Pink Black-Eyed Susan

Finally, I'm back. It has been so busy the past two months in our household but things have slowed down for the summer. It's nice to be able to sit back and relax.

I have been busy making flowers and cards and today I have one of my latest cards to show you. I fell in love with the Sizzix Susan Tierney-Cockburn "Susan's Garden" dies and the Pan Pastel Flower Coloring Kit. So far I have 13 of her sets and I still have 5 more that I would like to get.

Today's project was submitted for the Cuttlebug-itis TOW Rectangles challenge. I used the Anna Griffin "Circular Grid" embossing folder, Spellbinders Labels 18 for the frame,  and Sizzix Black-Eyed Susan die set and Pan Pastels for that touch of extra color on the frame and flower. Normally everyone thinks of the color yellow for this flower, but it also grows in pink. So I thought I would do it in pink and I just love how it turned out.

I was going to add a greeting and bow to the front, but I didn't want anything to interfere with the look of the front of the card. If you could see this card for real, I bet you would be tempted to stop and smell the flower.

I also have made other flowers from the Sizzix Susan's Garden die sets. I have Hibiscus, Tulips, large and small Lily's, Dogwood, Flowering Quince and Forsythia already made. My thought is to make a ton of flowers from these dies and make a floral swag to hang in my craft room. I'll have blooming flowers all year round!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day!

5 Star Card

Recently I re-discovered a wonderful lady who is responsible for my interest in scrapbooking and cardmaking. I discovered DIY Scrapbooking 8 years ago with Sandi Genovese while I was at home recovering from heart surgery. I started watching her every day and I couldn't get enough of what I was seeing. Once I started getting my strength back, I started scrapbooking. What a wonderful hobby! So after the show was discontinued, it was like an old friend who had moved away and never to be heard from again. Well, I don't know what made me Google her name recently but to my surprise, she has an online show called Scrapbook Showgram - Scrapbooking with Sandi Genovese at you can find her at : http://scrapbookshowgram.com/. She has videos of her projects and you can follow along. I'm loving it. So having said all this, here is my take on Sandy's 5 Star Birthday card. I changed it up and will be giving it to a friend who also has her own scrapbooking club at her house which I try to attend 4 times a month. We have an 18 hour scrapbooking weekend coming up in October and it's just a little something to give her for being such a wonderful hostess. Here are the photos of my card. I tried to use CM as much as possible since she is a CM rep and I used mostly the CM Cricut carts along with Storybook Creator 4 to print background papers. Hope she likes what I've done!

Page 1 Heritage/Memories using Cricut Heritage Cart and CM Storybook 4 "Serenity" paper.

Spring - CM Storybook Creator 4 background paper and CM border.

CM Cheerful Seasons Cart along with CM  Disney Sticker at the top.

Fall - CM Cheerful Seasons Cart

Christmas - CM 'Tis The Season cart

Hope you enjoyed the photos and have a wonderful weekend.
Debbie

New Ideas for Cards and more

If you are looking for some new ideas for cards, head on over to http://mamawslegacy.wordpress.com/ for see her latest creations. Once you see what she has come up with, head on over to her store at http://shop.mamawslegacy.com/zencart/to purchase her files. Oh my goodness, what a fabulous way to make cards super fast using a cutting machine. Just beautiful ! Mary really puts in a lot of time and talent in making her designs. Yes I am biased, she's my best friend !!

Something new for the Cricut machine are gel pens and swirl gel pens available at http://www.cri-kits.com/index.html. They have a magnetic pen holder and gel pens that fit in the blade housing. Just swap the blade out and put the magnetic pen holder in and let the Cricut draw the design. I purchased all 4 sets of the gel pens and they work amazingly well. Today I received the swirl gel pens and as the pen puts out ink, the color of the ink changes as it flows. Super neat idea. I just love the pens. Now they are coming out with an embosser that will fit right into the magnetic pen holder. Does it get any better than this? Wow...I guarantee you will get hooked on their pens.

I will be posting some new cards that I used with Mary's new designs and using the Cri-Kits gel pens. I can't wait to start creating. Oh the ideas that are just flowing in my head!

Til next time, Happy Crafting!

Debbie

Beautiful Cards Sent to Me

Check out these two beautiful cards sent to me by my best friend, Mary Powell. She has a website where she has cutting files for sale and also has freebies. The first card she sent me for my birthday and the second card is for my wedding anniversary. They are such works of art that I just had to frame them. She does such beautiful work. Check out her website at mamawslegacy.com/.


The pictures don't do justice to the beautiful stamping and coloring that she incorporated. The flowers on the second card sparkle. I think she used Spica glitter pens. When the light hits the card, it just shimmers so softly. Just beautiful!

Thank you Mary for you beautiful cards.

Shiny Things

Hi Everybody!

My goodness, it's been over a week and I haven't blogged. Shame on me! In truth, I was somewhat busy. I recently participated in a die cut and card swap. I also am rather a "late bloomer" in trying new things out on the market. I picked up a bottle of Utee Embossing Enamel and fell in love with what I did. I quickly scanned these cards because I had to get them mailed out for the swap. It is rather hard to see the shine from the enamel. They looked so neat up close.



Items used are: Cricut Home Accent Cartridge
Stampin' Up! Cardstock : Whisper White for the butterflies, Green Galore, Passion Pink, So Saffron,Ballet Blue, & Basic Black
Stampin' Up! Border Stamps (1995)
Stampin' Up! Noteworthy Set(Flowers & Leaves-2006)
Utee Embossing Enamel
BIC MarkIt Permanent Markers
Versamark White Inkpad
Ribbon (white with green)

Cut the butterfly from the Cricut Home Accent cartridge at 3" out of the Whisper White cardstock. Take your favorite marker and color the entire butterfly. Lay the butterfly on a piece of scrap paper and stamp the white Versamark over the top. Using an embossing tray, lay the butterfly in there, pour UTEE over the top and shake off. Take a heat gun and heat the UTEE until it melts. Let the butterfly cool off before attaching to your card. I used foam popdots underthe butterfly and attached to card. For the color under the butterfly, I rubbed matching SU chalk colors.

I'm waiting for my order from SU so I can start making more cards. This past weekend I went to a SU stamp club and was able to buy retired sets of stamps. So my collection is off and running. I'm just starting to have more fun now that I'm getting into the world of stamping. Oh the things I have discovered the past 5 years. And to think I once thought crafting meant either crocheting or knitting with my grandmother or doing a counted cross stitch project to surprise my husband with years ago. My Aunt Joyce had to help me with my sewing project in junior high. She could make a sewing machine sing. All I had to do was look at a sewing machine and it gave me a dirty look back. I took that as my cue to leave some things alone.

If anyone gets a chance, go check out Dawn Griffith's blog at http://dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com/ I don't remember how I found her blog, but in my humble opinion, she is an awesome demonstrator for Stampin' Up!. She not only has her blog, she also puts out videos for stamping and a whole lot more. She is the reason I joined SU. Talk about enthusiastic. Listening to her on video and then talking to her on the phone, she sounds exactly the same. She is so full of energy and enthusiasm. If this lady has a bad day, you probably wouldn't know it. Also as you read her blog, you will find that she is steeped in her faith and she is a cheerleader for God also. I've never met her, but she just sounds amazing to me. Just listen to Dawn on one of her stamping videos will probably make you feel good inside! Her bubbly personality is really neat and contagious!!

Have a great week and weekend. Hopefully this time next week, we will be on vacation some place warm and without snow.

Debbie

Cards

Here's a card that I sent to my mom for her birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom!


Actually my dearest friend, Mary Powell, designed the card. Mary has her own website and sells her designs at http://shop.mamawslegacy.com/zencart/. She has so many unique ideas and I'm just in love with everything she puts into her store. Mary is one of the proud few that puts her heart and soul into her designs.





Now, on to holiday cards. These are two cards I made, one is the Mickey car but made for Santa Claus that I scraplifted from someplace. Sorry I don't know where I saw the card similar to this.








The other, with the penguins, the main idea for the layout of the card is off cover of the CardMaker magazine. The penguins I printed off and colored with markers and gel pens. I think it really turned out cute!