of year there are always taffy apples available in the store and they look so delicious. This little card uses toothpicks for the handles and the Hero Arts clear stamps Designer Fruits.
I used the sentiments from the Halloween set. The sentiment is split with the front leading into the inside.

There was a lot of debate at home about if they looked like taffy apples or not. My DD's gave input which ended in me making a couple of apple toupee's and trying them out... Here is the picture with one set. I also tried vellum with a little color. Ended up not liking any of them so the apples are bald.

Well I hope you have a lovely day! I will be busy preparing for my foil class this afternoon and then teaching. Along with a few household chores!

Suzz

Silver Anniversary...

This is for the CPS Challenge this week and in honor of my BIL & SIL silver anniversary! I remember the first time I met them as it was the first time I went to a family event with my new boyfriend at their house.


They were expecting thier first child at that time and now she is a junior in college. Time passes so quickly.


Here is the silvery card... Very difficult to photgraph because of the reflective surface. Hence the outside shot.

I was so happy to find this quote from Browning in a Verses stamp. The background is embossed using a QuicKutz Embossing folder. The other background is embossed using silver embossing powder.

Products:

• Rubber Stampede - Wild Rose Background
• QuicKutz Embossing Folder
• Silver Embossing Powder
• Silver White Sheer Ribbon
• Verses - Grow Old
• Pearls
• Spellbinders Nestabilities

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Photo Card Challenge

Hero Arts Weekly Challenge is photo cards. This is not a strength of mine so perfect for a challenge. :)

These butterflies were made for the button flower I made earlier this week so they were all sitting on my desk. Spent some time looking through my flower pictures taken a couple of weeks ago and found this one of the birdbath out back.

Products:

• Hero Arts Heart Winged Butterfly
• Hero Arts Artistic Butterflies
• Hero Arts - Everyday Sayings
• Copic Markers
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folders
• Spellbinders -Shapeabilities

Thanks for stopping by..

Suzz

Caardvarks Sketch Challenge - Wednesday

Wednesday's sketch for the Caardvarks Challenge:

Here is my card based on the sketch...

This is a mix of old and new stamps for me... I have had the real flowers in the background from Hero Arts for a long time and these are some of my favorites from them. There real flower series is so pretty and versatile. The background is one of there new Design Blocks called Antique Flower Background. The background is clear embossed and distress inked (Antique Linen) over the embossing. The front flowers is a Penny Black Stamp with birds stamped as accents.

The scalloped pieces were traced from journaling cards I had purchased previously. I used them as a template.

Products:

• Versamark Watermark Inkpad
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen
• Memento - Rich Cocoa
• Penny Black - inclinations
• Hero Arts - CL342 Everyday Sayings, Antique Flower Background, Real Salvia
• Ribbon, Pearls Unkown
• Spellbinders - Shapeabilities - Labels Trios
  

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

How Do you Do?

This little bird was colored last week and I just finished his nest this week. He had a long tail which I cut off and made into his hairdo... He reminds me of Elvis a little and prompted me to put the little pun on the front.



I also gave him short little stubby legs when he should have long legs. I felt very mean making him short as I am definitely height challenged as they say. But he sits in his little nest nicely.





I hope you enjoyed my little friend. I am going to send him off to someone special who might need some cheering up.

Products:

• Hero Arts - CL388 Be Yourself
• Spellbinders Nestabilities - Scalloped Circles
• Fiskars Circle Template
• Copic Markers
• Adirondack Brights - Citrus
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
• Ranger Stickles - Eucalyptus
  
  Thanks for stopping by....

Suzz

Color It Challenges

The Hero Arts Challenge this week is Color It... http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/2009/08/24/a-new-colorful-challenge/ Jennifer McGuire is hosting and has several videos with great tips on quick coloring techniques. This is perfect timing for me as I just took my Copic class and added markers to my collection. So a great time to practice and play.

Here are two cards I colored and created over the last several days.

These little children were patiently waiting for me to finish the card. I couldnt' figure out what they should be doing and decided that she would hold a little flag to finish off the card.

The vellum is embossed with one of the new CB embossing folders. So pretty!

Products:

• Hero Arts - K5193 Flower Word, Special Moments, All Occasion Messages, LP146 Asian Dolls, K5232 Dot Flourish Border,
• Rubber Stampede 3258R Wild Rose Background
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• StaZon - Cactus
• Memento - Black Tuxedo
• Copic Markers
• Spellbinders Nestabilities - Labels
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Another card from OSW

This was another card from my one sheet wonder. The center was cut from 2 labels die cuts from Spellbinders. I popped the center and re-stamped the sentiment in the center.

After I put it together I decided it was too bare around the edges and versamark stamped the flowery branch and clear embossed it to add a little shadowy effect.

We spent yesterday at an amusement park and are now at the Great Wolf Lodge with water galore. Today we are going onto Niagara Falls which I have never seen and am looking forward to!
Products:

• Cornish Heritage Farms - Silhouette Blooms
• Cornish Heritage Farms - Grid Paper
• Tattered Angels - Daffodil, Tuscany Sun, Red Velvet
• Spellbinder Nestabilities
• Twine
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia, Habenero, Crimson Red
• Versamark Watermark Ink
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Buttons

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Inchie Flower

I am playing around with ideas for the next week challenge at Cornish Heritage Farm. The challenge next week is resist. I have this lovely silhouette set and wanted to do a series of them on inchies.

I ended up making a flower from the inchies. Not sure I like this but thought I would share and see if it ends up being something I like. :)

Products:

• Cornish Heritage Farms - Silhouette Blooms
• Ranger Distress Inks - Faded Jeans, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Versamark Watermark Ink
• Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Birds and Swirls

Thanks for stopping by...

Final Scraps for awhile

I have been still working on those scraps pile. This one has a lot of different die cuts that have been laying out on my desk and I decided to layer them into one creation.

Next up will be another card inspired by one of the winners of win a day on the HA blog.

Products:

• Hero Arts - Lupine
• Hero Arts - Birthday Wishes (Birthday Messages Clear Set)
• Hero Arts - Heart Winged Butterfly
• Hero Arts - Archiver's Special Edition Clear Set
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia, Deep Lagoon
• Memento - Rich Cocoa
• Spellbinders - Labels 1, 2
• EK success - Border Punch
• Cornish Heritage Farm - Grid Paper

Thanks for stopping by..

Suzz

Sometimes the destination is not what you had planned..

Do you ever start down a path with a card and then when you finish up you are not sure you like where you ended?

That is how I feel about this card. I had this piece of light wood from Kodomo which I sprayed with glimmer mist and embossed with the rangers adirondack embossing powder. It was too dark so I added the white highlights and kept going. :) I tried to place it on the card with the same colors and overall ended up with a very dark card.

So I am not sure if I like this card as much as I did the scrap I started with but I wanted to move onto other scraps.

I thought I would share are a few outdoor shots of our yard. This is the peak time for all my flowers and I love to walk around and enjoy them.

These are the flowers which were the snow mushrooms in the winter time. I don't cut them down in the fall as I like the texture of the dried flowers.

This is the front corner of our house and the window is where I work in my craft space.

I was just enjoying the contrast of the deep maroon and the light pink flowers.



This is the same bed with all the lavendar but the top layer. We have two layers on one side of our house.

And last but not least is one of the reasons I have been spending less time creating cards.. This is Ms. Emma she is 5 months old and part beagle and collie. She has tons of energy. Way more than me so we are always trying to come to an agreement on how to use up that energy. (Making the kids do running laps with her. :)

Have a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by..

Suzz

Father's Day Cards

The challenge at HA this week was to create Manly Cards. I decided it was a good opportunity to create the Father's day cards for my dad and my DH.

The fun part of this was I die cut the smaller shapes from the letters and used them to trace an outline to create the border on the top and bottom.

Products:

• Cornish Heritage Farms - Flower Grid
• Hero Arts - Letters, Bolt, Wood Finish
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Zing -Brown Embossing Powder
• Versamark
• Spellbinders Nestabilitites
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
• Twine, Brads
  

This is for my husband... I love using the Ranger Distress Powder Vintage Photo because it gives a texture to the embossing. I had this idea of creating wood shakes like the side of the house. Of course I did and then I didn't know where to go next. hee hee.

So just lots of bits and pieces including the tools as my husband is very handy with fixing things. I will stamp the inside with the Hero Arts Sentiment "to a Dad who can fix anything"

Lots of fun making my wood shakes or shingles.

Products:

• Hero Arts - Wood Finish
• Hero Arts - Clear Design - Happy Dad's Day \
• Ranger Distress Embossing Powder - Vintage Photo
• Prisma Color - Color Pencils

Glad to finish these cards off as you know masculine cards can be more difficult as no real embellishments allowed. :)

Have a nice day...

Suzz

Spellbinders Impressabilities

I have been lacking the creative juices this week and struggling to create things. I had this new template from Spellbinders that I wanted to see what I could create with it.

I have tried 4 things with my new template (masking with glimmer mist/sponging), inking and stamping, and dry embossing). This is from the masking with glimmer mist.

The template is very pretty and has a lot of fine detail. I took the template and laid it on patterned paper from Making memories. I then took my Red Velvet Glimmer Mist and sprayed the entire surface. After I finished that I laid a piece of white cardstock on the inked template and took the reverse image. If I get enough mojo back you may see the other piece. Both turned out fantastic. I was impressed with the clarity of detail on the masked and stamped versions.

The background is the same patterned paper stamped with a tapestry stamp and heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Sorry about the colors on the picture. Tried taking it early this morning and can't get to my light box to shoot it in there. (Would have been a better picture standing up)

Products:

• Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist - Red Velvet
• Spellbinders - Impressabilities Flowers
• Versafine Onyx Black Ink
• Stampendous - Happy Birthday
• Quick Cutz - Nesting Label
• Making Memories - Patterned Paper
• Floradoodles - Flowers

I am off to plant some perennials we have a layered terrace full of perennials and we have lost a few on the top, so I am going to put in re-inforcements. :) This picture was taken at the end of June last year. You can't even see the top layer from the bottom as the beautiful catmint keeps it from being visible.

Have a great day!

Suzz