HOLY COW!!

Friends, I'm so sorry for not posting anything in over a week! Things have been CRAZY around here. We've been dealing with car AND truck problems and have spent a LOT of money getting everything fixed. Our car had been in the shop for three days and when we went to pick it up, our truck developed problems. So, we picked up the car and left the truck. UGH. I hope this is IT for a while.

I'll go find a card and be back later to post. I'm running out of cards but it's so nice outside for once, that it's hard to find the time to sit and concentrate on being creative. Thanks for being patient.

Embrace Life - Sympathy

THIS beautiful card came straight from Laura here. It was so beautiful that I copied it almost exactly as she stamped it. I had the card dimensions a bit off so I couldn't use all the elements that she did, but I was SO pleased with the result!

It’s made with the Embrace Life set which has SO many different uses and that I had used for other things but not for something somber like this. I had to wait on an order of the Basic Grey satin ribbon before I could do this card. There were a lot of elements to this card which were a bit hard to keep track of but I was pleased with how this turned out. As Laura did in her post, I used Crystal Effects to make the flowers stand out a bit. Thanks for the inspiration, Laura!

Recipe:
Embrace Life, Warmest Regards (ret.)
Paper: Whisper White, YoYo Yellow, Basic Grey, Going Grey
Accessories: Basic Grey taffeta ribbon, Crystal Effects, yellow non-SU! ribbon, paper piercing template and piercer

We're Back

Dear Friends,

I'm back from vacation but haven't had a chance to post anything new yet. We had car trouble on the way home and are now lighter in the wallet, but we're home safe and sound. Thank goodness for AAA! Anyway, I'll try to get something posted in the next day or so. Coming home from an 8 day vacation and then my husband getting sick, makes for little time to stamp. He should be feeling better by tomorrow, I hope. Not sure what hit him, but he's been an unhappy camper. Usually I'm the one needing the extra help, not him. Poor guy......

DANG!!

Hello All, sorry it's been a few days since I've posted something but it's been busy here plus it's been so HOT. My stamping room and computer room are one and the same and we've had warm weather the past couple days and it's been uncomfortable being upstairs for any length of time. When I get hot my creativity goes right out the window and I sort of forget that I have this blog going that people actually do check out once in a while.

I'll try to get something posted in the next day or so. Today we were dealing with terrific thunderstorms that rolled through here and dropped about 3" of water in about 3 hours. My husband and I were at Walmart and we were in the back of the store when a big clap of thunder sounded like it was right on top of us, the lights sizzled and then went out for a couple of seconds. We should have taken that as our cue to go HOME but noooooooo, we had to hit the grocery store first and got stuck there when more lightening hit close enough to set off someone's car alarm. And I WAS THE ONE DRIVING!! We drove home in the rain and sat out in our parking lot waiting for it to let up enough so we could get in without getting soaked. It was so warm today that it actually felt good however, to be somewhat wet. We've got flood warnings out and water everywhere. Manhole covers were popping out of the streets there was so much water pressure! Since our storm sewers and sewer sewers are one in the same, I'm sure there was some dumping into Lake Michigan today. Yuck. The weather maps have been brightly colored all afternoon and evening. It's raining again as I'm writing this.

Anyway, after going to church tomorrow morning we're staying HOME the rest of the day (the storms are to continue into MONDAY) so hopefully I'll be able to post something then. Hope all is well wherever you are. Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Whimsy in Pink

Sorry that I've been out of touch recently. I was out of town over this past weekend visiting my family. All of us were together for the first time in over 10 years and a great time was had by all.

Anyway, I found this card on Diane’s website but it was designed by Glenda Travelstead. Check Diane’s card out "here" I thought this was a GREAT card, looked good enough to eat with the chocolate "frosting" and "sprinkles." The manager at my new job ordered one of these for her grandmother’s 80th birthday. I just redid the "happy birthday" on the tag to put it closer to the outside edge and inserted by hand the number 80. Put some Crystal Effects on the frosting and sprinkled on some beads and YUM! I'm told that the grandmother really liked the card and my manager has bragging rights for the rest of the year.

Recipe:
Stamp Set: Birthday Whimsy
Paper: Pixie Pink, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Pixie Pink, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Key Tag Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Crystal Effects, Beadifuls "Sonic Blooms" beads by Queen&Co., yellow Stickles glitter glue, 5/8" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

Liberty For All

Happy Memorial Day! In honor of this holiday and in honor and memory of those Veterans who have served, I’m posting a patriotic card. This one was made using the "Liberty For All" stamp set from Stampin’ Up! It’s been discontinued but I know there’s one similar in the current catalog.

The eagle stamp was colored with Real Red and Night of Navy Stampin' Spots and stamped on Whisper White card stock. It was then layered first on Night of Navy and then Real Red card stock. The base card is Whisper White and the star stripe is stamped first with Versamark and then heat embossed with silver EP. I like the simplicity of this card and yet the eagle looks SO majestic!

Recipe:
Stamp Set: Liberty For All
Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Night of Navy card stock
Ink: Real Red and Night of Navy Stampin' Spots, Versamark
Accessories: Silver Embossing Powder, heat tool

Elegant Whimsy

I have to keep reminding myself that I have this blog and that people are actually checking it out. I have a tendancy to get behind with my posting. Today was supposed to be my day off from work but I got called in to help with a major copy project. (I retired two years ago but am back to work very part time at a local copy store.) Then I had to run off our condo newsletter which I will hand deliver tomorrow before going in to work in the afternoon for my regularly scheduled hours. After I post this, I'm going to bed. I'm beat.

I got the idea for this card from Splitcoast. It's using one of the free stamp sets that was available during the last Sale-a-bration promotion by Stampin' Up!. I copied it shamelessly because I thought it was just that elegant. Check out the card Here

I thought this could even be used as a masculine card because with the "bow tie" and the dark colors, it looks sort of like a tuxedo.

Recipe:
Stamp Set: Birthday Whimsy, Canvas Background
Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Basic Grey, Basic Black, Very Vanilla
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: 3/8" wide ivory satin ribbon, Crystal Effects, yellow Stickles glitter glue, ticket corner punch

I stamped the cake in black, and then stamped the frosting part in Purely Pomegranate and cut just that part out. I attached to cake and then put Crystal Effects on to add a glazed "frosting" look.. Add some yellow Stickles for flames and a bow tie and it’s done!