Faeries and Bears, Oh My!

Meet Nadine. To me, she's the Sun Faerie and she's calling out for the sun to break through and shine all over Maine! Isn't she fabulous? When Susana at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design started carrying these faeries, I had to have her and do her in strong, glorious colors. I colored her with my copics and then outlined her dress with my Gold Atyou Spica Glitter Pen. The wings were stamped on vellum using my Champagne Versamark Glitter Pad and then colored with Sunflower Shimmerz. I love this product and how much depth it adds to whatever it touches! The paper is from two of the Dovecraft packets, Fantasy and Abstract. I also used a clear glitter pen to outline the petals and the background on the paper. Gold Glitter Dots fill in the corners and the sun is formed with my circle and scalloped circle nestabilities.

Susana also carries these cute Shy Bears and one of my favorite things to drink is coffee, french vanilla with cream and sugar! This cutie, Tea Cup Shy Bear, so reminds me of how I feel just before I get that first sip! Aren't the green curlers in her hair too cute? I used my copics on her and then colored her with Coffee and Opal Shimmerz. Her adorable band is colored in Pink Poinsettia Shimmerz and I outlined her nose with my clear glitter pen. I used Distressed Stickles in Worn Lipstick along the rim of her cup and the flowers and touched the middle with Scattered Straw. The flowers are from Imagniese and the brads are from Joann's.

I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season and keeping the spirit of Christmas with them. I'll be back!

Lots of catching up!

I'm so excited to be back to the blogging world. Life is starting to settle down for the holidays and I've had some time to have a blast stamping before I sit down and sew all night. Some of my favorite cards are ones that reminds me of my girls. When I saw Tilda Hanging Ornaments and the Christmas Tree from Alotof Rubber Stamps at Summer's store, Roses on Paper, I had to have them! All three of the girls used to help put the ornaments up on the tree and I could see all of them in this precious Tilda. They've all grown up and have trees of their own and this was the first year that I just put up the lights and Nichole and Branden decorated the tree. They did a beautiful job and I did the kitchen! I added some Crushed Velvet Flock from Doodlebug, that you can pick up from Susana at Susana Custom Art and Card Design, to the bears on the tree and the ribbon on one of the packages. And the glitter on the snowman makes it shimmer and shine!

I'd love to introduce you to a too stinkin fun line of stamps Susana is carrying called Shy Bear by I Break for Stamps. This is Beach Shy Bear and can't you just feel this cutie's shyness while he's hanging out under the beach umbrella? I love the touch of Glossy Accent on the beach ball and the glass and pitcher. It makes me thirsty for lemonade!

Isn't "Precious Moments" so stinkin sweet? She's from Sarah Kay and you can pick her up from Summer. I worked her up for the Design Team Sketch that Iris is hosting at PCP for Roses on Paper. We have a new Roses on Paper Challenge Blog and we'd love to have you participate! The little chicks around her remind me of one year at Easter when I got a chick. She gives me hope to make it through our snow storm that we just got through and to hand in there and wait for the precious gifts that the spring brings. I love the Gypsy paper collection from Basic Grey Papers I used with her and love the Dew Drops, Primas, and Ice Stickles.

All of the snow we've gotten has just brought Daisyboardabella from Stamping Bella out! Nichole and Branden love to snowboard and I can just see this hat on Nichole's head. The beautiful paper is from the Winter Wonderland collection from Dovecraft and you can e-mail Susana about it. It's just beautiful to work with. The gold daisies are for her because there are gold flowers on the bottom of Nichole's snowboard. When the light and snow hit it just right, they shine like you wouldn't believe! I added some Glossy Accents to the board to make it look like she just came down the slopes!

I hope everyone enjoys these and I'll be back tomorrow with a couple more. Hope everyone is having a great, stress free holiday season!

Roses on Paper DT and Whiff of Joy Challenge

While I detest snow, I've got to admit that it's just beautiful when it's falling. I think Lizzie with Muff reminds me of the love I have for snow. She's so soft and sweet looking all dressed up in her wool outfit and her ear and hand muffs! What a beauty she is!

I made Lizzie for the Design Team Challenge for the Roses on Paper Group at Paper Craft Planet and also for the Whiff of Joy challenge. We were challenged to create a Christmas card using a Whiff of Joy, Magnolia or Stampavie stamps. This beauty came from Summer at Roses on Paper and I can't get enough of her! When I got the Winter Wonderland paper from Dovecraft from Susana at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design, I knew what colors I was going to do her in. Susana's is the only place in the states you can order this paper from and it's in very limited supply so e-mail her for the availability of this great selection of paper. It's absolutely luscious to feel and the colors are just so rich and full.

Winter is still my least favorite season, but Lizzie and Winter Wonderland made it a bit easier to take! Thanks for looking

Recipe: Lizzie With Muff by Whiff of Joy, Winter Wonderland paper from Dovecraft, Gold Sparklers, Atyou Silver Glitter pen, Glitter Stack from DCWV, Snowflake punch and glitter from Martha Stewart, White Fun Flock.

Muffins and Bunnies

Getting out the Christmas decorations got me thinking about traditions. Nichole has decided that she's going to plan the living room and I'm really curious to how many of the things I used to do made an impression on her. One tradition I can't let go of is making blueberry muffins on Christmas morning. When I saw Tilda with Rolls at Summer's shop, Roses on Paper, I knew I had to have her because she reminded me of my girls in their nightgowns Christmas morning chowing down.

I colored her with copics and mounted her on card stock cut out with my circle nestabilities. The Papers are Euphoria from Basic Grey and the flowers are Primas. I was so excited because on her socks and on her basket I used Flower Soft. I love how she came out. You can purchase everything you need for her from Summer! Go say "Hello"!

When my girls were little we got them a bunny for Easter. He was gray and we named him Smokey. The girls loved him and would screech around the house after him. He was great fun till he got out! This cutie, Fairy With Bunny, can be picked up from Susana at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design. When I saw her, pansies came to mind and purple just popped right out at me! I love her beautiful face. Her eyes are so entrancing!

I colored her with copics and used my Atyou Spica Clear glitter pen in her hair on on the flowers. I put crystal Stickles on her wings and Dew Drops on the corners. I stamped a flourish on the purple card stock with my new VersaMark Dazzle in Champagne and embossed it with clear embossing powder. It doesn't show very well in the picture, but it has the prettiest, lightest tink of sparkle to the background. I just adore her and hope you all go visit Susana's shop. She's got fabulous stamps and accessories in her store and don't miss your chance for her great web candy. And don't forget Suzanne's blog candy! Great, calorie-free stuff there!

Well, I'm off to bed. Hope everyone is having a great time this time of the year with their own traditions and faerie magic.

Jane - The Perfect Light Source

When I saw Jane at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design, I knew I had to have her for a couple of reasons. First, she's a stunningly beautiful stamp, Rubber Romance stamps are a dream to work with, but mainly because I keep running into people who have battled breast cancer. I love that Robin at Rubber Romance donates $1.00 from the sale of each of these stamps to breats cancer research and education. What I also love is that Susana will match that donation for every Jane stamp that she sells through her store. I hope that everyone will take a minute and think about how every dollar adds up and our small amounts that we're able to donate in our own way could be the small difference that tips the scale in favor of preventing this horrific disease.

I'd made Jane into a card as soon as she came in so when Susana wanted to showcase her, I wanted to do something different than another card. Jane became a ray of hope for me and I decided to make her into a candle. We've beenn withot power for over 30 hours so I made the perfect choice for her! What better way to show her as a light of hope than through a flame.

This was the easiest thing I've made! I found it from Jacqui from the Whiff of Joy group at Paper Craft Planet.
These aren't her exact instructions, but this was so easy and how I did it:

White or cream pillar candle
Tissue paper
stamp, ink and coloring preference
baking wax paper, like Cut Rite
Heat Gun

Stamp the image on the tissue paper and color. Cut the image out close to the outline of your stamp.

Place your image on the candle and cover it with the wax paper, making sure there are no creases on you image or the wax paper. Hold the paper tight around the cnadle and use the heat gun over the image until you notice a change in the color of the image. Carefully remove the wax paper from the candle and your image will be transferred! It's like magic!

After I transferred Jane and the sentiment to the candle, I highlighted her necklace, bracelet and earrings with Tiara Stickles. I didn't think she needed anything more. Except to be used often to further a great cause.

Please make sure you stop by Susana's store for her great web candy and Suzanne's blog, Scrap Bitz, for great blog candy! Also, please do a bit of blog hopping and visit the rest of Susana's design teams blogs:

Suzanne's blog listed above
Danni at Danni's Dreams
Lynn at The Queen's Scene
Christine at StampynWife's Space
Anki at Kortfralst

They have wonderful cards featuring Jane.

Go get her and use her often for all of us.

Bunnie and Blog and Web Candy!

This is exactly how I feel this morning. "This too shall pass"! Actually, it's the yawn that Bunnie has going on that's describing me! I'm not still in my pj's but I've got my coffee going on! Bunnie is my latest darling from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design and she's made by Rubber Romance.

I had so much fun with her because she only takes a few minutes to color and you can make her into a set of note cards, or a regular size card, shrink her for a charm, just about anything! I colored her with copics and then fun flocked her robe. I used Tim Holtz Distresses Stickles in Antique Linen on her coffee cup, Worn Lipstick on her bunny ears, and Broken China on the Imaginese flowers. I even used a dot from the Champagne Glitz Stickles from Suze Weinburg for her belly button ring, but it's really hard to see in the photo. The paper is from Rustic Chic, I think, from TAC. The ribbon is from the stash. The picture corners are from the SU punch and it's hard to tell but I used the mat stack to punch holes around the corners. The sentiment comes from Hanna Stamps and the punch is SU's Word Window. And to keep with the paisley theme of the paper, I embossed the paper with my paisley cuttlebug folder.

You can pick up most of what I used for this card from Susana. She's having some great web candy from Rubber Romance, along with Suzanne at Scrap Bitz! So make sure you check out both places and sign up for the chance to win some great goodies!

Since I can't be Bunnie, I'd better hope that this coffee kicks in so I can be the sassy lady I'm supposed to be at work. Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!

Hot Chocolate!

I can't believe that there's a person on the face of the earth that really doesn't like chocolate. If they say they don't, I really think that they're just trying to be different and not follow the crowd. I'd bet that unless they're allergic to it, they are all closet chocolate eaters!

I fell in love with Willow With Hot Chocolate the first time I saw her. You can get this cutie from Summer at Roses on Paper. She has a great selection of Whiff of Joy Stamps and at a great price! Willow reminds me of my girls when they used to come back in from shovelling the driveway or building a snowman after a big snow. I can see them curled up on the couch with their socks sticking out. Oh the memories this image brings back to me.

I colored her with copics and Prismacolor markers and used my Clear Stars Jelly Roller to outline the flowers on her pants. I love the Dasher Paper from Basic Grey and the flowers are from Prima's Christmas collection. The brads and ribbon are from my stash. I love this layout and it's from Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #45.

We haven't had a really big snow yet but I'm sure it's right around the bend. And when it comes, I'm one that will proudly say that I have hot chocolate waiting!

Introducing Renee and Blog and Web Candy

I love perfume. I mean the rich, deep, lush fragrances like Knowing from Estee Lauder and Opium, Poision and Calvin by Calvin Klein. I'd like you to meet Renee from Rubber Romance. Susana of Susana's Custom Art and Card Design carries these great stamps and is having some great web candy and Suzanne of Scrap Bitz is offering some sweet blog candy as a promotion for Rubber Romance. They are some of the sassiest stamps around. These ladies have attitude and know themselves and are comfortable in their own skin. I like that about people!

I stamped Renee with Momento Tuxedo Black on Georgia Pacific cardstock and colored her with copics. I did the frame around her in my spica Atyou glitter pen and used some Prima flowers and Dew Drops on her. The patterned paper is from the Once Upon a Time line from DCWV and the card stock is from SU. I love how she turned out!

Please do a bit of blog hopping and take a look at the other Design Team member's blogs and see what they've created using Rubber Romance. Here you go:

Suzanne Dean (Design Team Leader)
Lynn Put of The Queen's Scene
Danni Bindel (guest designer) of Danni's Dreams
Christine Riley (guest designer) Stampyn Wife's Space
Anki Bargman of Kortfralst

Make sure you get in on the great blog and web candy being offered. And while you're at it, throw on a little bit of your favorite fragrance. Renee will vouch that it will lift your spirits! I'll be back tomorrow with something else yummy for you to see from Susana and Rubber Romance.

Lots and lots of cards!

Sorry for so many cards at once, but it's been a busy weekend! Too much work and not enough play time. This "The Joy of Giving" is my Nichole if I've ever seen anything! She loves to wrap packages and loves paper! Branden has told her she can't bring another roll of wrapping paper into the house! I'm in love with Sarah Kay Stamps and I got this one from Summer at Roses on Paper. "The Joy of Giving" is such a cutie and I colored her with copics and added a bit of sparkle with my Spica glitter pen. Don't you just love the Wassail paper by Basic Grey? This was from my blog candy from Suzanne!

When I was this Karen Lockhart stamp from Susana's shop, I had to ink it up! This "Snow Tree with Birds" so reminds me of my mom. She has birds all over her yard and only puts birds and poinsettias in her Christmas tree and it's gorgeous! So Mom, this Lockhart is for you! I colored it with my Prismacolor pencils and used Martha Stewart glitter on it to make it look like snow. I used my spica gold glitter pen for the star. This paper is from the Making Memories stack that I found at Target for like $5.99! Great price and varitey there.

I love this Tilda with Bells. My good friend, Monica sent this to me and I adore her! I fun flocked the fur trim around her coat and hat, used some Yellow stickles on her bell and a new product called Embossing Puffs on her gloves. Sparklers from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design are on the corners rather than brads. I love them because they aren't bulky. Isn't she festive looking?

Polly Packages from Stamping Bella came to me in a RAK and I love this bright red and green paper I used for her. It's also from the Making Memories stack. Great find! I made her for a RAK from another group I belong to.
I hope you all enjoy these cards. They were so much fun making and presenting them! Have a great week!

Fresh Cut Flowers

This cutie is called "Spring Blossom" and she's from the new Sarah Kay collection that you can get from Summer at Roses on Paper. Is there nothing greater than fresh cut flowers right from the garden? I went to a quilt show with my best friend Lynn and our good friend Claudia. When we stopped by Claudia's to drop her off, she took us out to her garden and cut fresh flowers out of her garden for us both to take home. There's something about the smell of the stems after they've been snipped. I just love it. And with winter coming to Maine, that smell of cut flowers is so refreshing.

I colored "Spring Blossom" with colored pencils and OMS. The designer paper is from Basic Grey called Gypsy, one of my favorites. I love the velvet flowers I used with her and the small flowers. You can purchase all of these from Summer so stop by and take a look around her shop. Not only can you get stamps, but you can also pick up everything you need for card crafting!

This little cutie looks so springy and fun. She gives me something to look forward to - new flowers! And besides, who doesn't love someone carrying fresh cut flowers? Enjoy!

Recipe: "Spring Blossom" stamp from Sarah Kay, Center Kisses from Prima, "Gypsy" from Basic Grey, Koh-I-Noor color pencils, Sansodor OMS, nestabilities, Jelly Roller clear pen, floral fantasy cuttlebug folder.

A Believing Heart

I love glitz, glamour, Rubber Romance stamps, generosity, and the women who have come into my life. I hate cancer, disease, and anything that robs the people I love of one precious minute of happiness and peace in their lives. A lady that I work with and love dearly is generous, love the glitz and glamour, make-up, knitting, so many of the things that I love. We found out on Monday that she has breast cancer. As much as I love her, I hate this disease more. I've cried all evening while I've been working on Jane from Rubber Romance. You can pick her up at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design. For every Jane stamp that is bought, $1.00 will be donated to breast cancer research and education. With the economy being how it is, I think you get to kill two birds with one stone - you get a beautiful stamp and you get to contribute a portion of the cost to a great cause. So head on over to Susana's shop and pick up this beauty!

While you're there, you can also find most of the items I used on Jane. I colored her with copics and Prisma markers and cut her out and layered her on silver from the Metalic Mat Stack from DCWV (Susana sells this by the sheet!). The dp is from DCWV's All Dressed Up stack and the card stock is from SU. I used the scalloped edge punch from SU for the dp and Jane's bracelet is the silver sparklers and the bling on her ears and around her neck is Tiara Stickles, also from Susans. These are beautiful colors and really catch the light and sparkle. Love all the bling! To finish her off, I cut out some swirls and added the sentiment is also from Rubber Romance.

This card means the world to me because I made it with someone I love in mind. It makes me more resolved to fight this horrendous disease that robs people I love of their health and energy, and in some cases, their lives. I hate it and vow to fight as hard as I can to rid the world of it. So look for me next May as I'm on the Food Committee for our local Relay for Life Event. And I'll be making Jane for every one I love that goes through this terrible sickness. So let's all do our part to wipe it out. Go wipe Susana out of those Jane stamps and make one for someone you love who's going through this. And then look out because I'm doing Jane in red to fight against heart disease! Come join me! Nothing is impossible to a believing heart. I believe.

Faeries, Wishing and Hoping

I had to share a new picture of Allie and Tiffany at another wedding! This baby sure does make the rounds. This is one of Allie's Christmas dresses. Don't you just love the hat? She left it on the entire time. What a sweetie she is!

I'd like to introduce you to Miss Sassafras, a faerie that I picked up from Susana at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design. Isn't she just the cutest thing? I colored her with copics and Prismacolor markers, used a lot of Icicles Stickles, Martha Stewart glitter, pink pearl brads from Making Memories, ribbon from Joann's Fabric, and the Designer Paper is from Brittany's Castle Collection. I love it. When I first saw her, I thought of pink lemonade! She's about as sassy as they come! Stop by and take a look at the other faeries at Susana's. They're just stunning.

I love the new Winter collection from Magnolia! Isn't this baby just the cutest thing? Monica sent her to me in a RAK and I wanted to use her for the MAGNOLIA-licious Sketch that Deb and Monica are doing. Stop over at Magnolia-licious Highlights and see what everyone came up with! I colored her with copics and cut her out. I used my oval nestabilities and sprayed them with Glitter Mist. The papers are all from DCWV, the Mat Stack and last year's Christmas stack. The poinsettias are from Prima and the ribbon came from Joann's. I love how soft looking she came out.

While I hate snow, my Nichole adores it! I just ordered Snowbunnybella from Stamping Bella and thought I'd work her up for some Christmas cards I need to make for a stamping get together I'm going to tomorrow. I love how she came out! I used White Fun Flock all around her and Icicle Stickles around her hood. The paper is from Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding collection. I used some more Martha Stewart glitter to have her stand on. While I hate snow, I love working with the Bella!

I hope everyone is still enjoying their long weekend. I'm back to my crafting table!

Some Exciting Design Team News!

This has been quite a week for me in the world of stamping. I've been asked by my good friend, Susana at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design to be a Guest Designer for her! And my dear friend, Summer at Roses on Paper asked me to be one of her seven Design Team Members for her store! I'm just so thrilled and excited to have these two as my good friends, but to be designing for them and presenting their products is more than I could have ever thought about. I so appreciate their confidence in me and my cards and I'm so excited to be working next to Suzanne at Scrap Bitz for Susana and the following ladies with Summer:

Ann-Christine "Anki" Bärgman (Sweden)
Rosette Camilleri (Malta)
Petra Heffernan (Australia)
Jodi-ann Lee (USA)
Ahilim "Lim" Perez (USA)
Iris Wiechmann (USA)

I can't wait to get to know and work with them all!

Rosette and Jodi also sent me this this beautiful award! Thank you so much, Rosette! She has so graciously passed this award on to me. I have to pass it on to ten others. I passed it on to eleven though! These people always inspire and never cease to amaze me. Then, in turn you all have to link back here, and to other 10 great bloggers who give you inspiration, and whom you love to visit!

Deb
Suzanne
Chris
Monica
Danni
Marti
Jennifer
Ami
Summer
Carrie
Heidi

Please go visit their blogs and get inspired. I know I always do!

An Award from Suzanne

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY- nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement . Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.
Deliver this award to 8 bloggers who may then pass it on. I hope you’ll accept this award from me because of our friendship and the inspiration you all give me. I received this beautiful award from Suzanne. Thanks, Suzanne, you rock!
-Marsha
-Lynn
-Jennifer
-Cheri
-Heidi
-Kristi
-Tangii

I'm no baker

I can't bake but Willow can! My girls used to bake when they'd go and stay with their grandmother. I can just see them both having to have their long hair pulled back in a pony tail to keep it out of their faces and running around in those slippers. The smell would be wonderful when we'd go pick them up. Willow Baking Cookies from Whiff of Joy Stamps reminds me so much of that time!

If you're looking for the Whiff of Joy stamps, you can find them at Summer's at Roses on Paper. I colored Willow with copics and the papers are from Basic Grey's Blush line. Love, love them! I went around her with my spica clear glitter pen, the brads are from Making Memories and the ribbon from Offray. I used my dotted swiss cuttlebug embossing folder to give her a bit of texture. I think she looks yummy! I made her for the Whiff of Joy Challeges

I can still smell the aroma of chocolate chip cookies, my Nichole's specality. When people have done something she likes at work or if she's trying to butter someone up, she bakes these cookies. It's a scrumptious fragrance and I highly recommend it! Enjoy!

My Favorite Faerie

I love trees. They provide shade and relief from the hot sun and fill our landscape with breathtaking colors. My favorite tree is a weeping willow. I love how the branches seem to just lay over in perfect shape and provide a mushroom over you. Their long leaves are so thin and if you're laying under one and the wind is blowing, you can hear them tinkling against each other.

Today is my daughter Nichole's 22nd birthday and this image so reminded me of her. Brave, fierce, ready to fully protect anything that belongs to her or that she loves. This card embodies Nichole's spirit and since she's a girly-girl and loves bling, it had to go to her! Happy Birthday, baby.

When I saw this faerie that Susana from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design got some beautiful faeries in her store, I had to order some. Willow was the first one I picked up because she looked fierce, commanding and so elegant. She was so easy and fun to color. The papers are from Once Upon a Time from DCWV and I colored her with Prismacolor markers and copics and used my banana colored chalk to fill in the background. I bought my first sizzix die and used it for the swirls on the edges (I loved this and I'll be getting more of them!) I used crystal Stickles on her wings and my clear jelly roller for the vine on her garland. The ribbon is from Offray and came from Joann's.

I hope you enjoy this brave protectress. I think she's stunning!

Pretty Little Girls All Dressed Up

It's been a while since I've played the Nana card but when I saw this Tilda with Rose that Summer sent me, I knew I couldn't keep quiet much longer. It's hard to believe that my Allie is 4 1/2 months old! Here's a picture of her and my daughter Tiffany. I may be biased but I think she's just precious! I'll be posting a picture of Emma, but I want to get her momma's permission first. Way too cute both of my babies are.

I can see both of my granddaughters in this cute Tilda. Both will be wide eyed with wonder and love flowers and getting all dressed up. I can't wait for the time when I have both of them together and get them all dressed up to go see the Nutcracker Ballet at Christmas time. Oh, the velvet and satin that will be going on around the house then! When I saw this Tilda, this is how I envisioned her, all dressed up over the holidays and ready to go someplace special at this glorious time of the year. I colored her with my copics and Prisma markers, used my nestabilities and devine swirl cuttlebug background folder and sprayed it with Glimmer Mist. The designer paper is from KI Memories and the ribbon is from Offray. And the dew drops came from some great blog candy. I adore her, just like I adore my grandbabies!

Tiff and Chris had a beautiful wedding to go to for two of their best friends. Of course Allie had to be all dressed up. Tiff found the cutest little dress, all satiny and girly like a baby's first dress up should be. As you can tell, Allie is very healthy and loves to eat but a little while into the wedding, she started crying and throwing a fit, wouldn't take a bottle, which was unusual, and was feverish and just miserable. She was more upset than usual so Tiff decided to take her to the ER and come to find out, the baby was allergic to the fabric of the dress! Tiffany was crushed and thought Allie's days of being all dolled up were over. I told Tiffany to wash the dress in Dreft and let it air dry and to try it again I'd bet it's the sizing they use to make it stand out. And if she's still bothered by the dress, Nana will just have to pull out her sewing machine and work her magic for the baby!

So for Allie and Emma, Tilda with the Rose is for you. I can just see Allie and Emma looking like this in a couple of years, all dressed up running around with no shoes on and their sweet hair pulled back in a pony tail. And if they're anything like their mothers or Auntie Cole, it's hard telling where that rose came from! It could be the neighbor's prized beauty! Thanks for looking and for letting me share a bit of my family with you. They're precious to me.

Getting Ready for the Holidays!

Have I told you how much I've fallen in love with Sarah Kay stamps? If not, I could go on about how adorable I think these babies are and how much fun I have with them. This is one of my first Christmas cards I've done and it's a design that Claudia Rosa from Pretty Pressings did. I hope I've done it a bit of justice. M favorite part is the white fun flock on her cuffs, neck and bottom of her sweet jacket. And I love the dogs! Summer at Roses on Paper carries these and she's great to order from.

Nichole loves ballet and I remember when she was doing ballet getting her ready for the Christmas party they had at her dance studio. One of the dancers was all dressed up in crimson red and when I saw this Basic Grey paper and then saw Ballerinabella, they just fell into place. I love the red velvet ribbon and the flower jewel is from my blog candy I received from Suzanne. Love it!

Cross-stitch Tilda that I got from Diana at MAGNOLIA-licious and haven't been able to get her how I wanted her, but I came pretty close. I love the buttons and the corners that I did with my paper piercer and my SU Mat set. I could sit and stitch for hours on end. I love the pink and moss green together.

Thanks for hanging in there with me the last month when things have been so busy and hectic. I promise to try and be a better blogger and crafter. Hope everyone had a great weekend. I've had a great time in my stamping and sewing office and playing with all my toys!

Pink Gem Designs now Open!

Pink Gem Designs are just way, too cute! They are a new company and are offering some blog candy. Stop by and take a look!

Having a Blast!

Two things I love about this time of the year: The holiday season is upon us and buying pajamas for my girls. There's so much fun in decorating and planning the holidays. I love the rich, regal colors of the season. Everyone knows Tinkerbell is my all time favorite so I made her TinkerChristmasbella and used my new toys I won from Suzanne at Scrap Bitz's blog. I love and adore this paper, Wassail by Basic Grey and the Prima flowers. I'm pretty pleased with how she came out.

It's a tradition around our house on Christmas Eve to get the girls p.j.'s. Now Marc buys them for the girls, but I now get to buy them for the two new grandbabies! When I was this Tilda in her nightgown, my babies popped into my mind. I had the best time putting her together.

I hope you all enjoy this season as much as I do, but more importantly, I hope we all remember the reason for this season. Maybe with the economy the way it is, it will help us all to put more thought into our gifts rather than money. That's what I'm planning on doing. Join me!

Kreativ Blogger Award

There are people in the world that you just connect to, have an instant kinship with. Deb is one of those people for me. She's fun, encouraging, creative, inventive, talented and my stamping soul mate. When I'm in a rut, she encourages and pushes me to take stamping changes. When she game me this award, I was really humbled. She rocks and I'm so glad that she stuck it out and her mojo came back!

So here's the rules with this award:

1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to their blogs
5. Leave a message for your nominees

Ami-She such a great stamper and on a great Design Team!
Cheri-She's just great and very giving and loves stamping.
Summer-Has a great online shop and carries some really great stamps.
Tangii-Very generous with her time and talents and does a great job on the Bella group.
Tanja-Does a beautiful job everyday putting out Magnolia cards.

I hope all of you enjoy this award. It's so well deserved!

Reading, Thanksgiving and Christmas!

I love to read. There's nothing like curling up with a good book and getting lost in the world someone else has created for your enjoyment. I can't count the number of books that have kept me up all night, books I couldn't put down no matter what the time was. Julia from Rubber Romance is reminds me of those great reads I've had. She looks so intent on reading it doesn't matter where she is. Susana at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design carries Rubber Romance. Stop by and give her some love! She's fabulous!

Paper Inspirations is one of my favorite stamp lines. I love their vintage postcard look and can't get enough of them. This is one of my favorite images by them. A good friend of mine from school wanted a nice classy looking Thanksgiving card for her mother. I think I came pretty close to it with this card.

Christmas bulbs are so much stinkin fun! I love all the different shapes and sizes of them. I had to have this embossing folder. Susana sent me some Sparklers to play around with and I thought the gold would be great to fill in on some of the bulbs. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. You can see a bit in the picture how much the gold sparkles and catches the light.

Hope you enjoy! It was a great card making evening for me. I've missed that!

Hang in there with me

Hang in there with me! I promise to put up some cards I've been working on. Life has been way too busy for me with sewing and work in both places, but I promise I'll have something up tomorrow evening for you.

While you're waiting, take a look at the shops on my sidebar. All of these places rock and have such great products. So give them some love!

Hey Girlfriend!

I belong to a great new yahoo group, Best of the Sassy Stamping World where stampers and store owners could come and advertise, talk about stamping, what they had in their store, post as many of whatever type of stamps we wanted and just hang out and have fun. Susana of Susana's Custom Art and Card Design, carries Rubber Romance stamps and I just love their sass! When I saw this stamp called "Girls Night Out" from Rubber Romance, it brought back memories I hadn't visited in years! I used to go out with my cousins, Karen and Jenny, and our friends to discos and used to dance the night away. We had more than our share of the bubbly at times, well, most times, but did we ever have fun! All dressed up in satin and silks and glitz. Oh, I had to have this stamp!

I colored these babes with copics and used my Spica glitter pen and Clear Jellyroller to give it some glitz on the peach and brown dress. The pink dress has Cotton Candy Sparkles and I chalked around the image. I used my SU picture corners and used Class A Peel stickers by Stampendous from Susana. What fun they were! (She's going to carry them in her store. E-mail her at susana@susanascustomartandcarddesign.com if you'd like to order any. It will take a couple of weeks for them to get in. She's getting some other shapes also - diamonds, teardrops, squares, great possibilities!). The background paper and pink Glitter paper is from DCWV and I used my Fiskars Treading Water punch on the side. The gold ribbon is from Joann's.

Remember the good times you had with your girlfriends just getting dressed up and hanging out. I'm so glad I did! Enjoy

Snowplaying Tilda

My girls loved to ice skate when they were young. A dear friend of ours used to work at a local college in their ice arena and every now and then, the girls would be able to sneak in and skate. Can you imagine the dreams those girls had as they were gliding along that cold arena? Tiff was the big skater and Nichole has always loved ballet. So this Tilda is perfect for me and my girls!

My dear friend Summer from Roses on Paper sent me some of these to play with. Summer, you so rock! I colored her with copics and used my spica glitter pen and stickles on her dress and her bow I cut her out with my nestabilities and popped her up on the snowflakes that I found at our local Dollar Store. The ribbon is from American Craft and the background paper is Joyful Twinkling from K & I Memories, I think, and after running my paper through the cuttlebug with the snowflake folder, I ran some pink dew drop ink over the embossed snowflakes. I loved working on her.

While I despise the snow, I love how children are in the snow. Enjoy!

I'm Back!

I'm just loving Sarah Kay stamps right now! I have such a hard time coming up with which one is my favorite, but there's something about a creative little cutie that warms my heart! I colored her with my copic and Prisma markers and the paper is from Basic Grey. I cut her out and popped her up onto layered card stock. The flowers are from Imaginese and the ribbon is from Joann's. I adore these babies and I followed the challenge from Magnolia Meets Stampavie Challenge group. I'm trying to get into doing some challenges so hopefully that might keep me on track. I hope you enjoy her as much as I enjoyed presenting her.

Everyone was asking to see the Queen of Hearts cosutme I was working on so here it is! Kelly loved it and believe me, it looked so good on her! My Nichole went as her flamingo so whenever Kelly would go to pretend she was hitting the croquet ball, Nichole would go into this pose. We laughed till we couldn't stand it. Kids!

Blowing Kisses

I love this little beauty! Melinda Blowing Kisses from Whiff of Joy is too cute for itself! Once I sat down and started playing with her, she just put herself together. She's colored in Copics and Prisma markers and her wings, hearts and swirls are done in my Spica glitter pen. I put some baubles on the corners and the paper is from Infuse from BasicGrey. Love, love her! Thanks for looking!

Fall is such a beautiful season with the colors, but it's so hard for me to give up the colors of summer. When I saw this Tilda in the Grass, I always thought of her as walking in wheat. After deciding on a Harvest theme for the October mingle, she was my only image that kept coming to mind. But I just couldn't bring myself to dress her in oranges, reds and browns. Like me, she's fighting losing what little bit of summer there was. Unfortunately, this is a battle we just can't win!

I colored her with my copics and used my nestabilities to cut her out and frame her. I love the Basic Grey paper I used for her. I used eucalyptus stickles for her wings and sponged the sky with my SU chalks. The ribbon is from Offray. I tried to keep her simple and clean. I hope you enjoy her. She's on her way to Lisa Cook and with her surgery, I hope she brightens up Lisa's day. Enjoy!

Busy! Busy! Busy!

I've been in a spooky mood lately. Must be the change in weather but fall and Halloween have been fun for me this year. There are some of the greatest stamps out! I love this Tilda Witch that I picked up from Summer at Roses on Paper. She rocks! I love the Debbie Mumm fall papers and my Glimmer Mist that I used on the moon. I picked that up from Loreen at Wish Upon a Scrap.

Then there's what I call my Pumpkin Patch Bella! I like to think of her as the fairy that keeps the patches orange! I used my clear stickles all over her dress so that it would look like frost. She's so stinkin cute and is from Stamping Bella.

I've been busy with work, life and just stuff. One thing I've been busy doing is coloring. I love card making in the fall. The colors are great, the images rock and they're just fun! One of my favorite stamping companies is Paper Impressions and I love the vintage look on their stamps. They remind me of old postcards. This image is so spooky and it reminds me of that scene in "To Kill a Mockingbird", one of my favorite books and movies of all time, where Jem and Scout are walking home from the padgent and Scout gets attacked. They have nothing to do with each other, but I get that same creepy feeling when I work with this stamp. I totally love it!

Baking is not my strong point, but when Marit sent me this image, I had to play with it! Branden and Nichole went apple picking this week and Branden made apple crisp from scratch and man, was it good. The house smelled great and having that hot treat with a scoop of ice cream was a little slice of heaven! She also reminds me of cooking pumpkin pies and cakes, which I can do!

And now this Sarah Kay design that I also got from Summer she's got a great online store and her customer service rocks!), is just so sweet! They are quickly becoming my favorite stamp line and I can't seem to get enough of them. This if Fanni's Cuddle and she so reminds me of my girls when they were little. Give them a puppy or kitten and they were in heaven. Fanni just looks sweet enough to eat!

Sorry I've been away for so long but work was crazy. All of the families have been on campus over the weekend and it was busy getting ready for them and I've been working an extra night at the bowling alley but life will hopefully settle down a bit. I promise not to be gone this long again. I've missed sharing with you all!