It's Veggie Time

This week marks the beginning of our CSA pickups for the summer. See my post here to learn more about CSA programs and local agriculture. Tomorrow, I will pick up our free-range chicken and pork along with a special order of duck (I have never had or cooked duck before, but when Avalon Acres sent the extra order form, I had to try it out). David has been making fun of the duck eating idea and talking about how sweet duckies are and quacking occasionally... so once we pick up the meat, I'm not sure I'll be able to eat it. On Saturday, our Madison Creek CSA starts and we should be getting organic fresh greens and yummy strawberries. So... I wanted to show a Veggiebella card in honor of spring. This card is on Kraft cardstock with a background Purely Pomegranate "cuttlebugged" cardtock. Bella is stamped on watercolor paper and watercolored with an aquapainter in SU inks. The ribbon is Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain. Doesn't she look ready for some good eating; I wish I had her green thumb! Thanks for visiting.

Baby Announcements

These are the baby announcements I did for Lincoln. Is that not the sweetest picture? A professional photographer took it in the hospital. (He gave permission for us to make copies for the birth announcement.) It's one of the best "hospital" baby pictures I have ever seen. There are a few things I learned from this project that I wanted to share with you:

1. Vintage buttons look really cute on cards.

2. They look way better sewn on rather than glued.

3. If you sew 100+ buttons onto birth announcements, your hand will be temporarily deformed in a position very similar to a crab's claw.

4. You will never be able to finish a project like this without the help of a considerate friend, preferably your mother.

I would like to say that i would never consider sewing buttons onto a card for a large project like this again, but I know that when it comes down to it "cute" always comes before pain. I think it was worth it...

Beautiful Birthday

Sorry this picture is a little blurry. I wanted to share anyways. This card uses the great new DP from the Spring/Summer Catalog: Ginger Blossom. I containes a unique color combination of river rock, ruby red, cameo coral, and groovy quava. I also used the new stamp set: A Beautiful Thing for the main image. The happy birthday stamp is from a retired stamp set: Birthday Banter. I used the Groovy Guava Double stiched ribbon again and a mini library clip in the corner. Thanks for looking.

Bella's Argyle Golf Day

I wanted to share my golfing bella with you. She goes perfectly with this argyle paper from my patterned paper stash. It just so happened to match Stampin' Up's goovy guava and tempting turquoise paper perfectly. Bella is stamped on water color paper and is watercolored with the wonderful aqua painter. The Ribbon is double stiched groovy guava. The golf club and golf ball are both highlighted with crystal effects. Bella is popped up on Stampin' dimensionals. Thanks for looking!

Sweet Pea Baby Shower Invite

I had such a great time creating these invitations for my aunt's baby shower. She is due in March with a baby boy. We haven't had a new baby in the family for a long time and are all very excited. I 'm sure the poor kid will be spoiled and smothered with attention and love! The cards are 5" x 5" on Whisper White cardstock. I also used Bayou Blue and the designer paper from the fall catalogs hostess simply scrappin' kit: Creative Liscense. The main image and sentiment are from Papertrey Ink's Green Thumb Set. I used Copper brads and a copper "diaper pin" on the ribbon. The peas are enhanced with Crystal Effects. Thanks for looking. Let me know what you think!

I love my Crop-A-Dile!!!

Okay, So I am pretty much AMAZED right now.. I covered this clipboard with the Fall Flowers DP to show you another way to take advantage of the Paper Party.... After I was done Modge Podging (is that a correct term?...) I thought... well the jumbo eyelets would look great at the base of this clipboard... I had been wanted to put my Crop-A-Dile to the test... so I gave it a go. Now this is a regular office supply clipboard... NOT a paper crafting chipboard clipboard. The Crop-A-Dile went through with ease!! I barely had to add more pressure than I do when using it on paper. With the jumbo eyelets, I have found that the hole the Crop-A-Dile makes on the 3/16 side is a little small, but if I make it a little larger with the Crop-A-Dile, there is no problem, and no difference in the finished product. I simply punch around the hole a couple of times, enlarging it a little. This has worked for me... Also: Here is a link from Splitcoast showing how to alter a clipboard.

Grateful and Designer Paper

This card is for SCS Sketch Challenge #148. The Card base is a standard 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 piece of Wild Wasabi Cardstock folded in half. I then layered River Rock and Really Rust in 1/8 inch increments with the Really Rust punched in the corners with the ticket corner punch. I then added vintage brads to each corner. The Designer Paper at the top of the card is Apple Cider from the Holiday Mini Catalog. The Wild Wasabi band around the middle is "faux ribbon" made by crimping a 3/4 inch width piece of cardstock and then piercing the upper and lower edge with the paper piercing too from the Crafter's Tool Kit. I used Dotted Autumn for the stamp set. The central image is on Very Vanilla Cardstock. I used River Rock, Really Rust and Wild Wasabi ink. I punched the pumpkin out with the scallop punch and pierced the scallops. I used the Mini Library Clip on the top of the scallop with some non-SU ribbon. Don't forget about the Pretty Paper Party!!!

Stems and Designer Paper

I know what you're thinking: I can't believe she is using Stem Silhouettes... again. Well.. I'm sorry, but i can't help it. I love this set and how well it goes with the Fall Flowers DP (which is part of the pretty paper sale by the way :). I promise, from now on I will try to limit my use of Stem Silhouettes, but I must admit that it may be love and it may take me some time to move on... This first card is a 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 card made from the textured soft sky cardstock. The main image is whisper white mounted on creamy caramel cardstock and the stamp is stamped twice: once in old olive and once in soft sky. The "Thank You" is in creamy caramel. In the lower right corner, I used my Crop-A-Dile to set two of the Jumbo Eyelets in pewter. The ribbon is non-SU olive colored ribbon.

This card also uses Stem Silhouettes and the Fall Flowers DP. For this card the base is a standard 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 folded card in groovy guava. The designer paper is folded to reveal both sides of the paper. The image is also mounted on Fall Flowers DP and has the corners cut with the tag corner punch. I used the Jumbo Eyelet in pewter in the left upper corner and Hodgepodge Hardware also in pewter around the image and in the right upper corner. The image is stamped in Old Olive and the "Thank You" is stamped twice: once in groovy guava and once in soft sky.
Thanks for looking!!

Happy BOO to You!!!

I hope everyone is having a great Halloween. I have had 6 trick-or-treaters so far tonight. In my previous post I told you about my "dietitian moment" of deciding to pass out clementines and toys instead of candy. It is possible that I did disappoint one little guy who said "Hey, I don't want this!" when i put his clementine in his sack.... Oh well... what is cute and yummy to me may not be so cute and yummy to a 4-year-old. I altered these letters in honor of the season a couple of weeks ago and have really enjoyed them. They were very simple, esp. since they came painted white and i only covered the front with the Reminisce DP. I used modge podge to glue and seal each letter and added some coordinating ribbon to each letter. It only took me about 30 minutes to do all three + drying time. A quick and easy project that I plan on replicating for future holidays. Have a great evening, thanks for visiting.

Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet

Since Halloween is one of my favorite holiday's, I wanted to be festive tonight. I have been spending all night getting ready for tomorrow. Instead of candy, this year I am passing out clementines (They had some extra small ones at the grocery tonight.... so cute.. I had to buy them!) and some spooky toys. I bought this stamp set from My Favorite Things in the summer. I love the cute little trick or treaters!!! The tab holding the card closed is chipboard covered in crystal effects and glitter. the ribbon is from Joann's that I bought last year at the after Halloween sales. The designer paper is made by Reminisce. I have really enjoyed using this paper. Those of you who know me, know that I love Halloween... well i just love any thing festive and loud and fun!! I have another project I will show you tomorrow using some more of Reminisce's Halloween line.

Charming Gardeners

I made this card for the Technique Lovers Challenge over at SCS. This is for TLC140: Cracked Glass. I love this technique. It really gives a professional/finished appearance. For this image i stamped the image from Sidekick Sayings Hostess Stamp set in Basic Gray Ink. (I love this sentiment... it may be one of my favorites.) I then colored in the image with Stampin' Write markers in Ruby Red, Cameo Coral, Old Olive, and Garden Green. I then distressed the image with river rock ink. The "cracked glass" is layers of clear embossing powder layered and heated with a heat gun until a thick "glass" is made over the image. The image is then placed in the freezer for a few minutes and the bent repeatedly to make the cracks. I then rubbed basic gray ink over the image with a makeup sponge to highlight the cracks. I pierced the image and mounted on a piece of Basic Gray cardstock. The background is Cameo Coral cardstock that is distressed with River Rock ink. Thanks for looking. Let me know what you think!!

Color Challenge 137

I did this card for Splitcoast Color Challenge 137. The challenge is to use Purely Pomegranate, Basic Grey, and Soft Sky. I used the True Friend Set for this card. This is a tent topper card. The card base is a 4 1/4 x 8 1/2 piece of basic gray cardstock scored at 4 1/4. I stamped a background on the textured pomegranate layer. The sentiment is stamped in basic gray ink. The main image is stamped twice, once in basic gray and once in soft sky for the shadow effect. I used the jumbo eyelets in pewter at the bottom right of the card. I also used the ribbon slide from Hodgepodge Hardware with the black gingham ribbon. Hope you like it!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Well... it's not looking like Christmas yet, but it sure is time to get those Christmas cards ready!! I am so behind... if I think about it too much I get all anxious and itchy. This card is part of the Sketch Challenge from last week over at SCS (SC146). If you haven't tried the challenges over at Splitcoast, you really should check it out. The challenges provide so much inspiration and starting points for cards, scrapbook pages, etc. This card uses one of Stampin' Up's level one hostess sets. I wasn't able to get a very good picture of this card.. but I wanted to share anyways. I used the Dashing DP for the background that is matted with real red and very vanilla. The image is from Sidekick Sayings which is a hostess set. (If you live in the Nashville, TN area, feel free to contact me to set up a party so that you can earn a hostess set.) The image is stamped in basic gray ink. The tree is colored in with old olive and the brads are the fire rhinestone brads from Stampin' Up. It is hard to tell from the picture, but i used a mixture of the red and yellow rhinestone brads. The star at the top of the tree is covered in glitter and the main image is popped up on dimensionals. I also used a mini library clip from the Holiday Mini in silver. The ribbon is non-SU red organdy ribbon. Thanks for looking. Have a great week.

A True Friend is You Friend

This design layout is from Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge. It is always good for me to check out challenges when I lack inspiration. This is a Z-fold card. Beate also has a tutorial for this on her blog. This was my first Z-fold card and I will definitely be making more of these. I used the True Friend Set from the Holiday Mini Catalog. This stamp set is available through November 30 so contact me if you want to order. The paper is the Apple Cider DP and it coordinates with the stamp set. Gotta love anything that makes designing cards easier :) . The card base is made of Wild Wasabi Card stock. I also used River Rock and Really Rust Card stock for matting. The main image is stamped on Whisper white in River Rock and several of the panels are distressed with River Rock ink and a makeup sponge. On the back designer paper I stamped the smaller flower image from the set in river rock a few times to enhance the background. The sentiment reads "A true friend is you friend" in Really Rust ink. This is easily read when the card is closed. Pewter Brads are used around the sentiment and there is quite a bit of paper piercing. Thanks for looking!

More Stems

I wanted to show everyone this card as well. I really like simplicity. I used Stem Silhouettes again on the textured soft sky background. The "stem was stamped repeatedly and stamped off in soft sky. The darker image is in bayou blue and the sentiment is in chocolate chip. More paper piercing on the corners and eyelets on the bottom. The main panel is popped up on foam tape. Thanks for looking and have a great weekend.

Yeah, It's Friday

I am so glad it is Friday!!! Maybe I can get some stamping done this weekend. David and I went to dinner tonight with our good friends, Rachel and Anthony. It is so good to get out and relax! I have been playing with Stem Silhouettes this week and will have some more cards to show you this weekend.

This color scheme is a little out of my norm... a little more muted than my usual, but i am really happy with this. May be my "new look" (or maybe not).

Anyways, this is a 5 1/4 inch square card. The card is made of Sahara Sand cardstock. I used Fall Flowers DP mounted on Old Olive cardstock for the background. I added depth by stamping the main image twice: once in Old Olive and once in Sky Blue. Same with the sentiment. I used white organdy ribbon around the central image and the Photo Corner Punch on opposite corners. The brads are from Stampin' Up in pewter.

MY FIRST POST!!!!

Hi everyone... I am so glad to be posting finally. Here is a card that I created tonight. I used Stampin' Up's Stem Silhouettes from the Holiday Mini Collection.... It was my first time to use this set.. so pretty, lots of options... Anyways, another thing I love is that the rubber is die cut for all of the sets from the mini. So, no cutting!!! Yeah!!

• Paper: Old Olive, Ruby Red, Kraft, Fall Flowers DP


• Ink: Old Olive, Ruby Red


• Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Paper Piercing tool, mini brads in gold, I also used a white gel pen to highlight the berries on the stem.