Create In The New Year

It's been a few years since I've posted. I was a bit concerned that my blog may have withered away in that time,  but after knocking the cobwebs aside and blowing the dust away, here it is!

A lot has happened in those two years. DD #1 graduated college, DD #2 is well into her third year of college, I've changed careers, and both my mom and mother-in-law have passed away. There's a lot of good, bad, and ugly that's occurred,  but I'm still here more or less standing.

My One Word for this year is CREATE and what a great time to resume blogging along with paper crafting. I'll leave you with some cards I quickly put together over the weekend. 

A break from scrapbooking!

Hello!  It's another hot one here and I'm going to zoom through my 'to do' list so I can get a few more scrapbook pages knocked out!  However, as the title states, I took a break from scrapbook mode to create a few cards.  I used some papers that I unearthed when I sorted all of my loose pattern paper.  I have a small stack I am challenging myself to either use or donate.  It has actually made things a bit simpler since I just go to those and make them work for what I need.  I'm still occasionally sneaking into my other paper stash, but the loose papers often are overlooked when I create, so this really helps me use them!

I actually don't need a lot of birthday cards for my stash (Christmas is a completely different story, but I haven't been motivated to make those yet...), but I did need a few youth and ladies cards.  I also made a couple of sympathy cards because those are nice to have on hand as well.

The kids cards were a lot of fun and I pulled out some older stamps and 

my copics to create these.  The top card uses 4 different stamp 

sets and who doesn't love wiggle eyes on a card?!

 

I also did a bit of coloring with copics on the flower.  I forgot

how relaxing it is to just sit and color! Need to do that more often!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Yee! Haw! It's Your Birthday!

Hello! Or should I say "Howdy!"? Today I have a fun birthday card using one of my 'treasure hunt' stamps from a recent bargain hunting trip!  Although I passed up several wonderful stamps that day, I couldn't say no to this adorable little sheriff!

It was fun to color an image again too! I hadn't done that in a little while...  I also used some reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaly old paper from my stash. Anyone remember Play Date?? My kids were little when I bought this stuff...  I thought the numbers had a touch of western flair to them, so I decided to use it.  There is still some of this paper left and I really need to find a use for it or donate it because I don't have too many little kid pages to scrapbook anymore!

I am so glad you visited today and I hope you have a wonderful day! Happy crafting!

Card Recipe:  Paper-Play Date dsp, whisper white, kraft, Ink-memento tuxedo black, real red, old olive, early espresso, tempting turquoise, crumb cake, hello honey, blush blossom, Stamp-Remembering Your Birthday (sentiment) and SU sheriff stamp (not sure what set it was originally from...)

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!

Flashback Friday- Hoping for Spring

Hello! I can not tell you how excited I am to be sharing a Flashback card with you!  I have not been feeling very creative or motivated lately, but today's card was one that kind of came together on it's own and I'm feeling hopeful that my muse hasn't completely left me!

Springtime Vintage might be one of my all time favorite papers.  It reminds me of fabric and I love the delicate floral patterns. Plus it has 'spring' in the name-just what I need right now! 

My card is very simple, but I loved the way the papers came together to remind me of a quilt.  So naturally they got 'quilted' with the fancy fan embossing folder.  There ended up being a few more retired items on here than originally planned and that is always a good thing in my book!

This week has been cold once again, and I'm calling this 'the winter that came late and stayed...forever'.  Please, please, March, come in like a lamb!!!!!  I guess no matter what the weather decides to do, I will still be here and I hope you'll come back to visit me, and if you can bring some sunshine and warmer temperatures with you, I would greatly appreciate it!

Card Recipe: Flashback Items (all retired)-Springtime Vintage dsp, Baja breeze ink, Baja breeze seam binding, vintage flowers, Stamp Set-Remembering Your Birthday, Paper-very vanilla, Accessories-MS leaf punch, fancy fan embossing folder

Lamps and Mushrooms

What?! Lamps and Mushrooms????  If you are confused or a little intrigued, it's OK.  Apparently, my muse thought it would be funny to mess with me and confuse my kids.

My card started out with a really cute mushroom stamp that was part of a set gifted to me by Audrey.  I thought the daisy paper from Floral District (ret) would be a fun paper to pair with the stamp.  So I set out to make my card.  I had the orange and yellow fungi stamped on whisper white cs and punched them out to put on the daisy paper.  It needed a little more 'ooomph' to make them stand out so I cut another strip of daisy paper, added a strip of daffodil delight, and placed the mushrooms on there.  When I finished the cards the mushrooms looked a little blah, so I added orange and yellow glitter glue.  As they were off to the side drying, DD #2 asked why I put lamps on a birthday card.  DD#1 added that it would be cute to add "Shine bright on your birthday."  Umm... They're MUSHROOMS! oooohhh... "Happy birthday to a 'fungi'?"  (at this point I did laugh because it occurred to me that they were every bit as creatively warped as their mother, but still!)

So now I have a lamp/mushroom card and while I think it's kinda cute and sparkly, I have no clue what to put inside.  Thoughts??

 

Unfortunately, this is not the only mishap my muse created this week.  There was also a single layer birthday card that looked amazing in my head that was an absolute disaster on paper-still not sure if it can be saved or if it's destined for the trash.  I guess that is what happens when I don't exercise my brain enough; it rebels.  The extremely cold and nasty weather is not helping much either.  I am so ready for spring that I might just jack up the thermostat and slip on my flip flops anyway!

At any rate, I did make a few things and that is always good, even if it doesn't turn out well.  A bad day creating is still much better than a good day doing housework (or at least that's what I've heard. I've never really had a good day doing housework!).  

Thanks so much for stopping by and if you have any suggestions for my mushroom/lamp card, I would love to hear them!

Card Recipe: Paper-whisper white, daffodil delight, Floral District dsp (ret), Ink-tangerine tango, daffodil delight, Stamp Sets- Remembering Your Birthday and gift from Audrey, Accessories- orange and yellow glitter glue, circle framelit

Summer Smoochin' Cutie

Hi! I am so happy you are here!  I had some time this week to create and will be sharing them through the next few weeks.

I can not believe that our summer break is almost over!  How did that happen?  We are going back to school shopping this weekend and that just makes me a little sad...  On the upside, I did get quite a bit accomplished this summer and hopefully will finish the last of my 'to do' list before school starts.  I know once August starts things will get all mixed up with routines and requirements, so I'm glad there's scheduled posting for Blogger-keeps my blog from feeling too neglected!

Since I'm wanting summer to last a bit longer, I thought today's card was a good one to share.  I used a free digi from Cuddlebug Cuties.  The print quality was not the best on this one and I'm not sure if it was my printer running low on black ink or the actual digi stamp, but it was free so I can't complain too much!  I used a lot of bright happy colors on the image and when I was finished I knew I would use Summer Smooches dsp since it is also full of cheerful colors.

One of my accomplishments this summer was cleaning off my crafting table. It's not actually clean or empty, but it is a lot more organized than it was before.  I even found some ribbon from a swap that I forgot I had! It's like shopping without the travel or money!  Of course, we won't be sharing with my DH that I found supplies I forgot I had... 

I added some crystal effects to the balloons and glitzed up her top with some purple stickles.  Other than that, this was a pretty basic card.  My shading skills leave a lot to be desired.  The hair turned out ok, but I really botched the jeans...not at all what I was going for!  But it won't get better if I don't keep at it!

Thanks so much for visiting! I hope you have a fantastic day and if it's summer where you are, enjoy it while it lasts (unless it's really hot and humid then you can totally wish for fall!).

Card Recipe: Paper-whisper white, Summer Smooches dsp (ret), Stamps-digi image, Remembering Your  Birthday(sentiment), Ink-skin tone blendabilities, memento tuxedo black, copics, Accessories-scallop dot ribbon (ret), purple stickles, crystal effects, banner punch

Anything But A Card Challenges you to Summer Lovin'!

Hi! We have a brand new challenge at Anything But a Card.  Summer Lovin' is our theme and we would love to see your summer lovin' creations-beach, bbq, camping, vacation, sunny colors, anything that says summer to you is great with us!  The only thing you can't share is a card, hence the name of the site!  However, I am not sharing my DT project this week, so I CAN share a card with YOU!

This would be perfect for the theme if we could make cards! Mr. Riley is so ready to cool off in the pool, lake, or ocean...yeah! Let's go with ocean!  I made this for my nephew who has a birthday next month.  He would enjoy celebrating his birthday in the water too!

I played with the new Blendabilities markers on this one!  They are similar to copic markers, but Stampin' UP groups them in sets of three so coloring challenged people like me don't have to figure out how to get the perfect color shading.  Oh, how I love that!  I do have to confess that the flippers and the antlers were colored with copics.  While I'm admitting things, I fudged a little on the colors.  The marker family and cardstock is coastal cabana, but the blue in the dsp and twine is pool party.  But hey, at least they are both water themed!!  Honestly, I really couldn't tell that much difference.

Well, I hear the laundry calling my name (why doesn't it ever call my DH?), so I better get busy before it takes over again!  Have a wonderful week!

Card Recipe: Paper-coastal cabana, whisper white, basic black, sweet sorbet dsp, Ink-memento tuxedo black, coastal cabana, skin tones, and cherry cobbler blendabilities, soft suede, Stamp Set-Remembering Your Birthday (sentiment), Riley the moose from Riley and Co., Accessories-pool party bakers twine, scallop tag topper, crystal effects