Heart Balloons at The Outlawz

     Today's card uses Sandi Huggert's image for The Outlaws Creative Freebie Challenge here. You can find Sandi's blog and images here. I decided to make this for a friend's daughter who didn't go away to college, so she doesn't usually get cards when I do my mailings to those away at college. I decided she could use a card too ;- ) My original vision was to paint the whole image with glitter and early on, I did some tests on that, but put it aside (which is never a good thing with me.) So here I am coloring in PhotoShop (which I would have done anyway so there would be color under the glitter ;- ) I tried to stay true to my vision/inspiration and went over the part I had planned to use silver glitter on with the Stardust glitter pen by Sakura. I did paint the red hearts with Martha Stewart glitter. I used black gel pen on the purple balloon. I added red Martha Stewart twine for the balloon strings. The circle and scalloped circle were cut with the Quick Kuts die set made to go with some of the Hero Arts stamps. The sentiment is from Hero Arts Sweet Wonderful You and was embossed with Red Dragon embossing powder from Stampendous. I inked it with Dusty Concord Distress ink. The rick rack was cut with a die from The Scrapping Cottage. Those of you with keen eyes will notice that I put the border on upside down >.< Just shows how things are going in my current state of craziness. I also should have rounded the corners.

     Thanks for stopping by two days in a row. I've have another progressive due on Mon. So I better get to work ;- ) Have a great rest of your weekend!

Gift and sympathy.

     Sorry, I would have posted sooner, but the coming snow brought me a cluster headache as well >.< The first thing I have to show you is a cupcake holder, that is part of the packaging of a Christmas gift I made for a neighbor. Now we did exchange gifts after Christmas, but not this far after >.<  I just used an SVG freebie from Heather at Images by Heather M. You can find her post with the freebie here. She has some nice freebies on her site. I used SCAL2,  my Expression and K &Company's Peppermint Twist card stock to cut the cupcake holder. I purchased some nice fluffy footie socks and rolled them up and put them in the cupcake holder and in the center, I put a Mary Kay lip sunscreen (my neighbor is taking a trip to Florida, lucky her since we just got 7 inches of snow.) I also included Mary Kay Mint Bliss Lotion for Legs and Feet. This was all wrapped in cellophane that I got at Michaels, which actually came with the tag. This would make a great Valentine gift if made with different card stock and cellophane.

 There is some nice sparkle and gloss on this card stock that didn't show in the photos.

     The same neighbor had also lost her father and was going to have a memorial for him. I told my son she was leaving the next day and I was making a sympathy card for her. He was thinking of the Florida trip and he said, "That requires a sympathy card now?" LOL He knows I miss her when she's gone.
   
     The background was stamped and clear embossed with Hero Arts Flowered Wallpaper. The grey card stock is Core'dinations. The ribbon was something I had pack ratted  repurposed from something I don't remember. I cut the ovals with nestabilities and the the sentiment was done digitally and the font is SNF Infinity. You can Scrap n Fonts here. Infinity is a premium font, which means it has all of the font characters, including all of the symbols. You can get the bundle which includes the bold style as well for $8 right now. (I get nothing for saying this. I just think it's a pretty font.) The butterfly is from Jolee's Boutique Beautiful Butterflies (the one on the inside as well.)

     The inside sentiment was also done digitally. The font here is Harrington. The stamp used is from Hero Arts, with Color Blok ink and the papers are Core'dinations.

   
     I had to go to the Mary Kay Center the other day to pick up some product (yes, I'm a Mary Kay consultant and have been for a very long time.) We took the puppy, now 9 months old, with us, since we only had run in and out errands and we thought he could use a car trip. On our way back we spotted a herd of deer in a neighborhood by our library. Now I'm doing a photo or photos a day from my dogs point of view, so we happened to have the camera with us, so here's what we saw.

 Very interested in the barking dog ;- )

     And here is his self-photo from the day. My son thought it was pretty good, since Shadow doesn't have opposable thumbs ;- )

     Have a great Sunday! Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment before you go.

All with the help of my elves!

     Well, we finished the Christmas card on Thurs. and I finally found a moment to post it :- ) I have to give the credit to my DH elf for cutting the scallop from Recollections paper with the large nestabilities die (as well as scoring and folding all 40 cards, following through on the tree decorating when it stalled and signing all the cards.) My DS elf embossed the snowflakes and corner rounded the sentiment, as well as spraying the image with Crafter's Companion Spray & Sparkle Iridescent glitter varnish (gotta love him ;- ) The image and the sentiment are both from Meljen Designs and were colored in Photoshop. The pattern paper is a digital paper from Bits and Bobs and is part of a free sampler. I'm giving you the direct link to the free sampler I used, but here is a warning: I found the sampler from a direct link and when looking for it, for this post I found that this site does have kits that link to adult content (there is a warning), so you might want to be prepared or just go to the direct link, if you are interested in the paper and the matching embellishments. So you've been warned!

  
     I didn't take a photo of all 40, because there was no place to set them all up ;- ) At this point, I decided to diverge from my usual path, and just stamp on the inside with out adding any other paper (need to be quicker and simpler.) The sentiments are from Clear Dollar Stamps's Christmas Blessings and were embossed with holographic embossing powder. Now here are some stamping tips:
1) You will get ink on your fingers every time you touch the stamp block or stamp pad
2) Ink that doesn't wipe off will always come off on white cardstock when you touch it  >.<
3) you should totally wash your hands with soap & water and wipe the stamps every 4-5 cards (not      really moving fast, but very important!
4) A damp cloth to wipe your fingers with after touching the stamp &/or stamp pad will keep down finger smudges on your cards
5) ink smudges are a naturally occurring phenomenon on cards and only add to the beauty and value of your card (just like those tags on clothes)
6) forget perfectionism or you will never finish ;- )

     Yes, of course, I showed you the best one. I'll be entering this in Stamping With the Dragon's challenge which has anything to do with snow. Thanks for coming by. I hope you and your family have the most Blessed of Christmases. Please leave a comment before you go. I really love to hear from you!

Birthday Wish for a Guy

     This is one of those cards, that looked better in my head, then it did when I was done >.< Probably, because in my head, I haven't chosen the papers, just the idea. Both the card base and the sentiment were cut from Cricut's Birthday Bash cartridge.  I embossed the background with Cuttlebug's Christmas Stars and used My Mind's Eye twine. I popped up the DP, which is from Paper Studio and popped up the sentiment on it. The DP is edged with a gold paint pen. This card is for my son's best friend in middle school, who is at a different college than my son. He has a great (though sometimes quirky) sense of humor and wouldn't be demanding of the looks of the card, fortunately ;- )

     No time for second guessing the front, so moving on.  The font in the multiple choice section and the Happy Birthday is Bevan (all can be found on the internet, try a google search), the one in the parenthesis is Beetle and the one in the salutation is Black Jack. The boxes and the check mark were made in Print Shop. Matt will enjoy the humor.

     I didn't get much done on the next card. First I found out I couldn't get it into the mail tomorrow anyway, because of Veterans' Day (there is no mail.) Then I needed to shop for baking ingredients, because a friend and I are doing MAJOR cookie baking all day Saturday for my Christmas Party and just for the holidays for her. It took longer than I would have thought, as DH and I stopped to eat and I looked for some wire for the next card too. Some of these cookies will probably even find there way into a shipment to the college students. So, I'll need to really move it on that next card and make up some of the doughs that need to chill overnight.

     Thanks for shooting by. Please leave a comment, because they keep me motivated and mean so much to me ;- ) Have a blessed weekend!

My 2nd Progressive Challenge Entry... bookmark.

     If you follow my blog, you may remember that I'm participating in a progressive challenge over at Crafter's Digital Art Center (CDAC). "How does the CDAC Progressive Challenges work? The CDAC Progressive Challenge is a proactive freebie challenge. What that means is as long as you are proactive by making and submitting cards to this challenge you will continue to get freebies offered in a large variety of styles. These images are created by the artists that have groups here on CDAC and by those that participate in the CDAC drawing Challenges. This is a fun way to get and use fabulous images that will be offered during these challenges." You can join in the middle or if you miss a time by paying $1 for the images at that point. Find all of the info here. All of the images for this round were kind of back-to-school related. I really didn't have a card to make using those type of images and they weren't really what I needed for my college students, so I decided to make a bookmark for my neighbor. She is a big Elvis fan and, it's hard to see but the small book says, Gigi, which is what her Grandchildren call her. I colored the image and added the titles in PhotoShop Elements. I used Core'dinatons, with a white core for the main piece and embossed it with Sizzix Texturz Starter Kit's plate called Dashes, because they kind of looked like books. I used a sandpaper block to bring out the embossing. I matted the image with a green pattern paper from my scraps, that I'd gotten at Hobby Lobby and some reddish scrap cardstock. I used the Martha Stewart circle cutter to cut out the image.

Click on image to make it larger.

     Now I'd thought I'd get more done today, because, well, it's only a bookmark, but when putting the blade in the circle cutter, it popped out of it's blade protector and slashed my finger, Yowie! As  you can see, I got no blood on the image, he he, but bleed I did. So, a bandaged fingertip, makes for awkward, crafting, including this typing BTW ;- ) So, hopefully with a smaller bandage, it's back to creating tomorrow. You should come and join us at CDAC, we'd love to have you.Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment, so that I know you were here. I'm sooo happy to hear from you. Have a wonderfully creative week.

The Big Three-0 and window box visitors.

     Well, as promised today's card is for my friend's son's thirtieth birthday, though I still don't see how that is possible, since we were babies 30 years ago. He must be adopted ;- ) Anyway, I embossed and sanded the Core'dinations cardstock using  the Cuttlebug embossing folder. I cut out the "30" from AC metallic cardstock, using the  Cricut Plantin Schoolbook Cart and the Gypsy, so that I could size the width and height separately and popped it up on the card. The sentiment is from Clear Stamps and is embossed with sterling silver embossing powder. I really got creative to make the label. I used the gypsy to resize what was suppose to be the mat from the "Families are Forever" card on the Cricut Just Because Cards cart. It would be button 34, the one with the tree swing in the handbook. I turned off the keep proportions lock and changed the proportions to .6 inches wide by 2.5 inches long. I added a brad and popped it up. The edges are inked with Ranger Distress Fired Brick.

     On the inside, the sentiment is done digitally in Print Shop. The fonts are LD Thankful and LD Dabble both from Lettering Delights. They have great fonts and dingbats, as well as SVG's and graphics. If you sign-up for their e-mails, you get 9 fonts free. You can check them out here, through my affiliate link or by clicking the link in my sidebar. I then added stickers from American Traditional Designs Party Icons, that I get at Hobby Lobby. The Happy Birthday pattern paper is also from Hobby Lobby.

     I think the inside looks kind of like a celebration ;- ) 

The other day I shared some roses, so today I thought I'd share some visitors to my flowers with you.

 Notice the center of it's back. How feathery it is. Click on photo to enlarge.

 Look at that face \. ./

     Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment, so that I know that you were here ;- ) Have a blessed day!

Creating the Mystical Unicorn

     Today's card is for a little girl who is turning 5. Her favorite animal is the unicorn, so I decided to make it a shaped card. I used the unicorn from the  Cricut Paper Dolls Dress-Up cart. It's from the page with the pixi, I believe it's the 13th image. You're saying pixi? I know that's what I said, but I was just glad to have a unicorn. (I, too, thought it would be with the princess.) I used my Gypsy to make it a shaped card welding two unicorns (one flipped) with a small rectangle from Accent Essentials. I used pearlized cardstock  from Crafter's Companion, for the base because they have a nice sturdy cardstock (love this stuff) and I thought the pearlized finish made a nice card. I cut another unicorn  from white cardstock (hiding the eye cut - because I was going to use the gem, and some other cuts - I would have the Cricut draw) and before removing the mat (using the Gypsy) selected return to program, selected the parts I wanted drawn, replaced the blade with the Cri-Kits gel pen and selected cut again and added the lines to the unicorn. I re-cut part of the unicorn again using scrap paper with black Core'dinations where the hooves would be cut and stopped it after it cut the hooves. I was going to do the same for the horn with glitter cardstock, but decided to embossed it instead with an embossing pen and Kaleidoscope embossing powder. The mane and tail were embellished with Sparkly Fluff. I added a gem for the eye and the flower is from Creative Charms. The font is from the Storybook cart and welded on the Gypsy.

 Click photo for close-up, to see details

     I used Martha Stewart's circle cutter, to cut the circle, at 1 1/2 inches and embossed it with Divine Swirls.  I then inked it with Studio G chalk ink. The 5 was cut from the Storybook cart and they were popped up. The sentiment was made digitally and the fonts are Happy Birthday in Storybook and LD Farfetched for the rest, which is available from Lettering Delights (see the link on my sidebar - they also have graphics,  and SVG's .)  The hearts are Rain Dots from Cloud9 Design which is a Fiskers brand. and were a bit too peachy, so I colored them a bit with my Copics. The sentiment and it's mat were cut with nestibilities. This was popped up also, but not as high as the circle with the 5.

Click for a closer look.

     What would I do differently? I thought about putting a gold ribbon around the neck of the unicorn. I looked up photos and none of the unicorns had anything around their necks, except some had flowers. I guess you can't rope a unicorn ;- ) While doing this, (and I had suspected and was checking this also, but had already done the hooves) I noticed that none of the unicorns had black hooves (ok 1 or 2 may had), but white or pink ones. At this point, my son said to me, "Mom, unicorns aren't real. You can make them look any way you want!" These are the type of perfectionist details I'm suppose to be recovering from ;-) 

Later, when I was done I thought a dusting of Perfect Pearls over the body might have been a nice touch too. So these are some ideas for another time. I do think she will really like her card.

     Thanks for stopping by. Hope some of you are getting some cooler weather. We finally are. Who would have thought mid-80's would have been cooler ;- ) The front going through took my migraines with it, so good riddance. Please leave a comment. It just takes a moment and I really appreciate knowing you are out there. Have a wonder-filled weekend.

Two quick cards

     Well, I was down to the wire on two cards. It was a busy week and then I hadn't been feeling well, causing me not to get these two cards done earlier. So, here I was needing to get them done, before the mail carrier got here. Fortunately, I had a few tricks up my sleeve. I had picked up some note cards from Studio g in the Dollar Bin at Michaels', that had pre-cut windows. I'd also had on hand an assortment of embellishments that I've picked up over time, when there have been sales at Michaels' and JoAnn's. These are from JoAnn's Craft Essential 's line.  The front is embossed with Divine Swirls. The stamp, showing through the window of the anniversary card, is from Stampabilities. It was stamped with Big and Bossy and embossed with gold metallic embossing powder. Hint: Use a dryer sheet to wipe the area where you are going to emboss before you stamp to reduce the amount of powder that clings to unwanted areas. I wish I would remember this the ahead of time, every time ;- ) I colored it with both yellow gel and yellow glitter pens to make a champaign look and went over the glasses with Diamond Glaze.  Used my heat tool to speed drying.

  
     The inside sentiment is from Inkadinkadoo.

     The birthday card follows the same formula, only the stamps are from Hero Arts, made for Archiver. I embossed it with Swiss Dots.  Hint: I had to run it through twice and doing this would cause a section of the dots to de-boss, so I lined it up, to be the area where I would put my sentiment/embellishment. Always plan ahead - an interesting concept for me ;- ) OK, it was a happy accident the first time, but my pickiness, made me do this one a second time and I did it intentionally that time, so there!

It's really more red and maroon than pink.

     For quickie cards, I think they turned out pretty good. Kind of like the less expensive line of cards, but still with that homemade touch. We all have those times when we are out of time. The anniversary couple's daughter has a birthday this week and I need to make a unicorn card for her. So, they will get the full custom treatment then ;- ) As it turned out, it was good they were fast. I didn't just have to beat the mail carrier, but get to the post office before it closed, because I was out of stamps and traffic was horrendous because of a parade. Some days nothing is easy ;- )

     Thanks for stopping by, during your busy summer (if your north of the equator, like me.) Please leave a comment because the fuel me. Have a Blessed Sunday!

Star Baby and reception freebies, shown as promised!

     Let's start with the card, because I haven't posted one in awhile. Today's card is for my neighbor's newborn granddaughter. Her, (the baby), name is Stella, hence the theme of the card. I used the Imagine and Nursery Tales again, because I want to get as much use out of such a baby oriented cart, when I can, being the mother of a 20 year old son in college ;- ) All of the paper and images are from this cart, except for the shooting star, which is from Everyday Paper Dolls, accessories 2, shifted. It's the accessory for the astronaut. The paper for the star is from Core'dinations Couture line. I colored the star with a Copic marker and added detail with the Starlight Glitter pen. All the images were popped up with pop dots. The sentiment is from Clear Stamps Greetings and was embossed with gold metallic embossing powder. The rose is Prima.

     The papers on the inside are also from the Imagine Nursery Tales cart. The sentiment was done digitally, however the images were stamped. The star, under the word "star", was with Studio g pigment chalk ink and a stamp from Northwoods  and the ones on the bottom are with Mementos Angel Pink dye ink and an un-named stamp, that I got from a friend. The fonts are LD farfetched, (from Learning Delights)  Wizzard (free on the internet) and Storybook (also free on the internet - try Urban fonts). The blue paper was stamped with a stamp by The Stamping Bug and embossed with Kaleidoscope embossing powder. (The last names have been obscured in iPhoto to protect the innocent - ha, ha!)

     What would I have done differently? Well, there is the usual, stamp straighter, on the inside ;- ) Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with the way this one turned out. The Imagine, didn't do a very good job cutting the the stripped part on the front and I could have made it do that again. I had re-calibrated it just the other day, so I don't know what it problem was. Maybe the heat and humidity.

     With the Prima flower on the front, I used my Ultimate Crafter's Companion to make and envelobox for the card. That's an envelope that has some depth to it. It still isn't quite deep enough but it's better.

     Here are the gifts in the goodie bags that  50 people received at the Splitcoaststampers "Cupcakes and Cocktails" at CHA.

Susan and I both got the same color of Flower Soft, but we got different stamps from Taylored Expressions.

Our stamps were different from Unity Stamps.

These were the same for both of us.

This was also the same.

This was the same.

This was a special stamp from Splitcoast themselves ;- ) Who dusts?

     I thought these were wonderful, generous gifts. Thanks so much to the sponsors! The cupcakes were great too. There were door prizes, but we were not the lucky ones. Now I said I'd share our return home story. Since we left from the hotel, instead of the convention center, we entered the parking garage a different way. In the morning we'd taken the pedestrian walkway to the convention center which was on the floor where we parked our car - color green. We got to the elevators, level G color red, get on and there is no color green. I said let's go up 1 floor, because we weren't up very high. We go up and there isn't a green there either. We walk to the edge to look for the walkway and see it below us, huh? Fortunately, I said we should walk down, instead of taking the elevator. There is a floor in-between, where the elevator doesn't go. Then we start to look for our car - D1. we can find Ramp D and Ramp C but no just D. God must have been guiding me, because I get another idea to go up and around and Ramp D is part of the interleave that makes parking garages work, which I've never understood, but knew must be cool. Once on the road we had no more troubles. She and I do go and pick up my son from college with no trouble, handling all of the mess of the downtown Chicago expressways. Somedays you have it and somedays you don't ;- )

     Thanks for dropping by a spending some time with me. Please, take a moment more, if you have it and leave a comment, so I have something to read from you. I'd love to know that you were here. Have a blessed Sunday!

Ladybug, little girl card.

     Today's card is from Cricut's Birthday Bash cart. I made this card for the daughter of a friend and ex-colleague of my husband. I cut the ladybug, base and the number 5, (which comes from the next page of the handbook) on 3 1/4 inches. The pink and green cardstock is Bazzill and the pattern paper is Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby. The ladybug is embossed with swiss dots. I used frosted lace stickles on the black spots and diamond glaze on the antenna tips.

     For the inside, I used the sentiment from the same page as the ladybug. I doodled on it with a green glitter gel pen, to give it some interest and added a gem, from Hero Arts, to one of the i's.

     What would I do differently? I might have made the ladybug smaller. I thought about faux stitching the pink layer, but wasn't sure if I could do it neat enough. Should try that before I glue it down. Maybe texture emboss the inside pink layer, but I don't know.

     I don't know why I think I'm further along than I am after I pick the image I'm going to use and maybe the sentiment. Sometimes, I even have a basic layout in mind, but I seem to forget how long it takes to pick the papers for the pieces, if I'm cutting the image out, decide on embellishments, decide the total color scheme, choose how the sentiment will be displayed and all the other "little"decisions like that (embossing, pens, glitter, ribbon.........).  Fortunately, this card isn't needed until the end of the month, but I have others I put aside because I thought I knew what I was doing with this one, it would be quick, ha. It always takes longer than I thought. I need to hunt for supplies for 2 of the others, for the basic idea rattling around in my head, that will of course take 10X longer than I anticipate ;- )

     Thanks for checking out my card and my random thoughts. Please, leave me a comment if you've got a moment. I really appreciate them. Have a blessed day!

Male graduation card.

     Today's card is another graduation card, only this one is for a male. We have a graduation party to attend this weekend. One of the cards in the earlier posts is for his sister and the party this weekend is for both of them. She is graduating High School and he is graduating 8th grade. To see her card (if you missed it and are interested), click here. I know in some areas, 8th grade graduations aren't celebrated. Here, depending on where you go to school, you child may attend the same school from Kindergarten (or pre-school) right through 8th grade, with the same kids, making it a bigger event, then if they changed schools at the middle (or junior high school level).

     The papers are from Paper Studio's Graduation Paper Pack and the stickers are from Stampendous Class a'peal. I cut the name with Cricut's Plantin Schoolbook cart in the standard setting 2 times and popped it up. I embossed the sentiment with silver glitter embossing powder.

     On the inside, I just matted the sentiment, I wrote digitally with Print Shop using the LD Dabble font from Lettering Delights and I stamped the stars (Northwoods) and embossed them using silver glitter embossing powder.

     I think it turned out nice, though the star on the right should be over to the right a bit more, but I have a tendency to just eyeball things.

I still have a wedding card to do and a few birthdays coming up. I can't believe the CHA Supershow is the week after next, though it's not the same this year. I was looking forward to taking a few workshops, but there aren't any. I guess it will just be make-and-takes and shopping. What I've really wanted to see were the booths in the real  CHA. Maybe some day.

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment. I love to know what you think and that you stopped by. Hearing from you is a real pick me up ;- ) Have a joyous week!

Birthday Honey Pop card.

     Well, there was some struggle involved with this card and I'm not sure I'm really totally happy with it, but I'm out of time. Maybe part of it was due to the headaches, or the heat or my having been gone from the "drawing board" for so long, but this did not come together easy.  I planned on using a Penny Black stamp of a bunny in a flower pot of pansies. Many of you know the one I mean. Well, I have no art training, so coloring that would take me a lot of time, which I was now running low on, so I decided instead to use the Inky Antics set Cupcake Birdie which goes with there Honey Pop honeycomb papers (you will see them inside of the card if you don't know them.) I still needed to decide the layout for the front of the card and papers were a stumper until I decided to use this element from the Cricut Imagine cart Better Together.

     This bow is one of the Icons. Now soon you will be saying (as soon as you see the card), but Debbie, I don't see this element on the card. Aha, just one of the many twists and turns of this card. So, since I was going to use this element, I decided to use the papers from the Better Together cart. Suddenly, my Imagine turned against me and declared my ink carts were missing, not low, missing. After arguing with it, reseating the carts, disconnecting the power (that will teach it to argue with me) and reloading the software (including an update), it seems the stubborn machine still couldn't find what was obviously there! No time to deal with customer service,  I changed the ink carts and will look into it more later. Have you had this problem? Please leave me a comment.

     With sanity restored, (it's mine is gone) I came up with this. I'd give you cut sizes, but my way  wasn't the efficient way to make this, if you hadn't guessed that already. More changes were made. The bow was replaced with the flower which is from Creative Charms, (love this). I added clear glitter gel pen accents to the flower centers on the background paper. The front I do like.

     Now the inside... The example from the company, just shows it on the main card stock, so I wasn't sure how well it would work if I glued paper through the center (would it close right? be too stiff? etc.) and didn't have time for experiments, so just went with that. I find that a bit plain though. I cut the bird and the main cherry from watercolor paper, after coloring with watercolor pencils. The stamped cherries are colored with red sharpies (liked the bright red) and green glitter gel pens. The sentiment, which comes with the set, is embossed with clear embossing powder.

     So there you go, a crazy odyssey of creative (I guess that's what it is) misadventures. Is that redundant? Well, it's late. So, I think the inside needs work, but I'm happy with the front. Always room for improvement ;- )

     Oh! meant to mention that Enfys has Blog Candy on her blog here!!! Check it out ;- )

     Thanks for making it this far, if you have. Please leave me a note. I love to hear from you. Have a Blessed  and safe 4th here in the States and a wonderful weekend elsewhere. Wave your flag with pride!

I'm finally back!

     Well, after getting some party clean-up done I ... have created ... a ... card ... (and there is a sigh of relief).  Toady's card is an anniversary card for a woman who was my high school English teacher, way back in the day. So, I made a card with kind of a  retro 60's feel, to fit her day, not mine (well I was close) ;- ) I used Core'dinations Black Magic with a light pink core, but the pink is hard to see in the photo.  The embellishments are from me & my Big ideas, Ellen Krans edition of Soft Spoken. I used gel pen to color in the "O".

 
     The inside sentiment was done digitally, with Print Shop using Harrington font. I embossed a stamp from Inkadinadoo's spring mini assortment with clear embossing powder. The hearts and "Love Birds" are part of the same embellishments as on the front.

     What would I do differently? I would space the heart didn't have to go over my name ;- ) I might change up the inside embellishments to vary the card. On the front, I might raise the the whole line of embellishments and stamp a sentiment underneath. I also might use a darker red core of Black Magic.

     Our party went well and the weather was wonderful. Not too hot, a bit overcast (which is good, since we don't have much shade in our yard) and no rain. We had about 45 people or so. My DH forgot to snap any photos, probably too busy playing volleyball, esp. since my DS had been talking volleyball smack the day before and there were reputations on the line ;- ), so here are a couple of photos of the food from last year (basically the same, only the table clothes have been changed.

     Makes you hungry, doesn't it? You didn't even see the desserts. If your ever in the area at the end of June, you should stop by and join us. You'd be very welcome.

     Our new puppy did wonderfully, though he was exhausted before it was half over. He now has a name. It's Shadow. Though I still fell he needs a middle name and that one isn't clear yet. The other day, he was Shadow the Pirate because he he said "Arrrgggh" to me. So we made it, "Talk like a pirate day," here. Here is a recent picture of Shadow.

     He will get his first days of having a neighbor let him out, this week because, we have Vacation Bible School at our Church and that will put him in his crate for longer than 3 hours. It's good for him to get a trial at this, while he's little though.

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a note if you have time. Your comments me a lot to me. Have a wonderful week!