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

StampTV challenge

I did this card this morning, for the challenge over at StampTV. Love those challenges and I'm getting bolder with entering. Maybe I'll break out of my comfort zone yet!

Cardstock: Orange from Michael's, SU Whisper White & Basic Gray
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder : Pumpkin Harvest
Chalks rubbed over the embossed area
Stamps from Gina K Designs : Words & bats
Stamp from Michael's : Pumpkin
SU Sahara Sand sponged around each white square, Orange for pumkin, Basic Black for bats.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday!

Just A Few Cards

Here are some of the cards I've done recently.


This is using stamps from Stampin Up. I used the Versamark on all the images and sponged in the background colors.








Using SU Branch Out stamp set. The tree and leaves are stamped using Versamark. I used a white gel pen to add highlights to the tree.






I bought this Hibiscus stamp at Michael's years ago. The fern in the background is from SU. The card and orange papers are using SU Whisper White and sponged using stamp pads from SU.














Versamark leaves and colored in with SU markers. The background is SU Whisper White and sponged with Creamy Carmel and Really Rust. The fleur-de-lis is a bigger stamp but I just used part of it to get the effect that I wanted.

Just Keeping Busy

It has been so busy here that I almost don't know where to start. We built a new grilling deck and laid a small concrete sidewalk to finish part of our renovation projects behind the house. I must say, I am impressed with hubby and son. Way to go guys!!

I've been working on a few things for a friend that is making a scrapbook for her upcoming granddaughter. She has picked pretty colors for the new baby book and I'm hoping to compliment her work.

Also , I have been quite busy with stamping and making cards. It just releases some kind of energy in me and I'm having a wonderful time making the cards. The problem is, who am I going to send them to? I have very few people to send a card to, but when I do, I know they are appreciated. That leaves me with a happy feeling.

A few months ago I signed up with Stampin Up so I can get the supplies and stamps at a nice discount and I've been building my never ending stash of papers and supplies. Quite recently I found Gina K designs and oh my goodness, the stamps and her designers are awesome. I'm hooked already. I love going over to stamptv.com to see all the latest and then click on all the designers blogs and wonderful inspiration from all of them. Wow!!

Last week the guys were out in the woods with the dogs. Pepper romped over a nest of yellow jacket bees and I guess all chaos broke out with the bees and both dogs. Pepper took the most bites, about 9. She had bumps all over her but the most visible was above her eye. Poor baby. Good thing I had Benadryl in the house so each dog got a dose of that which helped. Storm had two bites so she wasn't as bad. On Monday night, I noticed Pepper was starting to limp and getting stiff in her right front leg. Talk about worry. On Tuesday, I called the vet and got her in for a shot of pain and antibiotics and the vet said within 3 days she will be living up to her name again. The swelling in her paw went down and the stiffness went away and she's been really making up for lost time. I will admit it was nice to see her really calm and not underfoot but it wasn't in a good way. She's on antibiotics and pain pills for about a week so she's just back to bouncing along as usual. I never saw a lab with so much energy. Talk about being in 4-paw overdrive!

Well hope everyone is doing well. Have a great day!!

Don't Miss Those Sales!

Well it's Sunday and usually I take the day to sit back and relax and not let anything bother me. For over the past month, I have been getting emails from various blogs that I visit and many of these ladies sell for one of the exclusive stamping & scrapbooking suppliers out there. Today the big sale ended for the company and they start their new catalog tomorrow. Now I believe in one having their own in home business. I also believe in customer service. If you send an email to someone, you certainly would like to have a reply returned to you. I have really been leaning toward ordering some stuff from this company through one of their representatives, BUT, that representative must have decided that the questions about the products was not important enough to answer, thus losing a sale and saving me a quite a bit of money.

When it comes right down to it, not every one can afford the exclusive products. Granted it would be nice, but there are those on a disablity, stay at home moms, unemployed, low paying wage earners, etc. So stick with what you are comfortable with and every once in a while you might be able to splurge on a little something nicer. I would love to have the fancier papers for my cards alone, but when I sit right down and look at reality, why bother? I have very few people to send cards to anymore. Same with using paper in my scrapbooking. What on earth was I thinking of buying all those pads and stacks of paper? I guess I didn't realize that even though I have quite a bit I can scrapbook, I have so much paper now, it's not funny. It might take me a year or two to get through all of it. Ah well, I know now that I can ignore those sales at the stores and the exclusive companies for now. Saves me in the pocket book.

So whether or not you participate in those sales, ask yourself, do I really need it all? The first thing that will come to mind is probably...YES!, but in reality, a lot of it gets pushed aside. In this economy, I have to learn to just say no and miss those sales.