Katniss Girl of Fire Sizzling

I love to read.  I can't imagine not having a love for reading and experiencing all the wonderful adventures that are laid in front of you between the cover of a book.  One of my aunts always encouraged me to read and told me that if I had a book, there wasn't anywhere I couldn't go or nothing that I couldn't do while sitting in a chair or laying in bed with a book.  I've lived and traveled on the prairie with the Ingalls family, watched my father practice law in a powerful trial in To Kill A Mockingbird (my absolutely all time favorite book ever, right beside my beloved Potters!)

My girls can get me to read just about anything.  We started this reading game about the time Harry Potter came out.  I challenged them to read one Harry Potter book and they enticed me into reading the Twilight series.  I still have a series to read for Nichole, but she kept at me to read the Hunger Games series.  I finally gave in while I was spending time with her before our beloved Lainie Loo was born.  Once I started, I was so hooked!  So to pay tribute to my daughter for having great taste in books and having become a reader who truly enjoys the entire reading process and loves to support her local library, I give you Katniss Girl of Fire Sassy from Sassy Studio Designs.   Nichole, honey, this one is for you.

  

I just love their images!  Katniss Girl of Fire Sassy was colored with Koh-I-Noor colored pencils with odorless mineral spirits.  I had such a great time using them.  I followed the monthly sketch from the Sassy Studio Design blog and had so much fun working with someone else's design.  I used me some stickles on her gown where I think flames would be, gave her lips a bit of shine with some Diamond Glaze, added some Studio One glass beads, my Martha Stewart border punch and the paper is from Basic Grey.  Here is a close up of her gorgeous face:

I think she's just beautiful.  And a glimpse of the inside:

I hope all of you will go pick up a great read.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you're reading now.  I'm always up for a new book and author!  Have a great day.

Susan

Party on Girls!

There's nothing like good friends, but good girl friends, well, they're priceless!  One of my best friends is having a birthday tomorrow (won't tell you how old!) and I'm so excited to be able to celebrate it with her.  She's been with me my entire life and while I've been a pain in the ---, she has always loved me unconditionally.  She gave up part of her spotlight when I came along, slapped my bottle in my face when she was asked to give it to me before she went outside to play,and helped keep me in bed while we were waiting for Santa Clause.  She would roll her eyes at me when I would make a fort out of sheets in our bedroom, and just look at me with that "what in the world is she doing with her Barbie doll?" look on her face when I would swing that doll around by her black pony tail and let her go flying across the room dressed in her airline stewardess outfit and when she landed, I would come up with some exotic place like Paris, France or London, England that she had been flown to from our little house in West Virginia.  Of course, her blond Barbie was dressed very properly in her nurse's outfit while taking care of the sick and needy at home.  Me, I was having a margarita and she was passing out shots, and not of liquor! She took me to my first concerts:  Three Dog Night, The Fifth Dimension, and John Denver. She has always been interested in what I was doing, even if she didn't understand what all the things I did in the navy stood for or meant.  When I would come home on leave, we would go make up and clothes shopping, and spend as much time together as we could.   

My sister, Jonalea, is a gift to me from God.  He had the foresight to know I would need her undying love and support throughout my life.  She's always been my biggest supporter and cheerleader and has encouraged me to take chances and take advantage of every opportunity that came my way. When my life wasn't in a happy place, she asked me what could I always count on, what was the core of my life, where did my strength come from, and I immediately responded, "family".  If there is one thing I would ever wish on every person, it's that they have a sister like mine.  She's a blessed woman and I thank God every day for being gracious enough to give me a gift I don't deserve, my precious sister.  Jonalea, I love you and I know I don't tell or show you often enough how fortunate, honored, and humbled I am to call you sister.

One thing about my big sis is she loves to celebrate occasions and milestones in life, but she usually is the one doing all the planning.  Her husband planned and pulled off a surprise birthday party for her on her big day and we all got to celebrate her.  She has such a zest for life and such wonderful friends that when I saw Party Girls from Art Impressions, I had to use them for Jonalea's birthday card.  Here's my take on Party Girls:

I love the bright colors and used my copics on these Party Hearty girls and added tons of Stickles to the gals tops, pants, and confetti, and put some Diamond Glaze on the balloons to make them shine.  I love the DCWV Pocketful of Posies paper and my Coordination paper.  The ribbon and diamonds are from my small stash that I've kept. Here's a closeup of these gleeful babes out celebrating:

The embossing on the papers was done with a cuttlebug folder, and I distressed the edges with my Close to My Heart distressing tool.  And a glimpse of the inside:

I wrote on the inside "Celebrate" because I think it's important to celebrate the important people in your life.  Today, Jonalea, my dear, sweet, precious sister, I celebrate you!  Enjoy!

My Sweet Tilda for My Sweet Allie

It took a little while for me to get back to my Magnolias, but I always have a few images with me!  My Allie is turning 4 on July 9th and she asked Nani if she was going to make a book for her birthday.  That's her way of asking if I am going to make her a birthday card!  Well, of course Nani is!  She loves to wear dresses and they need to twirl.  The twirliest Tilda that I had was Sweet Tilda and I made her up for my Sweet Allie.   I think she has the sweetest nature about her and she's one of my favorite Magnolia stamps.     

I am making Allie some summer dresses and she asked that one be blue.  I thought her birthday card would be cute done in blue so here she is.  I colored her with distressed inks and forgot how much I enjoy working with them.  The papers and embellishments are from a Heidi Grace line called Daydream and I love the glitters.  Allie loves anything that sparkles so I had to put some stickles on her dress and socks!  the lace is a Martha Stewart punch and I think it adds just a girlie girl look to the card.  Here's a side view of the inside:

I'm adding a copy of the close up of her sweet face:

I do love her so!  I am still working on my coloring, but some of it's coming back.  All in all I'm pretty pleased with her and I know Allie will love her and that's all that matters.

I love and cherish all of my grandbabies and thank God everyday that he's blessed me with these sweet babies.  Just wish they didn't grow up so fast!  Hope you enjoyed this little cutie pie.  Have a great day!

Just a little Sass and the City!

The stampers over at Sassy Studio Design are celebreating having over 700 members in their group over at Paper Craft Planet and are having a progressive Sass and the City Challenge. I missed the deadline to get my Charlotte Sassy in, but they are so generous that they are giving those of us who picked up the freebie a second chance to win a free Sassy stamp or two! Hop on over and look at their great creations!

I hope everyone has a good friend that they can share things with. I've got several that I've gotten back in touch with from my younger days and thinking about some of the escapades we got into brings a smile to my heart. Everyone needs someone like Charlotte in their life to give them hope, encouragement, and the sunny outlook on everything. Hope springs eternal with her! The pearl in my life is my good, dear friend Lynn.  She's always on my side and wants nothing but the best for me.  I love you my sweet friend.   Here's my take on Charlotte Sassy:

This is one of my favorite TV series! What these friends went through was phenominal and just like every day life. Friends share their ups and downs, triumphs and failures, giving their support and honest opinion, and loving each other unconditionally. Plus their gorgeous! I have friends like them, people who I can count on and I thank God for them every day. Here's a close up of Charlotte:

I love the sweetness and sincerity in her face. I love that Charlotte wears pearls so much. They are my favorites so I gave her a pearl earring and added some to the corners. I also put a couple on the inside and you can get a peek here:

The paper is from Basic Grey, she's colored with copics (been practicing a lot with them!), and I embossed the background papers with my cuttlebug. Love that baby!  I used some Diamond Glaze on her shoes and the top of her dress, and you know I had to put some Stickles on her to give her a shot of bling!

I hope you enjoy her as much as I had creating her.  Now go tell that special friend of yours how much she means to you!

Stepping Out in Faith!

As promised, I'm stepping out in faith and am back as part of the blogging world! I'm not going to lie, it's a lot more daunting this time than it was in the beginning. I had what I thought was a pretty great journey going on in the creative world. I was on several design teams, had some of the coolest stamping and scrapping tools, great friends, and such a fun way to spend my time. Then I moved and life took a different turn. I had a new home, new job, life situations changed and stamping took a back seat to so many other things.

But I didn't stop creating, just changed gears. I knitted up a storm! I found a really great knitting shop with some amazing ladies. Worked on lots of scarfs, some great afghans, shawls, socks, learned how to felt. While knitting is another love of min, my stamping kept coming to mind. I missed it, missed blogging and sharing with people and the interaction between everyone I would meet.

Now, I want to do what feels good and right for me and that's being creative. I love sewing and made the bedding set for my granddaughter, Alaina, who was born on January 1st of this year. Here's her picture and isn't she just the cutest thing?!

 

Then there is our hot mess, Allie, who turns 4 next month. Not sure what happened but her Momma's black high heels that she's wearing didn't show up on this picture:


 

 And now, Miss Emma, who turns 4 this week. She looks so grown up to me!

 

I made Emma a quilt for her birthday and since I was in the making mood, a card followed! Yes, it sure did! I felt a little out of my element because I wasn't sure what was too much, not enough, colorful enough, need more sparkle. I put all of that out of my mind and just made a card. Needless to say, I had a blast! Here's what I came up with:

 

My coloring needs some more practice and I have to buy some more flowers and die cuts, but I'm pretty satisfied with it. The stamp is Susan by Elisabeth Bell for Susana's Custom Art and Card Design and it's MY stamp! I have a ton of stamps and this is the only one I have with me. I'll get the rest of them from my daughter in a couple of weeks, but for some reason, this stamp was in my cedar chest when I moved so I inked her up and started coloring away. Here's a close up of her sweet face:


 

This is a peek at the inside: 



I love how some artists finish up the insides. I want to work on that for this time around!

My paper is from Basic Grey and the cardstock is from Co'redination that I bought at the Joann Fabrics and Craft store that I work at (and love it!). I used distressed inks around the edges, Spellbinders, a Sizzix Hello Kitty die, and God help me, but I still love me some Stickles! Thank you for taking a look and reading through this entire post and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Here's big hugs to everyone!

 Susan