Stylish Award

Many thanks to my scrappin' pal Diane from Rubber and Rafters for passing along this award, I love being in creative company! Thanks Diane.

Christmas tags

Here are a few gift tags I made for my scrappin' pals using some of Papertrey Ink (PTI) stamps and dies. I made several tags for each gal pal and reused the clear cases PTI's stamps come in to hold the tags, added a bit of holiday paper for decorations and called the project complete. I had fun making them and my pals enjoyed having tags ready for gift giving.

BABY BOOK PLATES

My "scrappin" friends and myself have been working on decorations for a baby shower to be held in December of this year.
I made a book plate from one of PTI's dies (Mat Stack 3), which was mailed along with the invitation asking guests to purchase an inexpensive baby book, sign their name on the book plate, and place it in the front of the book instead of buying a card.

After making the book plate I ran it through a Xron machine which added the adhesive to the back of the plate making it a sticker for the book. I found some inexpensive felt animals to add to the top of the book plate to top it off. All together I made 93 of these cute book plates (although couldn't get all of them in the photo). Here is a picture of most of them all lined up. I was very happy with the outcome and think the new mommy-to-be will be as well, plus starting a library for the new baby girl!

PPA67

The colors for this challenge were indeed a challenge! My card base is Daffodil Delight with an overlay lattice using basic gray CS. (although the photo isn't very good). The focal point is one of the bird cages from SU's Aviary set stamped in basic gray ink with the adorable bird in Poppy Parade ink. The sentiment is stamped using basic gray ink on Poppy Parade CS, I substituted a different shade of red ribbon (as I didn't have any Poppy Parade). The little sprigs of holly on the bird cage are also repeated with a holiday sentiment on the inside of the card.

ANYTHING GOES @ Paper Players#22

Well as my gal-pal Diane at Rubber 'n Rafters said, this is the cake she and I put together as a belated birthday cake for our fellow scrapper, Sharon. We had so much fun putting it together and thank goodness for the Cricut Die cutting machine saves a ton of work. We added little gifts inside each slice of cake and stamped the end of the cake to resemble a nutty consistency as is usually on carrot cake. So this is a joint blog for us, we hope you like it as much as we do.


Here's another picture from a different angle. Our friend loved her cake and was truly surprised after all we were almost a month late in celebrating!!!!

Paper Players Challenge #22 No fat-chocolate cake

Who doesn't love a chocolate cake. Well as you can see from the earlier post my sweet tooth was just aching so I decided to make another (smaller) cake for a birthday party we were attending.
The cake was approximately 10" and each slice was just large enough to hold a slip of paper with a suggestion for the birthday gal (who was turning 59) as to what she may wish to consider achieving before her big 60 birthday next year (kinda like a "bucket list)! Needless to say there were some very interesting suggestions from everyone in attendance. As you can see from the photo I placed the cake into a regular cake bakery box to transport it to the party which was the finishing touch.





Hope this gets you thinking about maybe doing some "paper" baking.
Bon Appetit!

Bring on the Bling!

This is a card I thought would qualify for the Pals Paper Arts PPA65 Challenge. I imagined this tree would look very pretty all dressed in Dazzling Diamonds (DD) (although it's hard to capture the glitz in a photo). The designer paper is "Night & Day Specialty" with the tree stamped in black Stazon. I used my glue pen to touch some of the dots on the tree and then covered with the DD's, added a border punch from Papertrey Ink, some black pearls on the border and white ones on the black velvet ribbon (could you even tell it was velvet)? The sentiment stamped in real red ink on white and matted with a touch of Real Red CS. Of course had to line the envelope (a little tip I picked up from Mary Fish) which I think adds to the elegance of the card.
I've also added a photo from the side trying to capture some of the glitz which really makes the card stand out, hope you can see it.

PPA - Challenge # 63

This color combination for PPA's Challenge #63 just conjured up an image of an ice cream cone for me.
I used the witch hat (upside down) from SU's Eat Drink & Be Scary to create the cone shape, cut it out, ran it through Sizzix embossing folder(Pattern #2), as well as the CS. Punched three circles in graduated sizes from Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait and Melon Mambo (sounds like ice cream to me) CS, added a portion of the sentiment from SU's Yummy stamp set in Chocolate Chip ink, tucked in a strip of Chocolate ribbon and called it done. Hope you think it's delicious as well!
PS-also added 3 "blings" in challenge colors as well!

BIG WINNER!

This birthday card I made for a friend who LOVES to play cards, gamble (oops did I say that), any type of competition game! SU Design Jackpot paper was perfect for her card. The card base is red, matted with a slim piece of black and then the designer paper itself. I repeated the colors again placing two 1 3/4" squares topped with some (unknown source) embellies that I've had for ages, tied a thin strip of black satin ribbon & topped off with a rhinestone. Of course I couldn't resist using some of the designer paper to line my envelope, to finish off the theme.
My color scheme is red, black and vanilla, not quite the colors of challenge #19 (red, black and white) over at Always Playing with Paper, but maybe close enough???

All Booked up

I made this card with 3 friends in mind who all celebrate birthdays in the month of September and thought it perfect for the Paper Players Clean & Simple Challenge# 14. The stamp used is called All Booked Up from Papertrey Ink where my inspiration came from. All 3 of my friends are book-lovers so this was the perfect stamp to use and also enabled me to include a book mark for their use. You can never have too many book marks, right.
The ink is SU's Old Olive and a little scrap of paper from SU's DSP Island Oasis. The book mark was stamped in Versamark then heat embossed in clear embossing powder. Hope all you book-lovers out there enjoy this.

PRETTY IN PEARLS

A posting for the PPA#58 challenge. PPA's inspiration photo is fabulous, who doesn't remember Breakfast at Tiffany's with Audrey Hepburn, such a classic. I envisioned this gorgeous dress trimmed in pearls hanging on a hanger just waiting for Audrey. A little black CS for matting and a piece of striped ribbon gathered and topped off with a thinner black velvet ribbon. Of course I had to finish the inside with a pair of red shoes also trimmed with a pearl.
I hope you enjoy looking at the card as much as I did creating it using retired S.U. set called Haute Couture (still one of my all-time favorite sets). Thanks for looking!

Classic Car

A close friend's hubby is in love with his beautifully restored 1964 Lincoln Convertible. His birthday is coming up so I thought it appropriate to send him a card with something he loves. I found this picture which is a pretty good replica of his own car, on the internet, I printed, matted and placed it on the card and thought it looked pretty good. I'm sure he's going to appreciate it, hope you do too.

ANYTHING GOES

I'm submitting this picture for The Paper Players - Anything Goes Challenge #13 which represents a golf tee & marker set I made for a few of my golfing gal pals and thought they turned out kinda cute. They're made from S.U. Whisper White CS and stamped with the new "On the Green" stamp in Garden Green ink. I cut a strip of CS 9 3/4" (l) x 2 3/4" (w), then scored at increments of 2", 2 1/2", 5 1/2", 7", & 7 1/2", played with the folding, added 4 round openings to insert the golf tees & another for the ball marker. Cut a slit to close the cover and called it done!

Bingo Thank You!

This is a Thank You card made for one of my friends who hosted a few days of relaxation and fun at her summer cottage in Port Austin, MI. There were 4 of us altogether (the same 4 who golf together during the week), we golfed, played Bingo, shopped, dined out, chatted to the wee hours of the morning and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Our hostess absolutely LOVES Bingo so we all went with her to the local Bingo Hall and I must say the three of us are certainly Bingo Challenged. The numbers are called very quickly, people follow multiple cards and a lot of other distractions. Needless to say our hostess probably won't take us there again. Anyhow this is the card from the three of us. The idea for the card came from Dawn McVey's blog which I find inspiring.

KISS - PPA#54

This is my version of a KISS Masculine card for the PPA#54 Challenge!
Criteria was lots of white space, minimum layering, little or no embellishments or bling and quick and easy to make.
I think this qualifies, don't you?
Supplies: Stamps from On the Green, bird from Aviary and sentiment unknown
Whisper White CS, Green Garden Ink
Dotted Swiss Cuttlebug embossing folder
Scraps of real red CS & real red marker for the stitching.

Peaceful Purple

This is my entry (first ever!) for the PPA#53 contest using a monochromatic color purple. Couldn't help myself though I had to add a smidge of Old Olive and of course Whisper White to stamp the beautiful image of Ornate Bossom. I also used tthe smaller version of the stamp from Friends Never Fade using versamark on the face of the purple card front (although it's difficult to see). I also outlined the image of the blossom with a purple glitzy ink that doesn't show up at all in the photo. Finished the card off with a scallop oval of Old Olive topped with the sentiment from Watercolor Trio, wrapped it up with a white satin ribbon.

Cup of tea!

This is a sweet card that I totally cased from Dawn McVey, couldn't wait to try out her use of the spoon stamp as a background base for the card, now hopefully on to some of my own designs.
Thanks for looking.

Retirement Card

While looking at some of my photos I discovered a retirement card I made last month and forgot to post so here it is: As you can probably see I used Kraft (yes Kraft, this was before the new colors were announced) card stock for the card base. Sizzix Star die, punched 3 different size stars of the colors in the horizontal piece of DSP. A little green ribbon tied in a knot (attached with a glue dot) and two tags one from the "Tiny Tags" stamp and the other from Teeny Tiny Wishes. Three round rhinestones set on the bottom of the zig-zag strip of paper, stamped a few outline stars on the white envelope and called it done!

Grad card

This is a funky little graduation card for a very good friend's youngest son. The colors are hard to see, but they are the new Daffodil Delight card base with a frame of Rich Razzleberry topped off with whisper white (almost his school colors). I used the new Go, Graduate stamp set from Stampin' Up (love, love, love the clear stamps), ran some Razzelberry and Daffodil yellow through the Sizzix Star die and layered the stars on top of each other and popped them with dimensions. Wrapped a length of Razzelberry polka dot ribbon (the underneath side) around the whisper white and tied the knot so the pokies showed. Colored in the tennis shoes with glitter yellow (almost Daffoldil) pen and called it a day.
Haven't finished the inside yet, but will add it to the post when done.

Nana Camp T-Shirts

While visiting my daughter I was able to spend time caring for my granddaughter between her kindergarten graduation and before summer camp schedule began.
My daughter, Nance of Canopy Crafts, created these T-shirts using My Digital Software from Stampin' Up. The shirts read "Nana Camp".
Of course we had to wear them everyday which necessitated washing them out each evening! Aren't they adorable, we certainly had a lot of fun and enjoyed wearing our shirts.

Mother's Day Card

This is the Mother's Day card I made for my daughter, Nance of Canopy Crafts.
As you can see I used SU stamp set Watercolor Trio. A funny thing happened while using my inks. I was using Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Crushed Curry. I had forgotten I inked the flower stamp with Crushed Curry and then (without cleaning the stamp) I inked it with Razzleberry, hence the unusual color of the one stamping of the flower stem on the far right. I've done this before, but usually it was a planned thing, this was strictly by accident...and I liked it (I think this color would be called Razzlecurry) ! Of course, I had to stamp the envelope just a little bit too!

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS!

Finally I can post two cards I made for "gal pals" back in Mi., for their birthdays. We usually celebrate all three birthdays at our weekly golf outing, but I was MIA this year, still in Florida! Anyhow if you go to one of my friend's blog you will see what our Cupcake Open is all about. The following two cards were made for two of the gals in this golf league, Diane and Michele. Both cards were cased from my daughter, Nance (why mess with a good thing)!
Happy (belated) birthday to both of you!


























This is the inside of the "car" card for Michele.

Sunshine Award!

Thank you to my lovely daughter Nance, of Canopy Crafts, for this very nice gesture and for thinking of me for this "happy" award. I'm very proud of all her accomplishments and to be her mom. I'm glad too that we have our "hobby" along with many other things to share. I really appreciate her thinking of me.

Now to fulfill the criteria and pass along this award to the following:

1. My granddaughter, Arden at Arden's Garden of Crafts, for being who she is.
2. Lauren Meader whose blog is one of many I follow, for her enthusiasm and creativity.
3. Lisa Johnson another blog I follow for her wonderful creativity and inspiration.
4. Nicole Heady for all of her talent and inspiration in providing another wonderful source of supplies for scrappers/card makers.
5. Mary Fish for beautiful and creative cards to inspire!
   

Ten things I like about paper crafting:

1. Feeling of satisfaction from creating something others will enjoy.
2. The enthusiasm among paper crafters and their willingness to share.
3. My Ladies of the Lodge weekly scrappin group, love 'em.
4. Can't help it...shopping for paper, ribbons, bling, die's, stamps...all of it.
5. Looking at the variety of creativity on blogs and being amazed.
   
6. In awe of the talent of all of these individuals.
7. Being exposed to projects I didn't even know existed.
8. Being able to share my card making with friends and family.
9. Love my Cricut and SCAL software as well as my Big Shot
10. The excitement and thrill when my daughter and granddaughter can't wait to share a new project with me.
    

Now here's what you should do:

• Post the prize on your blog
• Mention me in your post
• Give the prize/award to five friends
• Post a link to their blogs

Flip Flops

Aren't these the most adorable flip flops you've ever seen? I saw them on Mamia's blog and couldn't wait to make a few pair. My daughter and granddaughter are arriving tonight for a long weekend visit and I thought it would be nice to have a pair for each of them sitting on the bed in their rooms. I made myself a pair too, but forgot to take a picture of mine. I'll post mine the next time.





They were made using light-weight foam from a craft store and Stampin' Up's Flower daisies #2 die. The Big Shot cut the foam easily. I cut 2 of the largest daisy then added one of the medium size and one of the smallest, hot glued everything together and glued them onto a pair of inexpensive flip flops (from either Walmart or Michael's Craft store). How much cuter could they be (don't tell me, I love 'em just the way they are). Hope you do to.

A thinking of you card

This is a card I made for a daughter-in-law and son of a dear friend in Michigan. It is a sad situation so I opted to send a "Thinking of You" card. The picture isn't too good as you can see when I photographed it some of my writing on the inside shows at the top of the card. I inked the inside of the embossing folder with Bashful Blue ink before running it through the big shot. I hadn't tried this technique before so I was pleased with my first time result. I decided to keep the card clean and simple and not add any other embellishments other than the ribbon and sentiment. I also ran the envelope flap through the Big Shot using the same embossing folder. I thought it turned out quite nice.
Supplies used: SU Embossing folder (newest one)
SU Whisper White Organza ribbon
SU Teeny Tiny Wishes
SU Bashful Blue ink
Small Brayer roller

Awash with PPA37

My daughter suggested I submit my latest card using the new "Awash with Flowers" SU stamp.

We love the way the flowers resemble a water color drawing. Using black CS, Mellon Mambo paper for the scallop trim on the top and bottom of a panel of Whisper white. Also stamped the flowers using Mellon Mambo, Crushed Curry and Bermuda Bay. The sentiment was stamped using Versamark and SU white embossing powder. Of course, had to include a flower or two on the inside card and finished it off with a black and white striped ribbon tied in a knot. Hope you like it as much as we do. Thanks for looking.

Real lookin' flowers!

Oh my gosh, while recently visiting my daughter I had the pleasure of accompanying her to her upline's (Mary's) monthly stamp club. Mary shared with us this absolutely gorgeous flower. Depending on your point of view, it could be a gardenia, camelia or any other beautiful flower. Don't they look real? Anyhow they look fabulous photographed out in the backyard at my daughter's. I just love them, Thank you Mary for showing us this wonderful flower. Can't you just visualize it as a "bow" on a present, you (almost) wouldn't care what the present was!
Oh, almost forgot one was made by my daughter and one was made by me. What fun!

Easter Basket Treat box

Okay, Okay, I was trying to hold off until I gave this sweet little treat box to my sweet little granddaughter, Arden (you can see her blog at Arden's Garden of Crafts), Easter morning, but I can't wait to share it with everyone! Once again, I can't take credit for the design it came to me via a friend's blog Rubbers 'n Rafters (check it out) and originally from Kerin Sylvester's blog. I used SU match box die (cut 4 from the same paper) and 2 pieces of 5 X 5 card stock for the top & bottom. The adorable choco bunny is from SU, I embossed him/her with Versamark ink on brown paper, embossed with SU clear embossing powder, heated the image and like magic a chocolate bunny appears! The basket stamp is from Rubbernecker.com (don't ya love that name, I love saying it, kinda like a rhyme isn't it)? After stamping the basket I made little slits to insert a few colored eggs (made using my Cricut Expression machine and SCAL, love 'em both

Teapot b'day card

I can't take credit for the design of this card...it was cased from Kristin Bueter's blog. I love her use of the teapot and circle sentiment from Papertrey's "Tea for Two Vol.#15" (I had to purchase it for myself). I liked the simplicity of her design so I used her design with different colors for a more Spring like birthday card to once again ship back to Michigan.

Bird in a cage

This is a birthday card made for a friend in Michigan, using SU "Happy Moments. The polka dot paper is from MTME.

From Our Hearts

Here are a couple of pictures of cards made for Mother's Day for the From Our Hearts organization to forward to our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I opted to make all the cards the same just a few variations of color, using SU Manhattan Flower Embossing folder on vellum paper. I cut away the excess vellum at the top of the flower, swished some glue here and there and added SU Dazzling Diamonds stampin' glitter on the cut edge. The Well Scripted sentiment "Wonderful Mother was the perfect touch on a piece of whisper white CS, punched out using the large oval punch. Forgot to take a picture of the inside of the card, but it was also stamped "Happy Mother's Day" with a couple of itsy, bitsy butterflies from the Branch Out stamp set as well as repeated on the back of the envelope. Thanks for lookin'!

Mother's Day Card

This Mother's Day card is a prototype of a card I plan on making for a project I'm involved in with my gal pal stamper's/card makers, aka "Ladies of the Lodge" in Armada, MI. In December last year our group decided to make and send cards to the "From Our Hearts" organization. This is a non-profit group who have a very dedicated group of volunteers, who receive, categorize, manage and finally ship hand-made cards to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The soldiers are then able to select cards for birthdays, anniversaries, etc., to mail back home to their loved ones. If memory serves me correct, I originally heard about this from Gretchen Barron's blog Inspiration in Action.

The card is made using digitally downloaded patterned paper from My Time Made Easy. I printed 3 different patterns of the paper (1 stripe, butterflies on white and butterflies on brown) on Stampin' Up's (SU) Whisper White card stock. I cut out one of the butterflies from the brown patterned paper adhered it to the base piece, stamped the sentiment in SU's Chocolate chip ink using Well Scripted Clear stamp set (love the clear stamps now available from SU), added a strip of grosgrain brown ribbon with a (kinda) bow and topped it off with a pearl. What mother wouldn't love to receive this card from her son or daughter. This is our group's small effort to help support our troops, for all they do for us!

Hope you like it too.

Also a great big THANK YOU to my fabulous daughter, Nance Leedy, a SU Demonstrator (you can see her blog at Canopy Crafts, for taking the time to create this wonderful blog for me. It was fun working with her in making selections, but especially to see how competent she is creating this (and some other friend's) blogs.