Absolutely Fabulous

Hi! My younger daughter has been an absolute darling the past few days. Last Monday, she had ballet dress rehearsals which lasted more than two hours - longer than it should be because they started late. Shortly after that, I whisked her away so we can catch up dinner being given to her choir group. She was so cooperative and easy that I simply melted, despite my feeling stressed out squiring her about with a three-year old in tow. Tonight I get to watch her onstage for her actual dance recital! And this is the card I made for her... She saw me making this card and remarked that she liked the colors, the dress, and the little sparkle coming off the Swarovski crystal!

Stamp: Humor in High Heels, Absolutely Fabulous

Ink: Basic Black

Paper: Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Whisper White, Almost Amethyst cardstock; Tea Party DSP

Accessories: SU certain celery twill ribbon, mat pack (for piercing), clear Swarovski crystal flatbacks, tiny Daisy punch (from Target).

Way to Go!

Hi! It's a busy, busy week for me this week.... The girls have their dress rehearsals and their dance recitals; their Field Days and their End-of-Year Programs, and their usual swimming & choir practices; and flute and piano lessons..... (my little son has one End-of-Year Program - that's a story for another day). Aaaarrrgh! What's a mom got to do? These are the days when I wish I have another pair of arms and legs ...or better yet - I wish I have a clone! LOL. The card I have today is for a friend's son who graduates from high school this week and will go to Westpoint Military Academy for college. That boy is seventeen, but for the life of me, I cannot imagine myself in his mom's shoes! All I can say is, they are both brave!

Stamp: Starring You

Ink: Basic Black

Paper: Dark Gray, Whisper White; non-SU silver metallic cardstock

Accessories: SU scallop oval and large oval punches; SU large star punch; clear Swarovski crystal flatbacks.

Have a great week! Thanks for dropping by -

Just For You

Hi! When I first saw this card by Jodi Collins, I knew I had to CASE it. Of course, it just took me months to get going... LOL! Well, here it is, finally! With my kids out of school for summer next week, I'll say, I might not be able to make cards in years! The nice thing about CASE'ng somebody else's card is I didn't have to use a lot of brain cells for the layout . I only had to come up with my choice of colors and alternate embellishments. All the DSP came from SU's Georgia Peach DSP collection - it's retiring, I believe. The piercing part was challenging for me to do. But I am very pleased with how the card turned out! Thanks for looking!

Stamp: Oval All, Flower Fancy (cut-out leaves)

Ink: Old Olive

Paper: Old Olive, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette cardstock; Georgia Peach DSP

Accessories: SU scallop oval and large oval punches; Fiskar large and small daisy punches; mat pack, crystal Swarovski flatbacks

Come sail away with me

Hi! It was my wedding anniversary yesterday. My hubby is an avid sailor so I made him a card with ... a sailboat on it! The sailboat image is from PSX; it's a stamp I've held on for years and years now because I can't find a better sailboat stamp out there. The sailboat image has two tall masts and does not look juvenile - definitely great when you're making a card for an adult male. My base cardstock is Chocolate Chip. I layered a piece of Close to Cocoa and ran it thru my Big Shot using the Background I Texturz Plate, Polka Dots. The sentiment "come sail away with me" came the old-fashioned way - from my printer using MS Word! LOL. Lastly, I had this Blue Moon charms from way back - so that nautical wheel came in handy! Come to think of it, this card will also work for a adult masculine birthday! Hmmmm, now I need to make more. LOL. Have a great day!

Stamp: PSX

Ink: Basic Black

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White

Accessories: Blue Moon charms, decorative chalk, Big Shot, Backgrounds I Texturz

Fabulous Friend

Hi! A wonderful friend of mine is coming to visit at the end of June. She is what I call a fabulous friend - someone who listens without making any judgments or criticisms. She has three older children and I love how she imparts bits of wisdom to me; after all, she's ahead of the journey called motherhood. When she's around, she works her schedule around mine, and she simply takes charge of my kids to allow me some breathing space without even taking credit! So my precious friend, this card is for you...

The base cardstock is Riding Hood Red. I used the same color to ink or color in the rose image so that everything matched with the Bella Rose DSP colors. There's a piece of vellum on top of the Bella Rose DSP - it's meant to mute the DSP so that the focal point would be the lovely rose image from the Fifth Avenue Floral set. I also ran that same piece of vellum thru the Big Shot Texturz Plates 1, the polka dots pattern. I did that so that the vellum will have a bit more dimension instead of being flat. The result however is difficult to see in this picture! I also drizzled a bit of dazzling diamonds on my rose. Note that the rose is multi-layered... for an added touch!

Stamp: Oval All, Fifth Avenue Floral

Ink: Riding Hood Red, Basic Black

Paper: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White cardstock; Bella Rose DSP

Accessories: SU's 5-petal punch, scallop oval and large oval punches, vellum, Big Shot, Textured Plates I, red ribbon from Michaels, SU dazzling diamonds.

Thanks for looking!

Little Japanese Girl

Hi! I am so excited! I finished making my first Japanese Girl card using one of the stamps from the HeroArts Three Japanese Dolls collection. As far as I can remember, I have always loved images, cultural artifacts, and anything cute from Japan (not just the Hello Kitty stuff). However, I am not a fan of the samurais or the manga anime.

I was so inspired after reading Patti Lee's blog where she featured similar stamps from HeroArts. As I started with my base card, I recalled that the uber-talented Patti loves the color red, and I thought, hmmm, why don't I use red? The red Japanese lantern paper (left of card) is from a pack of origami paper I've hold onto all these years. The gold cardstock also comes from the same package. The kanji writings (right of card) is from a 12x12 paper I bought from Joanns two or three years ago! And well, the black strip? It's SU's Basic Black cardstock. The doll was stamped on Whisper White using Basic Black ink; and then punched out with SU's wide oval punch. I used my old scallop scissors to cut the circle around my doll.

The sentiment "Thank You" comes from a retired SU set called Artfully Asian. If I did not have the pattern paper or the origami paper, I would have used the flowers from that same collection.

Thanks for looking!

Stamp: HeroArts Japanese Doll collection, SU Artfully Asian

Ink: Basic Black

Paper: SU Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock; origami paper, DSP from Joanns

Accessories: SU wide oval punch, decorative chalk