An Elegant Occasion

Hello! I am so glad you stopped by to visit! Summer break is coming to an end and I'm bouncing between emotions of happiness to be going back to work and getting a paycheck, frustration that once again my 'to do' list was longer than my summer, and sadness that my full days with my girls are coming to an end.  Fortunately, this week will be less hectic than some and maybe, just maybe we'll squeeze a little day tripping in there!

About a month ago, my niece was married and I made the wedding thank yous for them.  I'm pretty sure it's safe to post  a photo of one now that they've been sent out.

She wanted something simple, but elegant, so I used the retired elegant lines embossing folder on some whisper white cardstock.  I added some silver dazzling details, the sentiment in wisteria wonder, and attached all of that to a wisteria wonder base.  I think they turned out very pretty and elegant!

Even though the wedding day was a bit rainy, it was a beautiful occasion and we had a great time celebrating with the happy couple. And while I was so happy to be able to help them out by making the thank yous, I am even more relieved that they were completed on time for the big day!!

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog today and I hope you have a fantastically creative week!

Card Recipe: Paper-wisteria wonder, whisper white, Ink-wisteria wonder, Stamp Set-Regarding Dahlias (sentiment), Accessories-elegant lines ef, silver dazzling details

Flashback Friday-Switching gears

Hello!I'm so glad you stopped by today!  It has been incredibly hot and humid lately, so I have been hiding indoors and started my Christmas cards.  We went from rainforest monsoon season to the dry season in one week.  We have a saying in Indiana (or anywhere in the Midwest for that matter!), if you don't like the weather just wait a minute...  This summer started unusually mild and extremely wet, so when we got our normal hot and humid it was quite an adjustment!

After quite a few birthday cards, I am switching over to Christmas.  I only have two in my stash and will need a lot more in a few months, so I figured I better get busy.  You will probably recognize this layout as the same that I used for my manly birthday cards.  It's perfect for using smaller pieces of dsp that aren't quite big enough for a card front or photo mat.  My package of Merry Moments dsp is quite a bit smaller now-no more full sheets!

When I went outside to take pictures of my cards, I had an 'assistant'.  The calico kitten who decided to adopt us about a month ago really wanted to help with my photo shoot!  Little stinker wouldn't stay off of the patio table!

Here is another photo of Miss Cali and Athos (one of our other kittens) in the grass.  Notice the mess of a yard needing to be raked!  So hard to keep it nice when there's so much rain...

Thanks so much for visiting and have a great day!  I'm staying inside where it's nice and cool!

Card Recipes: Paper-chocolate chip, garden green, real red, very vanilla, Merry Moments dsp (ret), Ink-chocolate chip, Stamp Set-Curly Cute (ret)

Anything But a Card Challenge 49- Anything Goes!!

Hello! I'm so glad you stopped by to visit today!  This month Anything But a Card Challenges has an open theme, so that means ANYTHING GOES! Well, almost anything-no cards please!!

I was in the mood for something inky and messy this time and my quotes journal was the perfect place to do it.  In my mind, I saw all of these muddy, grungy browns working together and while I had a momentary thought of chocolate, it was quickly replaced with coffee.  So I pulled out all of my browns and started smearing and sponging.  We have a small pickers style store in the town next to us and I found some wonderfully used office stamps one day.  You can see the 'special delivery' made it to this page.  I wanted something to represent coffee mug rings and a quick trip to my recycling bags gave me a milk jug cap. Perfect!

I've had the 'two cup day' sentiment for quite a while and thought it would go well with this super caffeinated page, so it finally saw some ink.  I also used the stamp set Perfect Blend (was so super bummed when this hit the retired list...) to make my cups and the rule the world sentiment.  There was this 'hole' in the top right corner of the page.  Hole is in accents because there was so much ink on this page it wasn't really a blank space, but seemed like it needed something more.  I found an old enamel sticker that would work, but when I put it on the page it was too shiny for such a earthy page.  So I pulled out the rock candy crackle paint and aged it a little bit.  Now there's another completed page in my journal, one that shares a bit about my favorite drink!

I truly hope you have been inspired to create something and share it with us!  We would love to see what you've been up to!  Thanks so much again, for visiting!  Have a marvelous week!

The last of the birthday cards

Yes, you read correctly, this should be the last of the birthday cards for a little while.  Now I need to focus on scrapbooking and Christmas cards! It's a never ending cycle, but someone's gotta do it... lol!

I needed several guy cards and the retired Well Worn dsp tends to be my 'go to' paper for this.  I'm not sure what I will do when it's all gone!

I found a similar card here and only slightly modified Paula's design.  I liked the simplicity of the design, yet there are a lot of layers on this.  The original actually had 7 layers, but I didn't want my cards to become too heavy. I hate paying extra postage!  I adjusted the design by making the dsp layer into split pieces.  This eliminated the need for another layer of the blue cardstock on top of the dsp.  My final layer count was 5 layers, which is still quite a bit for me!  I must have been channeling Kelly at Sandcastle Stamper!! She is the queen of many layers and her cards always look fabulous!!

We just got back home last evening from another successful Kids Camp.  My laundry hampers are overflowing and the grass looks like it could be cut and baled instead of mowed...  Probably not much crafting going on here for a few days, but I'll be back on Sunday with my DT post for Anything But a Card.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a marvelous week!!

Card Recipe: Paper-well worn dsp, early espresso, not quite navy, soft suede, cajun craze, river rock, Ink-crumb cake (distressing), early espresso, Stamp Set-Apothecary Art

and another one's down...

Another one bites the dust!  Yep, I am still on my Pinterest card kick, and I'm happy to say that I've made another card based off of a pin!  Now, DH can let me waste my time on the computer knowing that all of that pinning and blogging is being put to use!  I am as likely to convince him of this truth as the one about making my own cards will save us money since we won't have to buy cards! Tee! Hee!  Even I can't keep a straight face on that one!  But enough of my rambling, on to my card!

I took inspiration from Lydia's card, and the only

change I made was using pastels to color the

flowers instead of re-inkers.

It was quite therapeutic to color all of those leaves and flowers-something I needed after a week of purging the closets and dressers...  I really like the soft effect for an anniversary card.

I had a bit of a reality check this morning as DD#2 mentioned that it is less than a month before school starts.  What?!  I am really longing for the good ol' days when we didn't start school til after Labor day and were finished by Memorial day...  Quite honestly, I don't think today's kids are that much smarter!  

My posting may be a bit patchy since there are still many things I need to finish before I head back to work.  There is a light at the end of my tunnel of cleaning, and I really want to reach it before all of my duties kick back into play.  Wish me luck and have a fantastic rest of the week!!

Mission Impossible!

Hello and happy 4th to all of my fellow Americans! I am so glad you came by to visit today!  I actually have something crafty to share with you, and it's not even a DT project!!

I had decided at the beginning of this summer that our home needed a major clean out.  We are hoping to build in the near future and I thought that not only would it get rid of things we don't need, but it would also make moving a little easier.  I should have called this Mission Impossible...  I have lost count of the number of trips we have made to local charities donating what was still usable, and don't get me started on the things that were simply tossed.  You would think that my home would be barren at this point, but I keep finding more and more things.  This is the main reason my poor blog has been less than busy.  But now I'm finding that I really need that creative therapy more than ever!!

I have also been on a card making mission this summer.  Seems someone has infiltrated my home and confiscated my stash of birthday cards (no, I didn't throw those out).  Either that or I actually had a lot less created than I initially thought...

Normally, I will look at the SU catalog, or some of my other cards for inspiration, but since I spend a lot of time on Pinterest and blogging, I thought I needed to use some ideas from these places to warrant all of that time!  If you would like to see any of the fun things I've pinned you can click here.  This will take you to my Pinterest boards page.  Both of my cards from today were designs borrowed from Pinterest.

You can see the inspiration card here.

I pretty much CASEd this one!

While I couldn't find the direct link to this card,

if you click here, it will take you to the person who 

created it originally.

I have to share my luck on the balloon die I used to make the second card.  Last month, I had my new SU order ready to enter and was excited to be buying the balloon framelits so I could start putting some cute balloons on my cards and scrapbook layouts.  The girls and I had stopped in our local Good Will store to check out the book selection for our summer reading pleasure.  I always browse the whole store because you never know what you might find.  Imagine my joy when I found a basket full of sizzix dies!  I ended up buying three dies-a wood sign, a picket fence, and balloons.  How much did I pay for these? $4 for all three!!!!!  Needless to say, I removed the framelits from my order since I was pretty sure that I could get the other die to work pretty much the same way.

I am really trying to use my scraps and retired supplies more in an effort to decrease the mountains, and both cards used the retired Summer Smooches dsp, and the balloons are all from my scrap bucket.  Even though you can't really tell that anything is gone, it makes me feel better that they've been put to good use!

Well, DH has built a campfire and the family is calling me to join them!  Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!