Birthday Balloon Ride

How much fun is this little stamp from Penny Black. I'm in love with little Hedgies (no matter who makes them -- they ALL CUTE)! I colored this with my Copics and shaded the edges of the main image with Cat's Eye. The little "music" dp is a freebie that I got out of a magazine and thought it would perhaps look like "Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You" etc. etc. The sentiment is the curvy verses from Stampin' Up "You're a wonderful reason to clebrate!". The ribbon is a wire ribbon which is probably why it stands up so well!

Enjoy the look see.

A Day at the Beach

Sweet Seasons is a set from Stampin' Up that I really enjoy using -- there's one that applies to each of the four seasons. This one, of course, is for summer. The "BEACH" is a part of the "A Shore Thing Collection" from Snag'em Stamps that I had ordered last year when I was stamping some "Save the Date" cards for a friend's wedding in the Bahamas. The card is one of those little ones (4.25 x 4.25) that I just love to make. I hope you like this card as much as I had fun making it.

Celebrate Memorial Day!

My good friend, Jay, is still recuperating from back surgery. He is very patriotic and is always sending emails about our troops and American holidays out to his friends. I made this card to send him for Memorial Day. The image is Patriotic Bear from Whipper Snapper Designs. The layout is from Michelle O's blog Stamps, Paper, Scissors and Donkey Smiles. The star papers are from a stash of dp Mat Pack. The sentiment is a Stampin' Up rub-on. The star buttons have been in my button inventory for a long, long time. I used embroidery thread on the hole (and boy what a hard time I had doing that. As a result of diabetes, my left hand trembles and it was a real chore threading the buttons -- note to myself .. invest in another needle threader)!

Ingredients:

Very Vanilla CS, Real Red, Night of Navy, White, Summer Sun

Pallette Noir Black ink, Cats Eye beige for shading

Stampin' Up Large and Small Star punch

Buttons, Embroidery Thread, Copics

GRAND OPENING!!!

My daughter, Sara Williams (Tweaks and Designs), designed my new blog for a Mother's Day Gift!!! ISN'T IT GORGEOUS!! I love the colors, flowers, and little birds. She was so creative (as usual) with the fonts, design and all of it!! I was secretly hoping that she'd do this for Mother's Day for me (we certainly do think alike) and hurray SHE DID!! I made this card trying to use the same mum images and same colors to introduce the opening of my new blog!! I had ordered from Lizzie Anne the Garden Inspirations set (having seen a preview of what was going on the blog) so that I could use it on the first card going on the new site. I used Sage Shadow from Stampin' Up as the base color. The polka dot decorative paper is from Papertrey's Polka Dot Parade and the small floral under it was a freebie from Lizzie Anne that came with the stamp set. I mounted the two dp's were mounted on Blush Blossom (Stampin' Up). I used SU's Scallop Circle Punch for the large flower (colored with Copics). The leafy stem was colored with Stampin' Up's Sage Shadow and cut by hand. I punched the flowers from Blush Blossom using STU's Three for You punch box. Cat's Eye shading was used on all of the edges and 3-D Paint in tan was used as the centers of the small punch flowers. Dashes, Dots & Checks ribbons from Michael's accents the dp strip.

I love this card and think it is such a compliment to MY NEW BLOG!!

I hope you like it and the blog design.

Cards for Jay

The husband of one of my good friends is due to have back surgery next week. I have been making some cards to send to him while he is recuperating. I really like the Long Time Friend set from Stampin' Up -- #1 because it is easily either masculine or feminine and #2 because it is so much fun to color!! While talking about coloring, I must tell you a funny story ... my doctor has given me a prescription for Ambien to help me sleep (neuropothy complications from my diabetes) and it seems to lessen the irritation felt from the neuropothy. Well when Imade the first card (the watering can image), I had taken one 10mg pill almost immediately when I got home from work because I felt so bad. I went in the craft room and starting making the card (stamped the image, got my layout all set) and then started coloring. As the night progressed, I took another 10mg pill and went back to my coloring. I then got very tired and sleepy and decided to go to bed. The next afternoon after work, I went to finish up the card. To my astonishment, there were coloring marks on the image (the skinny leaves of the flowers coming out of the top of the watering can) where there was no image to be colored. The leaves go up either straight or at an angle and then down drooping from the can. Undoubtedly, the medication took hold of me and I just went "crazy" with a couple of coloring marks. Instead of doing the image all over again, I took a very fine black pen and drew in leaves where the green marks were. I hope that I was able to camoflage these mistakes.

Back to the card I modified some flowers that I got at Michaels to mimick the tiny flowers coming out of the tipped over flower pot. I still like the way it turned out and will definitely send it on to Jay (besides that I think he'll enjoy the story that goes with it).

The other card is from the same set. This time I didn't have to correct any coloring mistakes and will send it to him next week, too.

Ingredients:

Cardstock: Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue base from Stampin' Up; Close to Cocoa also Stampin' Up. White from Papertrey. Bitty Dots from Papertrey. Stripe paper from stash.

Stamps: Long Time Friend from Stampin' Up

Embellishments: Flowers are Brides Table Confetti from Michaels; Ribbon Brown PolyTwill from Stampin' Up; Amber Beads from Stampingbella; Pearl Beads (a donation from my daughter); 3-D Paint for flower centers; Scallop Oval Punch from Marvy; Fiskars Deckle Paper Edger Scissors; Cats Eye Ink for edgiing; Dimensionals; Copics; Chalks from Stampin' Up

Thanks for stopping by and come back again soon!

Hugs to all from Linda

Forget-Me-Nots

One of my very best friends, Lisa Bartek, is a Realtor for the company I have worked for for the past 26 years. She stays in touch with her customers and clients by sending them cards that she creates. Since it is spring, she thought she'd send them seed packets of Forget-Me-Nots and stowed them in this very clever pocket card. She used a flower punch for the blue flowers. The added faux stiching on the fold-down was genious!!! I was thrilled with her card as will be all those lucky enough to receive it. Thank you, Lisa, for sharing this with us.

Thank you for visiting today and come back again real soon!

Hugs Linda

Shelbie's Birthday

The original card I sent to my granddaughter never made it to her, so I made this replacement. I really am liking the color combination on this and they go so well with the Sparkling Summer set from Stampin' Up. The sentiment is from Stampingbella and speaks to all those yummy images on the card. The flowers are from Flora Doodles by Petaloo and are centered with a rhinestone brad from Stampin' Up. The cardstock is from Papertrey (Raspberry Fizz, Summer Sunrise and Summer Sunrise Bitty Dot Basics).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHELBIE!!

Hugs to all

Linda