Oooh La La!

Good morning!

I'm making valentines again this week!  Fun stuff :)

Again, I wanted to play along with the JustRite Friday Challenge, and I happen to own a set of French themed stamps from Justrite. I also happen to have a daughter who is in love with anything French LOL, so I thought it a good opportunity to make her valentine.

Justrite wants us to follow this sketch for this challenge,,,,

I love this sketch,,,,,,,,,and if you'll recall, I already made ONE card with it for the challenge,,,,,,but I wanted to have a bit more fun with it,,,,,,,

and here's my card!

I had a bit less room to work with on this card,,,,,,,,,but I just love the Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Squares I used for this little shaped card (and they are very French too!)

Another angle:

As you can tell from past cards, I'm normally a BIG BOW kinda gal,,,,,,,,,but this card is only about 4x4, so I knew I had to go with a smaller bow if I wasn't going to overwhelm it,,,,,,,hence this tiny 1 inch bow made on my peg bow maker.  I love that I can choose my size so easily!

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: scraps , Coordinations Fired Brick, and Recollections Kraft
Stamps: Justrite Bon Voyage cling set (eifel tower) and Justrite Be Strong clear stamp set
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Dies: Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Squares, Postage Stamps, Squares Large
Ribbon, Pearls, and Bling: Michaels Recollections
Embossing: Provocraft Polka Dots 5x7 folder

I hope you enjoyed the card,,,,,,,,you still have a day to join the fun at Justrite Stampers Friday Challenge so run right over and upload YOUR card using Justrite Stamps!

I'd also like to enter this card into the Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge to use ribbon, lace or trim on your Love/Valentines day card!  This looks like a fun challenge that I'd like to try more often!  They also have a great monthly ribbon club that I'm going to join this week! Check them out!

Thanks for your comments! I'd love to visit YOUR blog!

Bonjour!!!

Good Afternoon!!!!  I've always been fascinated with anything French,,,,,,I took 8 years of it in school, and I've been a travel agent and had the opportunity to go many times,,and I am totally in love with Paris!! And I was lucky enough to win the grand prize at Simon Says Stamp this past week and win 50.00 worth of goodies! I scored some Paris themed Just Rite stamps and SEVERAL Memory Box dies,,,,,,love them!

Today the mail came and I just had so much fun playing with stamps and dies!!!!  I knew I wanted to do another entry for the Justrite Friday Challenge, "Charm Me" so off I went to play with my new Justrite stamps, Au Revoir.

Here's what I came up with!

I created a little collage with several of the stamps in the set and added a pop of color with some red ink,,,,,,,,the dies I used for this card are spellbinders postage stamps and Romantic rectangles, and Memory box Lorelai Outline Leaf, Elegant Scrollwork, and Wrought Iron Gate.  I added a heart charm to a sheer black bow, and finished off with two stick pins and a sparkly button.

Here's a close up of the stamps and the bow cluster, including the heart charm,,,,,,

The inks I used to stamp with are ColorBox Cranberry, and Versafine Onyx Black and Vintage Sepia.

Thanks for  looking, and I hope you enjoyed the card!!!!

Good Morning!!!!!!!

It's Tuesday again, and time for our Party Time Tuesdays challenge,,,,,Anything Goes!

But before we Get to our fabulous sponsors this week, I'd like to remind you of the Blog Hop for our DT member Jen Scull tomorrow August 29th. There will be tons of fun and tons of prizes, so we hope to see you there!

On to this week!  Our fabulous sponsors this week are Digital Delights, The Stamping Boutique, Crafty Sentiments and Designs on Cloud 9!!!!!!  Thanks so much to our generous sponsors!

My oldest daughter went back to college recently to get her degree in Deaf Studies (Her oldest child is deaf and ultimately she wants to be a teacher for the Deaf).  She was very VERY worried about her first science in college. I am happy to report that she was thrilled to bring home an A+!  We are thrilled for her, she worked very hard,,,,,,,,,so I sent her this card using this DARLING and absolutely PERFECT for my needs image by the Stamping Boutique that just HAPPENED to fall in my lap at exactly the right time,,,,,,,,

Don't you just LOVE those bubbling flasks? How perfect is this for an A in science class? I was also able to use some of those fabulous Authentique stickers that were so nicely given to us earlier in the month by the Paper Parade!

I colored the image with copics, cut it out with spellbinders postage stamps and then inked through the die like a stencil,,,,,I did the same with the square with A+ on it and my sentiment "Way to go!"  I used Basic Grey paper and a bright butterfly bow to really accent this school themed card!

I hope you enjoyed the card, and thanks for looking! Your comments mean the world to me!  Hope to see you tomorrow for the blog hop!

Just "Layering" Around,,,,,,,

Good Afternoon!!!!! I just love love LOVE the look of how spellbinders layer,,,,,it's the reason I started collecting Spellbinders,,,,,,it's an obsession,,,,,it's why I now have over 50 of the bleeping things,,,,,,

But for some reason, I have to remind myself to do it,,,,,,,Probably, because it often means a LARGER card,,,,,and I tend to like smaller cards,,,,,,,but the more spellbinders I get, the more layering I want to do,,,,,,and the larger my cards have to get to not look over crowded LOL.  So today, I decided to make a card layered with spellbinders,,,,,

I used scraps of Christmas paper, even though this card isn't a Christmas card,,,,,so here it is, and I hope you enjoy it!

From the bottom up, the spellbinders I used are postage stamps, Parisian Motifs, Picot Edge Circles, and labels one to cut out the center of Picot edge circles,,,,,,A couple of roses made with spiral blossoms one,,,,,,,,,some bling,,,,,and a gorgeous bow, and she's finished,,,,,,,

I hope you enjoyed the card,,,,,,thanks for looking! Leave me a comment, and I'll come over to your blog and see you!

Have a great week!

Home Sick Cards,,,,,

Good Afternoon,,,,,it's Sunday,,,,,,,,and I'm homesick.

Yep. Badly too.

Sunday was the day our whole family got together for dinner,,,,if there was a birthday, that's when it was celebrated. Everyone would bring something,,,,,on a rotating basis,,,,,,main dinner, side dishes, deserts, drinks, whatever,,,,,,we rotated. And we all met at my sister's house (hers was largest) and had dinner.

Ten years ago, My husband and I moved ourselves and our 3 children to Florida. The housing in Massachusetts where we lived was astronomically expensive IF you could find it. We searched for months after the owner of the house we were renting sold it. Couldn't find a bleeping house, townhouse, apartment or mobile home. There was a serious shortage of housing. My husband's boss asked his wife (a real estate agent) to look,,,,,,MY boss who owned a ton of rental housing looked. NOTHING.

So we moved,,,,,,,,what could be more fun than living in Florida? Close to the beaches, close to Disney World,,,,,,,we moved and we LOVE it.

I couldn't get my husband to move back for anything, even though the housing has improved.

Nope, we love love LOVE living in Florida.

But I miss my family and my friends like no one's business. Oh my mom comes down usually once a year for 2 or 3 weeks, and I love having her. Last time she brought my baby sister and her new son down, which was really nice. I've been home once or twice.

But I haven't seen everyone TOGETHER in ten years.

I miss my sisters, I miss my brother, I miss my nieces and nephews,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I just miss them. Enough to cry. It's not all bad,,,,,,,,all my children and grandchildren live here in Florida,,,,,,and I see my mom at least once a year. And the beach and Disney are as wonderful as we thought.

But I want to go home. Badly. At least for 2 weeks.

so we're planning that :) And I couldn't be happier.

Anyway, after that book you are probably wondering what on EARTH was the point of,,,,,,

I had to make cards for my family,,,,,,,,and I am thinking of them as "homesick cards". Because I am. Homesick, that is.

I used my new paper, Echo Park. The two red ones are Echo Park This and That "Graceful", and the yellow and green one is Echo Park This and That "Charming". Each one was made special for the recipient,,,,

Top, red pink and blue is for my Mother.

bottom left, for my sister, Ellen,,,,,,,and bottom right, for my sister, Amy.

Brother's and friends to follow another day.

I used quite a few nesties,,,,,,,but one of my fav new ones that I used on all 3 of them is Spellbinders Picot Edge circles. REally lovely,,,,,,they can be very feminine,,,,,or not. Love them.

Other nesties used:

lacy ovals
postage stamps
moroccan motifs
circles large
Ironwork Motifs.
Labels 23 Grand
and of course, Picot Edge circles

I didn't embellish too much more than the nesties shapes and a ribbon or bow,,,,the paper is so gorgeous. I added a couple stick pins and called them done!

Thanks for looking,,,,,,I hope you enjoyed the cards! And I hope you don't have reason to be homesick too often!!!!

Sugar Creek Hollow!!!

YAY, it's Saturday!!!! And I really can't wait to see what you all come up with this week, because we have a challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow that was TOUGH for me! BUT many of you like it, so I am hoping to see some wonderful examples of,,,,,,,,,,,



STEAMPUNK!!!!!!!!

Here's mine! And I want to KISS Pamela over at Freevintagedigistamps.blogspot.com (button to the right) because she saved my LIFE with these images that I used on my card! ALL of them were from her! THANKS PAMELA!

I used MME paper for this, simply because it seemed to match SO WELL. I printed the images on my computer, and cut them with squares large, postage stamps and labels 3,,,,,inked them all up well and matted the whole thing on a black base.  I cut the watch with an old spellbinders set, Heritage,,,,,,,,a black velvet ribbon and knot,,,,,,,and she's done! I am really happy with the way it turned out!!!

So let's see what you can come up with! Run right over to SCH and load up a Steampunk card!

Thanks for looking!!!!! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Thank you, Thank you!

This is my second post of the day! If you're looking for my PTT post, scroll down one post!

So we had a TON of birthdays in March in our family,,,,,,,three out of the four people living in this house right now, have birthdays in March,,,,,,2 of us on the 9th, and one of us this next Friday, the 23rd.

Birthdays mean presents, and presents mean thank you cards to our relatives who were kind enough to send gifts and money presents! My MIL and mother gave me $$$$$ and so I was able to buy several sets of nesties and my FIRST grand nestie (Labels 23) which I am DYING to get,,,,,,it's taking forever to get here LOL

Anywho, I made up some thank you cards, and I thought I'd just post them all here in one post :)

I had a ton of fun playing with my new spellbinders Romantic Rectangles, and another of my favs Parisian motifs. I also used some of the very first tools I ever bought, some flower punches, that have been sitting neglected in my cupboard to make some of the flowers. I am REALLY happy the way they turned out, after shaping with a ball stylus and glittering!

Here's a close up!

The butterflies are MS, and the leaves are all Spellbinders foliage.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you're having a wonderful week!

The Men in my life,,,,

This is my second post for the day,,,,,,,,please scroll down for my Party Time Tuesday DT post!

so almost 24 years ago, on my 23 birthday, I gave birth to one of the most important men in my life,,,,,my darling son, of whom I am SO PROUD.  He dropped out of high school, and then went back a few years later, to get his HS degree, then went on to college and is graduating in June (but finishing in 2 weeks!) number one in his class!

He will be 24 this friday, and I wanted to make him a very special birthday card to let him know how very proud of him I am.

One of the OTHER most important men in my life is my husband, Jaime, whom I love more than you can imagine. It seems to me that whatever I have wanted to do in my life, he has only asked what he could do to make it happen. Not everyone receives such wonderful support,,,and I love him very much for all that and more. He celebrates his 53rd birthday in two weeks.

Obviously,,,,,,,I had some cards to make!  My sweet husband went out and bought me the Spellbinders Grand Calibur yesterday,,,,,,I got it early, because we are all going to Disney World together on Friday to celebrate, and there's no way to carry one of those around to give at the dinner celebration LOL. so Lucky ME!!! I got to play with it yesterday! And so, I made some birthday cards using all my new dies too!

The black and white one is for my DH and the blue and cream with a touch of black is for my DS.  Both of them use the new Moroccan Motifs dies and the nested hearts dies,,,,,,,

My husband's (black and white) center focal point is made from the following dies, bottom to top

postage stamps
Parisian Motifs
Moroccan Motifs
and  2 layers of nested hearts, the last layer inked with black while still in the die


My son's is a bit simpler,,,,

2 layers of the largest Moroccan Motifs
1 layer of the smaller moroccan motifs in black
2 layers of nested crowns.

And let me tell you, the difference in embossing with the Grand Calibur is amazing! I had previously made the center piece for the blue card,,,,,it was just sitting waiting to be attached to a card,,,,,,but I had not previously made the focal point for the black and white card,,,,,,,and the difference in the embossing is amazing. That Grand Calibur was surely worth the money spent!

Maybe you can tell the difference in the close ups of each card!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed the cards!!

HMFMC113

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you have more interesting plans than I have this afternoon,,,,,after a busy and lazy weekend, my house is about destroyed,,,,,,I am putting off cleaning it as we speak LOL. But as soon as I'm done posting this card, off to the kitchen I go to load the dishwasher,,,,,,,,maybe if I hurry, I can get in some more crafting today!

Ever feel bored with the usual stuff you do and just want a little change???? Yep, that's me right now,,,,,so the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge number 113 this 2 week stretch is "Make wishes come true!" It can take many forms from wishing well to wishing on a star to wishing someone feel better,,,,,,however you interpret it! I love my HMF stamps, and don't use them nearly enough,,,,,,,so I decided it was time to change that!

And so I've done my "get well soon" card for a friend who is in the hospital this week,,,,,,

The paper is scraps,,,,,,,The paper company, MME and Tim Holtz Advantus,,,,,,,I've used "Mouse Drops" stamp here and colored them with copics,,,,,aren't they just adorable? I love this stamp because it's SO easy and quick to color!

I've cut them out with circles large,,,,,layered that on top of Parisian Motifs and then layered the whole over postage stamps,,,,,,,,

my flowers were made from the small and medium elements of the Parisian motifs, simply shaped with a stylus and the layers popped up on dots and a pretty button glued in the center of each,,,,,,easy as pie. I made the leaves out of brown card stock and cut with the spellbinders foliage dies.  A brown butterfly bow, a stick pin, a free online sentiment and a tiny gold heart and she's finished!

Here's a close up of the Mouses!

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed the card!