In Sympathy

Another sympathy card here...for a NC friend so the dogwood is perfect. It's a Memory Box stamp and the background is Inkadinkado. I added the gold metallic paper to make it a little more special. The dogwood flower is cut out and popped up for added dimension.

I've been busy working on some dog collars this week. They are so simple to put together and I can make them any color I want and decorate them as I please. So fun! Still haven't come up with a name yet but we are leaning towards Molly. We have had all "M" named dogs (Max, Meg and Muffy) so my hubby wants to stick with that tradition. If you have any suggestions....please forward them on to me!

Have a great day!

Sweet Columbine

Here is a Columbine flower I stamped and cut using a Memory Box set designed especially for Simple Pleasures here in the Springs. I added 6 more die cuts around the sides by Memory Box - Macarena Corner. A few pearls here and there and it's done. This is one of two sympathy cards I needed - never fun to do.

Hope you have a great weekend! I think I have several graduation cards that I will be needing so maybe I can get a start on those this weekend.

Another Easter card...

Hope you had a nice Easter! Mine started out in a way that wasn't too pleasing to me! At the last minute, I decided I would go up to my daughter's house for dinner. It's about 1 hour and 15 minutes away which is not too bad - unless you have back troubles - and then it can seem like 15 hours!!! But, I did it anyways and was happy to be there to enjoy my first Easter dinner that I had not prepared in 32 years! How nice is that! And she cooks extremely well so it was YUM YUM good! BUT...before I left, I went downstairs to get her basket of goodies! Well, the Easter mouse had visited and ate HALF (or more) of the 2 Cadbury CHOCOLATE eggs in the basket! I was not happy. Not only that...but I had to drive up to Denver to deliver this basket and I was not about to look for a mouse in it. So, I grabbed a zipped freezer grocery bag and quickly put the basket inside and put it in the VERY BACK of the car. I feared that mouse would get out of there and come see me in the driver's seat and cause a major accident. YES, I HATE those critters. So, we made the trip with no problems and Josh and Brittany got the bag out of the car. Her dog went nuts over the basket. She knew there had been a critter in there and she wanted it. So, they emptied the basket as I stood as far away as I could get...and found nothing. That meant the mouse was back at my house! Oh no! Not good. When my hubby got home from work on Tues, we went and bought some traps. Well, guess what? We caught a BIG healthy mouse today! Yes, it was either full of chocolate or pregnant! Either way...it is now gone and I am very happy. 3 more traps waiting for any other uninvited Easter guests! I'll keep you posted.

That brings me to my next bit of exciting news!!! We are going to be proud parents (not grandparents!!!) of a new puppy on June 2! It's time to have help taking care of uninvited guests!!! We will be getting a new Westie. It's almost like having a new baby. We ordered a pet pen and some toys today. I ordered a bunch of supplies to make some cute collars, leashes, and harnesses. We are still figuring out a crate and booster seat. After about the first year or so she will have the free run of the house if she is good. Until then, we would like to keep our new home together. So, my time with crafting will be severely limited as I begin the long process of training her. It's a LOT of very time consuming and hard work but I think I am ready for it.

Here is a card I never got posted. It has lots of diecuts by Spellbinders and a few floral punches that have been distressed on the edges. The white lacy edging is cut from a circular die. I used a $1 stamp for the sentiment and added some pearls and a bow. Hope you have a great day and I'll be back soon!

Golden Beauties

It's such a beautiful day for an Easter egg hunt. Hope all the little kids had lots of fun today hunting eggs and again tomorrow. While my kids were in college, we continued to carry on the tradition of Easter Egg hunts at our house. They loved them even in their 20's! And you may wonder why??? Well, we put paper money in the plastic eggs! You just can't imagine how much fun we had watching young adults hunting for eggs in our back yard!!! And they were hunting them as fast as they could cause they didn't want their sibbling to get more money than they got. I loved every minute of it! We actually did it our last Easter in Arizona when they were both married!!! Their spouses loved it too! I think I got greater joy out of watching them as married kids hunting for Easter eggs than I did when they were 4 or 5 years old! Unfortunately neither of them will be here this Easter so no egg hunts.

Here is another card using some of the same die cuts. As you can see, I do LOVE the Spellbinders frame. The flourish is a MFT die. The flowers are punches. Simple card!

Have a wonderful Easter day!

Pretty Pink Tulips

Don't you just love tulips! I sure do. We got to see all the gorgeous tulips in every color of the rainbow when we were in Holland and I still did not get my fill of them!!! This is a card made using a Spellbinders frame die and a Memory Box tulip die. I cut out additional tulips in the pinks and glued them on top of my green tulip base. Oh, do I love my new Big Shot!!!

I am back to sewing on a quilt. If I spent a few hours JUST sewing, I could get it done. But, I get side tracked and thus the delays. And today I found some little droppings under a railing in my craft room. I don't know if it is from a mouse or flies or what. They are 1/8" to 1/4' long and pencil lead thin. What do you think? Maybe you shouldn't tell me. I'm very squeemish. I need my granddoggy to come visit and take care of this problem. HMMM...I may be getting a puppy sooner than I thought. There are some Westies available at the end of May. They are so hard to find in Colorado but I did find a breeder in Denver that has some. Been watching for awhile now! I know they are SO SO much work to train but I also know that the training pays off and they are the most wonderful dogs. Will have to make a decision soon since you really need to train them in the summer here. Stay tuned!

Have a great Easter weekend. No plans here. Just me, myself and I here so lots of crafting!

Ballet Bunny

Another Easter card here...Ballerina Bunny from Penny Black. Back when my daughter was about 4 years old, I made her a dress with this Daisy Kingdom Ballerina Bunny design. So, when I saw this stamp many years ago, I couldn't resist picking it up. I only wish I had saved all those Daisy Kingdom dresses I made her. But, in those days, I made all of her clothes and just couldn't save too much since we moved around so much. The white frame is by Spellbinders and I absolutely love it and use it a lot. I'm so happy to have a Big Shot again!

I hope to get a few more cards posted this weekend so drop by between your Easter festivities!

Happy Easter

Today was a great day! I got my new Big Shot! I don't think there are too many cards that I make that I don't use the Big Shot for at least one cutting. So, when mine broke...everything came to a halt! It's amazing how much better my new one cuts and I don't have to use 6 or 7 shims! So here is a bunny card I made with a Spellbinder's die and I'm not sure what clear stamp company this is from but it's been around for quite a few years. The DP is by Imaginisce and the white border is a MS punch. I love the suede ribbon from Sharon Johnson's shop, No Time to Stamp.

Winter came back yesterday and left us with a foot of snow today. It was a very wet snow too which made it difficult to blow it off the driveway. We went to the Springs today and it was bone dry there. It's quickly warming up again and spring will be back by the weekend!

See you again real soon!!!

Easter Basket for you

My day did not start out too well! I have known for awhile that my Big Shot was about ready to go. Well, today was the day. It just quit. Handle won't turn. Nothing! So, I called a few of my favorite places locally to get prices on a new one. I wanted one NOW. I got a big order of die cuts on Saturday and REALLY wanted to play with them. Well, guess what? They are all $99 in town. So, I finally decided that I really could wait a few days and save $30 by ordering online. So, Wednesday will be a good day for me!!! I signed up for the 2 day Amazon Prime "trial" JUST so I could get it by Wednesday! I will most likely cancel after my month of free shipping and 2 days delivery. You know how us stampers are....when we need something...we need it NOW!

But, here is my final project before the funeral! I got this adorable basket die by Marianne. It also came with a flower and a leaf die cut. But, I was unable to use them so resorted to stamping some cute little eggs from a $1 stamp at Michael's (a few years ago). The little bunny in the basket is by Paper Salon (many years ago). And the green grass is hot fix fibers that I picked up at a stamp show a few years ago in Phoenix. I added a few rhinestones to the basket to bling it up a bit.

We have been so so busy here working on more house projects. We worked out in our yard all day yesterday and were ready to start planting a garden. Well, it was near 80 yesterday and it's in the low 30's now and starting to snow! Crazy weather! So, we changed gear and put up shelves in the garage. They were long overdue! We cleaned the floors yesterday so it's like a whole new garage today! Many more projects on our list - UGH!

Happy Easter

Hope you are enjoying these nice spring days we seem to be having in much of the country. I can not believe it has been in the high 70's here in Colorado! Unbelievable for March! Unfortunately I've been busy INSIDE cleaning and buffing hardwood floors. What a job! I have about half of it done and I've been working 2 days on it! But, they do look beautiful!

Here is an Easter card I made today and it's quick and easy - just like I like it! The bunnies are by Denami Designs and are covered with the glitter glue for a little extra pizazz. The sentiment is by Paper Salon. Thge image is cut out and popped up on dimensionals on a Spellbinders frame. The DP is by Cosmo Cricket and the ribbon is from Sharon Johnson's store.

Have a wonderful day!

Easter Blessings

I'm back with an Easter card. The day is creeping up on me and I haven't done hardly any cards yet! This is probably my favorite Easter stamp. It's a very old stamp by Stampendous and it's from their Beatrix Potter collection. I pull it out every year. I added a few dollar stamps in the center of the bunny design. And the sentiment is by Judith. The beautiful frame is by Spellbinders.

Hope your week goes well. I have not been crafting in quite some time so am hoping I can find time this week to get up to my craft room. I plan to purchase a floor buffer for all my wood floors so may find myself working a little too hard in the near future. But, it's better than getting down on my hands and knees! Have a great week!

Miss You

I'm back with a quick card to share. The bird image is actually a K & Co. die cut in a package of many. I have cut it apart to use on this card. The ribbon is from Sharon Johnson's, No Time to Stamp store. The top border is Spellbinders and the green foliage is a punch.

I had my wisdom teeth out on Thursday afternoon and have been so much better. It's amazing the pain they can cause.

I probably won't be posting too much this week. We are having some major projects done in the house so I will be supervising with that since my hubby won't be available. I will be so glad to get the house back together again! My hubby redesigned our closet so that has taken about 10 days to get completed with his crazy work schedule. It is SO much nicer now and much more usable space. The cabinet guys will be in the LR this week - more messes but it will be worth it in the end! Hope your week goes well! See you soon with some exciting news!

Happy Birthday

Here is a card I made today using lots of Spellbinders dies. The DP is Basicgrey. The ribbon is from Sharon Johnson - No Time to Stamp, blog. She has awesome ribbons and my favorite place to get them! The stamped sentiment is by Papertrey Ink. I airbrushed the flower a little on the edges.

I have discovered how painful wisdom teeth can be in my old age. I have had 2 impacted top wisdom teeth for years and was told they would probably never come in. Well, guess what? One is in, and the other has been giving me so much pain these past 6 days. I'm ready to have it pulled out. I have an earache, headache, tooth ache, jaw PAIN and a sore neck. If babies have to go through this much discomfort, it's no wonder they are fussy and miserable when they are teething!!!

Have a good week!

Easter Blessings

Here is an Easter Card I made today using lots of dies. The flowers are all die cuts by Memory Box. The greenery is by Punch Bunch. the cute bunny was actually sitting on a present and I cut that out. It is a stamp by Stampavie and the sentiment is by Judith. I punched the background with a MS set.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Birthday Wishes

Here is a birthday card for my son. It's so perfect for him, even though he probably could care less. He is a finishing up pilot training in the Navy and has always been fascinated with airplanes. This reminds me so much of him when he was a few years old. The stamp is by Penny Black. The star is a MS punch. The DP is SU.

We woke up to about 4 or 5 inches of snow this morning - surprise surprise! It's been snowing all day and we have about 8 or 9 inches on the ground. I really wish the guys that plow our streets would learn how to do a cul-de-sac. Some how they think that they should plow the side that noone lives on but leave all the snow in front of the ONLY 2 driveways in the cul-de-sac. With close to a foot of snow in the streets, it makes it hard to get out when they do half the street - and nobody drives on the other side!!! I just don't get it! They are absolutely clueless.

Have a great day!

Spring is coming!

By the temps outside, you would think spring is just around the corner here. But, the ground is still white and more snow is coming. But, here is a card to make us feel like spring is coming. The window and flower box are die cuts by Poppystamps. Most of the flowers are punches or diecuts by Memory Box. The yellow gingham curtain is a punch by MS. The big frame is Spellbinders. Many of the cards I make, I leave off the front sentiment until I use the card. That gives me more options! I have plenty of small sentiments that will work on most cards so I like to wait to put those on which is why you don't see many on my cards!

Hope your day goes well! See you again!

praying for you

Wow! This doesn't look anything like the colors on my card!!! Not sure what the deal is with that! The background is a beautiful dark purple and the lighter background is a green. These are both SU DP's. I have backed both of the DP's with a bright yellow - not orange as it appears. The left stamp is a Jalynn design clear stamp. It was stamped in purple and colored with copics. The flower is popped up in the center and is a Memory Box stamp. The lace punch is by MS. The sentiment is SU. This really is a beautiful card in real life!

Hope your weekend went well. I have enjoyed the peace and quiet to concentrate on some new crafting projects that aren't really my cup of tea! But, I am determined to get through it so I will show those to you down the road. Have a great week!

Dogwood beauty

Here is a dogwood flower card that is the state flower for NC which is where I grew up. I always loved dogwood trees. They were so beautiful in the spring. This is a new Memory Box stamp that I have cut 2 times and popped up with dimensionals. The sentiment is SU.

We had about 3 inches of snow last night. I wasn't expecting it so was quite surprised when I looked out the window this morning. I brushed it off the driveway and was peeling off clothes! It was 47 when I went outside so I really didn't need a coat.

Have a great day!

Memory Box Exclusive

Today I made this card using a Memory Box exclusive stamp and die for a local stamp store here in Colorado Springs. It is not available anywhere else! The flower is our state flower. The center is stamped twice and popped up with dimensionals. The hummingbird is also stamped twice and popped up in the body of the bird and then the wings are bent for a 3D effect. The sentiment is by Prickly Pear. The frame is Spellbinders.

I have some sewing projects to do this weekend but hope to do a few cards as well. Hope your weekend is a fun one!!!

Spring card

Happy Valentine's Day! Here is a springy card I made rather quickly today. I had to get away from the taxes awhile. We are just beginning the grueling task and it's not going to be a fun journey with the move last year. But, it has to be done. So these are a few punches that were placed in the center of a Spellbinder's die. I popped up the outer oval for a little extra dimension. The DP is some old SU paper from several years ago. Have a great day!

Lacy card

This could be used as a valentine card but that was not my intentions when creating it! I decided to try my hand at the punch around the page punches by MS. I started with a 5" square and went to town! I got lucky!!! How beautiful is that? So then I just started putting Spellbinder's dies on top of it and my card was done. I have wanted to use these Webster's Pages cameos for a long time and this worked out perfectly. The ribbon is silk and always makes such beautiful bows.

It's so hard to believe Whitney Houston is gone. She was such a beautiful lady with an amazing voice! It's so sad that so many people with such talent bring so much happiness to all the people in this world except themselves.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day! It's one day that I prefer not to venture out to the busy restaurants so we will be enjoying ours at home. I have a few favorite recipes that I make for Valentine's Day. We may have more snow coming in so it will be a nice night to sit by the fire!