Happy 80th Birthday, Mom

Mom won't be happy that I advertised her age but this month marked her 80th birthday. She celebrated in grand style with my siblings and her grands. I made this special stair step card at a class with Stephanie Barnard at Stamper's Corner. Loved it and all the work that went into it, so I knew it had to go to someone very special. 

candles4birthdays4Bob

A Flip It card I made for Farley's hubby Bob who celebrated on the 18th. I used dies from The Stamps of Life. The stamp is from Papertrey Ink. 

Pastel Snowman

Another card from my watercoloring session. Used the snowman2build from Stephanie Barnard as my starting place. Because you don't really think I could draw a snowman freehand, do you?

Bright Christmas

Another card using dies from The Stamps of Life. Love Stephanie's creations. This one is from candles4birthdays. I have given myself a little challenge to use non-Holiday stamps in a new way. The sentiment is from last year's holiday set called lights4Christmas. The papers are from a DCWV stack. The little mistletoe is an old Quickutz die from my Vixen set. The wonky rectangle die is from Papertrey Ink's recent Stamp Affair 60's set. Thanks for bringing your sleigh by my internet home.  

In the Meadow We can Build a Snowman....

My first holiday card for 2014. I made this using stamps and dies from The Stamps of Life snowman2build along with a snowy scene embossing folder. It's almost like playing paper dolls, putting this little guy together. I'm sure you'll see more of him on future holiday cards. Thanks for stopping by.

World Card Making Day

Today is World Card Making Day and I couldn't let it pass without completing a card. Over the past several days, I've made many parts and pieces of cards while visiting with my Squirrely friend Nancy. She taught me a few techniques and graciously allowed me to use many of her stamps and inks. However, this particular card was created once I returned home with a Magenta stamp I've been itching to use and a watercolor technique I've been trying to learn. The stamped image was colored with Gelatos applied wet with a brush. The sentiment stamp is from The Stamps of Life. Sequins were cut with a die from My Favorite Things. Thanks for looking. Hope you found time to make a card today.

Happy Anniversary to Mark and Nancy

Today is the wedding anniversary for our good friends and fellow Squirrel Nancy and Mark. I wanted to make them a HAPPY card, bright and colorful. The August kit from Stephanie Barnard at The Stamps of Life filled the bill. Also used one of her Flip-it dies which I am certainly hooked on. Simply made but brings a smile to my face. It's a happy card. Thanks for taking a look.

Happy Anniversary

I wanted to make a little card to send to Mallory and Jeff for the anniversary of their first date. The new kit from The Stamps of Life seemed like the perfect choice. I used my owl punch from Stampin' Up along with the sweet papers in the Have Fun kit to put this card together. I just love those owls. Happy anniversary, young ones, and may you celebrate many, many more.

Happy Birthday, Jeff

Another card from Stephanie Barnard at The Stamps of Life. This candles4birthday set is one of my favorites ever from her. I used the Fancy Edge Flip It die to make the card and decorated it with paper from Authentique. This particular card was made as a birthday card for Mallory's fiance Jeff who is celebrating his birthday today. I hope he likes his card. Thanks for looking. 

Blow Out the Candles

I just couldn't wait to get busy with the latest stamp set from The Stamps of Life. Candles4birthday is just too darned cute. I'm a member of the Die Hard Club as well and those little candle dies are going to be used quite a lot in my cardmaking. This Fancy Edge Flip It card was decorated with paper from an Authentique 6x6 paper pad along with Stephanie's great stamps. Love it a lot. Thanks for stopping by.

More Popsicles

The Stamps of Life stamp/die set I used last week included a large die to make a card-sized Popsicle. They're so darn cute, I had to make two. The one on the left uses another piece of paper colored with Inktense watercolor pencils based upon a technique learned in Day Two of my watercolor class with Jennifer McGuire and  Onlinecardclasses. The one on the right is a sheet of paper from a 6x6 pad from Amy Tangerine called Sketchbook. So cute. These cards are so simple to make it's embarrassing but I just had to play. Hope you find them as delightful as I do. Thanks for stopping in.

Friends With Flair

It's Friday and time for Friends with Flair over at Unity. Always the multi-tasker, I have used this opportunity to fulfill a couple more Squirrely Challenges from Nancy and Farley. My challenge to the two of them was to start our Christmas in July card project. A day late?  So I have created three Holiday cards using a Unity stamp. I also used an embossing folder which was Farley's challenge. The middle card shows an inking technique on the embossing folder. I used Blueberry ink from The Stamps of Life. The technique I used for the two outer cards was wet gelato gel sticks on the folder. I like both looks a lot and will be using these techniques again soon. Thanks for stopping by. Happy Holidays!!!

Old Skool Easel Card

The Squirrels Nancy, Farley and I have started up our Squirrely Challenges again. We've had a long break but we are back. This time we each challenged the other two to use a technique or make type of card. Nancy challenged us to make an Easel card without utilizing the dies that have come onto the scene. Mine is very simple but I am happy to use some of my stash of supplies. I bought this popsicle set from The Stamps of Life and hadn't even opened it yet. I used several dies from my stash also and whether you can tell or not, the popsicle is watercolored with a technique I learned in my latest Onlinecardclass, Watercolor for Cardmakers. It's a simple card but I'm happy with it. Thanks for looking. Now go take a gander at the wonderful creations from the other Squirrels.

the 4th - Unity Friends with Flair Challenge

WOW! Where has the month gone? I haven't posted in quite awhile. Well, here I am at last. This layout was created in line with my plan to use up the entire Liberty 6x6 pad of paper from BoBunny. Still haven't accomplished that self-challenge, but this hybrid Project Life layout took a good chunk of it. The pinwheels are cut with dies from The Stamps of Life. The stamps used are from two Unity SMAK kits: Camera Ready and All in the Numbers. The left side, which was inspired by Week 7of the Ali Edwards class Hello Story, is a traditional layout. The right side is in a We R Memory Keepers pocket page. Thus, the glare. The photos cover our activities on the 4th of July this year. Thanks for visiting.

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A Very Berry Happy Birthday

Today is the birthday of my very best friend, my sister Chrissie. Unfortunately, I am not an organized sister and will be mailing her birthday card to her on the day of her birthday. Bad girl. But at least this way, she can see her card and know it is on the way to her. Love her to pieces even though I'm a procrastinator. 

I wanted to use the newest set of stamps from Stephanie Barnard at The Stamps of Life. The July set is called strawberries2stamp and I think they are adorable. You can't really tell from this photo but I did use a stamp on the fruit itself to color it a light pink. The dies match the stamps and make such a cute card. I also used Stephanie's Fancy Edge Flip It die to make the card base. Can you tell I love her stuff? In fact, the ink is also from The Stamps of Life. There you go. The paper, however, is from American Crafts. It is called Sketchbook by Amy Tangerine. Love it. I hope Chrissie enjoys this card as much as I enjoyed making it for her. Happy birthday, little sis.

Hip Hip Hooray for the Red, White and Blue

I made some Fancy Edge Flip It cards to use my latest stamps and dies from Stephanie Barnard at The Stamps of Life. The June set was called hot4balloons and it's right up my alley. You know I adore hot air balloon motifs. Fabulous set!!! The paper is from a 6x6 pad from the BoBunny Liberty collection. Love the combination of all these patters and the balloons. Have a safe and sane holiday weekend.

The Stamps of Life

Posted this card from my phone and evidently the accompanying text did not make the flight. 

I'm still putting finishing touches on the cards I made in a recent class with Stephanie Barnard at Stampers Corner in Elk Grove. Love these Flip-it cards. This one is on its way to Cousin Jane in Bradenton for her 80th birthday.

Prairie Dogs

At long last I have started making the scrapbook pages of my trip with Mom to South Dakota in September. This first one was created using the sketch I submitted as the March scrapbook sketch over at Paperartistsonline. It's a sketch from Club Scrap's Lock and Key kit in October 2013. All papers are from various Club Scrap kits. The spinner2stamp set is from The Stamps of Life. I used the stamp and die set to create a journaling tag for the layout. These photos show the adorable prairie dogs who reside near the entrance to the Badlands. I know. They're rodents. But I like 'em. Thanks for dropping by.

Happy Spinner Birthday

A quick card for my brother-in-law using the spinners2stamp dies from Stephanie Barnard at The Stamps of Life along with greetings from the tickets2stamp set. Love this little set and hope to do more with it soon. Cardstock from Club Scrap.

Love Is In The Air

Still playing with my Stampin Up owl punch. Love that little guy. Various stamps used from The Stamps of Life and Sizzix, with a bit of Papertrey Ink thrown in for good measure. Sweet card. Thanks for swinging by.