A big, belated Thanks!

I had received a few weeks ago two "awards" for my blog. I received a lovely one from Maria and another from Toni. To you both, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. I haven't received them to put on my blog. Truthfully, I forgot to go back and get them. So my personal message to Toni and Maria, thank you to you both for thinking me worthy of these wonderful awards. And forgive me for not getting them onto my blog. Your blogs are very special to me too.

Miss You

Hi All! I have missed everyone! How have you all been? I've been doing OK. I hurt myself last week. I started Jazzercise classes and just when I thought I was getting the steps down, my left foot stopped but the rest of me didn't and I fell. Full impact on my left knee. At first only my pride was wounded - but I'm still pretty sore and it's amazing how you take for granted the ways your body moves when you want it to move one way and a shooting pain goes straight up your leg and makes you see stars!! Oh boy.

I have a card front to share with you. I sent this in as my contribution to a swap that my dear friend jonjinko is hosting. Another friend sent me this stamp as part of another swap that I was in - I just love it. It's a Great Impressions stamp and the sentiment is none other than Papertrey Ink.

The base is Real Red and I cut the sides using my old decorative scissors from Fiskars, the design is called Clouds. I wish I had bought years ago the SU! scalloped scissors, but they can't be found anywhere. {If anyone does find some, will you clue me in?} Next is Basic Black card stock. I stamped the image in 3 different panels to make it appear that the ladybug is moving along (my husband said this didn't make any sense because the flower is moving, too). I used my Stampin' Write markers to color the images, using Barely Banana in the flower petals and Apricot Appeal for shading. I think if I made this into a full card, I would then add red ribbon with black polka dots. I like it, even if DH thinks it doesn't make sense. The hostess liked it, too. That's enough votes for me.

I have another Elzybells card to share with you, but I have to wait a few more days to post it. I am so sad, too. The post below was a card I made for a swap, I mailed them and the hostess never received them. I am not happy with the postal service. I was really hoping I goofed and maybe mailed it to one of my swappers in the monthly card swap, but no one has said anything. Oh well. They're gone, life goes on.

So Sweet!

Hello Everyone! The final days of Spring break are upon us. The kids are already groaning, but we have had a wonderful visit with my sister for this past week. Tomorrow is my hubby's birthday, so we're almost done with birthdays! Whoo-hoo!!!

I have learned about a new stamp company called Elzybells and although they are very cute, this image captured my heart. I just love her. She arrived over a month ago and now she's finally inked. I made these cards and then joined the swap. I love this card - it's so feminine. I started with Pretty In Pink cardstock and ran a little more than half through the Cuttlebug using the paisley embossing folder - it's a new one! Then I took inspiration from the current Stampin' Success magazine for cards with all these wonderful circles. I used paper from a stash I've been hoarding. Then added a sentiment from by beloved collection of dollar stamps. The result, something pinkfully cute!

Urrrgggghhh!!!

I posted a photo of a card last night (a little something from Inque Boutique) and a comment was left on it... one that was spam. I do not appreciate such comments being left on my blog, these sorts of comments infect computers and why anyone would want to be that destructive to someone else is beyond me. Please beware of a commentor called Dumuro. My blog will now require a word verification and if this doesn't stop it, I will start moderating the comments. I am only sharing my beloved hobby with others who share my interests... I will not allow you to damage my computer or anyone elses.

To my faithful readers, thank you for your understanding.

A little something from Inque Boutique

My LSS is carrying these great little stamps by Inque Boutique (See D's). I was playing around with an idea that I'd entered into their weekly contest (crossing my fingers) and this is what I came up with. I used a set called Make-A-Tag to create the cross-hatch design on the top of the card. It wasn't easy, as you can see, my lines didn't go on exactly straight. Of course I've got the scallop thing going. Then I used another set that I call Circle of Friends which is so sweet. I love the different fonts used for Friends. The bottom needed something and I thought only half the image of the little flower finished it nicely!

March Monthly Card Swap

Has anyone else just gone head over heels for Hannah? This is the second time I've received images for the monthly card swap that are Hannah stamp images. She's so darn cute! This image I received along with the beautiful decorative paper and just couldn't come up with the sentiment, so I filled the whole space... the sentiment will have to be on the part of the sender who uses my card.

I wasn't completely pleased with my coloring job... don't know if it was me or the cardstock. This particular cardstock that was used wanted to drink up the ink. Of course that might have been due to all this drywall dust that's been overtaking my house the last several weeks!!

Back to the card... I have totally fallen in love with Almost Amethyst again. It's my new old favorite. And I love love love the new Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder! And of course we know that lately Melissa has had a thing for scallops. You also cannot imagine how excited I was when I dove into my bag 'o ribbon and came up with this GORGEOUS satin ribbon that matches perfectly. I squealed! Literally. (haha! my daughter's new favorite word)

I hope you likey! I have some other cards just waiting to be published on here, so maybe I can update more often!!!

Happy Easter everyone.

Easter Blessing Stamp Camp

Hi Everyone,

What a crazy Saturday I had yesterday!! My youngest son's school had their annual Basket Bingo yesterday so I promised baked goods, door prizes and of course I wanted a basket. I didn't win one though, which was no surprise. Then I also had a stamp camp. I was late to my own camp!! The bingo ran way over, my guests were a little early, so hubby had to play host for the five minutes that it takes to get from the school to the house.

Anyway, I wanted to share the projects we made at the camp. I believe everyone enjoyed themselves and the projects came out lovely.

I wanted to do an Easter theme, since the holiday is fast approaching. I love the coffee bags that are offered by PaperTrey, they are inexpensive and so much fun to decorate. I went with a very simple design, but the results were truly nice.

I also was quite inspired by Nichole Heady's design on a tag card and just had to do it! Isn't it lovely? I chose Almost Amethyst and dug into my stash of ribbon and found I had a gorgeous satin ribbon to match! How happy was I! I also used a stamp from the Sale-A-Bration stamp set So Many Scallops, but used "Easter Blessings" sentiment from PTI.

This next photo is what we made to go inside the bag. I made a treat holder for two Fun Size candy bars. I stamped a larger white label to wrap around the candy. Again, this is another inspiration from Nichole's blog. I just modified it for the Fun Size, instead of Nuggets candy. The results were great!

The next items are real colored eggs. The pink egg, we stamped Easter Blessings with Staz-On ink. The green egg was decorated with a belly band. The blue egg, we embossed a white flower on it. Embossing on eggs was actually quite easy, but I think I would recommend using an oven mit if you want to emboss all over the egg. We started with Whisper White craft ink and then finished with white embossing powder. The egg was cold, so I did notice that it took a little to heat set the powder. The results were fun!

I hope you enjoyed my presentation of my stamp camp.