Patriotic Fever

Happy Fourth of July everyone! And in case you aren't here in the US, today is Independence Day- or as we commonly call it, the 4th of July. The weather here in New Hampshire is at least going to start off kind of sketchy, not good for all the cookouts and fireworks and parades.

Hopefully things will brighten up; I will keep my fingers crossed, but since Hurricane/Tropical Storm Arthur is coming up the coast, its disrupting a lot of people's holiday.

My mother-in-law has a big get together at her house every year. She gets pretty stressed about it, poor Barbara, but it would kill her to miss it. Or have us all crammed into her house.

So last week my daughter had asked me to make her a 4th of July card to send to a friend, and then I got on a roll and made a couple more to send to her.

The images on the top card are from Technique Tuesday and Whimspirations/ Joanne Sharpe.  I did a lot of cutting apart of stamped images to make that card.

The center star image on this second card is an oldie from My Sentiments Exactly.Its one of those stamps I picked up used on eBay that I've held onto forever, and may not use all the time but is perfect for this holiday.  The eagle is from Paper Smooches and the firework is a Sizzix/Tim Holtz embossing folder.

I added the little red, white and blue lines off the left side because it needed something over there. I hope they look like streamers or patriotic flames or even firework flares...and not too stupid.

On this card I used mostly die cuts and kept it really clean, no distressing. Seems a little too clean in the photo for me, but I am not going to let my inner voice convince me it needs dirtying up. The stamped phrase is from Crafty Secrets. I had sprayed the stars with some sparkly mist, which you can just barely pick out in this photo.

So if you're here in the US, hope you have a great holiday weekend. And if you're not here in the US, 

hope you enjoy your day  and weekend too. Not sure if I'll have any posts this weekend or not. A friend is visiting from North Carolina and not sure how busy that will keep me.
Stop back again soon.

Fiesta

I didn't fiesta yesterday. It might have been cinco de mayo but it was the first day back after my vacation. You know how that is, first day back...yawn...having to get up and go to work when you still want to be home... but I made this page anyhow because it was a good opportunity to make something fun and spicy and use these new stamps I got from Paper Smooches. Other than the big number 5 which was a Sizzix die cut, and my freehand cut heart, the other die cuts and most of the words are from Paper Smooches. Here's the new stamps I used.

Love these saguaros. And Mr. Lizard too.

I also stamped the margarita which is from Paula Best.

So want to crack a big smile?

This video was up yesterday on Kristen Nichols Getting Stitched on the Farm blog. (Happy Dogs and a Cat) Kristen warned- be prepared to smile when you watch this-and man,  I LOVED it so much I had to link it to my blog too.

(Sorry to be such a copy cat!)

That's all for today.

Gracias for visiting and adios.

Why Not?

Here's one of my recent cards I made for my daughter.  I thought why use one ice cream cone when you could use 9?

And why 1 sailboat when you can have 3?

I will admit my sun- which was suppose to be a little distressed looks more splotchy than distressed.  But I do like my sparkly waves.

 Images on the cards are from Paper Smooches.

That's all I have to show you today.

Just a couple more days until my vacation!

Oh and by the way-

thanks for visiting.

Your visits make my day!

Beep-Beep

Hey happy day!!! It is Saturday and I didn't have to get up and go to work.

I love work but man, this extended winter and no spring March has sucked a lot of life out of me. 

I try to give myself the message from this card, but I can't seem to convince myself to just roll with it. I am so excited next Tuesday is April 1, and mother nature better not give us the old "April's Fool" joke of a snowstorm. 

But I am getting way off topic.

So not sure what's on my day's agenda except I need to go to the airport tonight and pick up my friend Vicky who so kindly invited me out and put up with me for a week in Taos, New Mexico. Not just this year but last year too.

The least I can do is go get her.

The hubby is SO excited to go Bass Pro before we do dinner and the airport- that's all he's been talking about for days.

That's what we are doing tonight. And I want to show you this card I made.

Anyhow, this card is a pretty basic simple my style of carding it.  All images are from Paper Smooches.

It's not very exciting and I may not be the best card maker this side of the White Mountains but heck, I try.

More creative ventures some other day.

Enjoy your day.

Silly and Cheery

Here's a playful creation for Valentine's Day.

Not quite a one layer wonder but pretty close.

And I say that with my tongue in my cheek.

This card is SOOOOO PINK!

I would have made it larger but it was just too much pink in the photo- didn't look that way in person.

I stared by using some raspberry Adirondack ink on the circle background stamp. I found I got a better image if I misted the inked stamp with some water. You can see on the bottom left where I didn't do that. Guess the wetter ink seeps into the rough spots on the paper.

Then I used watermelon Adirondack ink to stamp the center image right over the circles.

I love these funny flowers from paper Smooches, and one of them seemed appropriate with the saying (Chocolate Baroque).

Perky Plants stamps from Paper Smooches

Chocolate Baroque Words of Love rubber stamps.

The little red hearts art first stamped (some old Martha Stewart images) and then some red Stickles were added.

Sp speaking of silly and cheery-

I was shopping in Target the other day. My daughter wanted a Valentine gift for her boyfriend, and I got the biggest kick out of all the different Valentine's candy they sell.

Some of its pretty silly.

These Lindt chocolate frogs are adorable.  Love what the box says-Kiss a frog and find your prince.

I think someone couldn't wait to get at this guy. He's a hoot.

Not to insult you if you are a fan, but would anyone really want Duck Dynasty chocolates?

I will admit I don't watch the show.

I love this big fish.  I would have bought it for the hubby if he ate chocolate.  You can't fully read the label but it says You're a Keeper. Ha-ha.

I got him this though. Gummy worms and jelly fish.

They had all these Mickey things on sale.  They looked lots of fun. 

I guess whatever you want you can find it.

And if you want a good -wow-look at all the candy-

like me-

you can go check it out.

Hope to see you again soon.

A Couple of Cats

Cards for the college girl today.

A couple of kitties that make me smile.

My photo cut off a lot of the edges of this second card. There's a white doodled trim at the bottom too. Its a white card with a green panel that's got these sun rays on it. Kind of hard to tell that too. 

I'll try to get another photo that's better if I think about it before I mail it out to the college girl.

Maybe I should have switched the sayings on these- now that I am looking at them together.

But at this point its too late-at least for these 2 quick and playful cards.

Images are from Paper Smooches.

Its called 9 Lives and I think that middle cat like I used on my second card is a riot.

Words on the top card is from Flourishes.

Not sure what's going on over there but they are unloading their stock- this week its all 20% off.

Hope they aren't going out of business, seems like there's a lot of places going out lately.

Kind of sad, does that mean crafty things aren't as popular as they were a few years back?

Means us obsessive people lose shopping possibilities and have to do more on-line shopping.

Hope my favorite store down in Massachusetts isn't next!

So the week is winding down. Talent show at school tonight that my National Honor

 Society kids put on. Will be a long night for me, but should be a good night too.

Or at least I hope it is!!!!

Foodie Cards

Ok, a couple of pretty uncomplicated cards today. I like simple cards. I made these last weekend, perfect to send to my daughter at college. It if I go simple, I can make several cards and have my stash made for her at school. She'd rather get a bunch than get a few.

All words and images are from Paper Smooches.

This is the set I used called Calorie Free.

This second card is about as simple as you can get. The only thing I did was cut out the sushi image and color the image too.

Still, even without a whole lot of creativity behind it all, it works.

And I think the saying on the card says what it is.

So if you make cards, do you like them simple or layered with lots of details.

(My layered with lots of details cards just look kind of too busy and too much.)

Well that's all for me from the cold Northeast.  Have a super duper day.

Love Struck

One last card of my card week showcase.

More stamps  and dies by Paper Smooches.

This is a fun set for Valentine's Day. Its called Love Struck.

I like the black, white and red. Not frilly or fancy but rather graphic.
My style.
So in other areas of life
I am excited to finally have some studio time today after work. With my daughter around I've been hanging out with her (since she goes back to school this weekend) but tonight she's got plans so that means I'll make some studio time. Its been a week since I've had more than about 30 minutes of play time.
And yesterday was so nice out (in the 40's and more sunny than it has been) I took a drive to my fav craft store and got a couple of new stamp sets.  Plus new black ink, a couple of those Hero Arts neon sprays, a blank journal Maya Road book to fix up for my  next travel journal and a new black journaling pen.
I can't wait to play.
Anything you're excited about?

There's No Place Like Home

My week of showcasing cards continues.

My daughter is going to be one lucky girl to get all of these at school next week once she's back.

(Of course all we hear at home is how she's not wanting to start her classes her...but believe it or not-

4 years have flown right by and she is graduating in May!!!!!)

Here's another doggy themed card using Paper Smooches stamps and dies.

Saying is from Penny Black.

Here's the stamps and dies I used to make this card.

We've made it to mid-week and I'm on my way to a long weekend ahead.

Even though I was just on vacation- I am looking forward to this little extra time off.

Its going to be a busy weekend- and I look forward to getting an extra day to I can have some studio play.

Should probably clean my house too.

How about you?

Thanks for stopping by.

Just Another Monday

Easier than last Monday, when my vacation had finally ended, but still, its another Monday. I could use another day off. 

I had a fun but busy busy weekend. Friday after work a couple of girlfriends and myself went to see this movie-

LOVED it.

I HIGHLY recommend it- if you haven't heard about it- think Mary Poppins.

Saturday was  hockey day (see yesterday's post) and then we stayed up watching the Pats beat the Colts in play-off football. Yesterday afternoon I went to visit a friend for a few hours. Had a cup of tea and some delicious chatter for 4 hours.

What a great way to spend a weekend- BUT , I still don't feel like I had a lot of mental catch up time before the week starts all over again.

I'll manage though.

So I have started to make a few cards for my daughter. She'll be moving back to school this weekend coming up as her college break is finishing up soon.

Hard to believe the holidays have come and gone (feel like they were a long time ago) and we are about in the middle of January,

So my card.

Simple but fun.  Images are from Paper Smooches.

Stamp set is called Paws for a Cause.

I love this black puppy.  Looks my old boy Harl. I cut a little slit and added his tongue. What's a dog without a big old tongue hanging out at some point?

My daughter should love this part.

Die cuts are also from Paper Smooches.

So its Monday; I'm off to work.

Make it a good one and hope you stop by again soon.

Art Journal Every Day

Friday the 13th. Oh my. 

 I'm in a  holly jolly mood lately and have been making more holiday themed journal pages.

The color of my photo is kind of icky...its those dark New England days- by the time I get home from work its already very dark. Using non-natural light doesn't make my page colors very true to life.

Doesn't show the sparkles on my ornaments very well either.

But this page makes me laugh, and it was a lot of fun to make.

The ornaments, candy canes, star, moose and deer are all images from Paper Smooches, as are the words I repeatedly stamped. The holly is from Dylusions.

The color on this page is pretty poor too. You can barely see the stenciled trees- stencils from Stencil Girl.

Same page, I enhanced the colors on Photoshop so this is a bit more purple than the real page but closer in color than the view above,, but you can see the sparkling lights (image from October Afternoon) and the trees a little better.  Plus I had stamped some white snowflakes, and you can see those here too.

So the college girl moved home for the mid-semester break tomorrow! 

I am excited and not. Yes, it is true, you can have an emotion and opposite of it at the very same time. She's gonna need a few days to readjust.

Me too.

And then come January when it is time for her to go I will be SOOOO sad.

They're saying we might/will get some SNOW this weekend.

Not the little dustings we've had, but real snow.

Got to watch the forecast because you just can't trust those weather people until we get right there.

Maybe though we'll end up with a white Christmas.

Maybe?

Plus its suppose to come tomorrow night right when one of my co-worker's is having a holiday party which I am looking forward too-and he lives over an hour away from me.

So I'm off for another day of work.

Meeting some friends for an early dinner which I am looking forward to too.

Hope you get to do something fun today-

whatever it is that tickles your fancy.

Blogger's Challenge

This week's theme at Blogger's Challenge is Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. Since I've got a few new cards in my photo stash, thought I would play along.

There's something about a blue and white snowflake card and Christmas...

I die cut the polar bear-this fun Die-versions die...the snowflake is from Cheery Lynn Designs and the stamped words are Paper Smooches. I inked the snowflake embossing folder (Sizzix) and then embossed some white paper- I think the effect you get makes a great background.

Pretty simple and basic, but that's the kind of cards I like.

Hope you enjoy my card

and thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Inspirations

Been thinking a lot of holiday projects.

Actually starting making my holiday journal. Will show you one of these days what I am doing.

But I really want to make some holiday things and was looking through some previous projects for inspiration.

Here's 10 pieces that make me smile and

make me want to run upstairs for the studio to play!

So top card is all about the snowman (Sizzix die). I stamped the snowflakes and then used the same colored ink and a brush to make the background.

Love the black and white background here. Its a Tim Holtz stamp. Then some ribbon and a Darcy stamped, cut and colored poinsettia from a set I bought maybe 2 or 3 years ago. The wonderful card is from October Afternoon.

Love this journal page.  I think the tire tracks that I stamped are a blast.

Sometimes, at least to me, the simplest pages are the very best. Especially when the page came out in a good way.

Here's a journal page with a bunch of die cuts and some blocky letters. Also some Sparkly snowflake dots (Stickles.)

And another journal page. This time I used some Viva Gold (well silver-ha-ha) paste over  stencil and some modeling past through a stencil to make the snowflakes. I stenciled the reindeer by stamping the Tim Holtz/Sizzix leaping reindeer die and using the mask as a stencil.

A cute card. Stamped image is from Sheena Douglas. I die cut both of the arches and aded a die cut star and then some felt reindeer trim. I have a whole spool of the trim I picked up marked down someplace or another and it comes in handy to finish off project or cards.

Cover of last years holiday journal. Some lace, some stenciling, some die cuts (both ones I made and the sparkling glittery snowman one from K&C Co. that I picked up on markdown at Michael's). The stenciled words are from Red Lead- a cool holiday saying stencil.

Another card, this one a little bit classy. The candles are a die cut from Dee's Distinctive Dies.  I also die cut the rounded piece (Sizzix) and inner piece (Cheery Lynn). Over that I stamped in gold the saying. The green leaves and berries are a Sizzix embossing die. Then I sued some Stickles, Dylusions spray ink and Perfect pearl sprays.

Simple and fun! Stamped images are from Paper Smooches except the BRRRR word which is a very old stamp in my collection.

Ha-Ha-Ha! Love this a lot. I used the Darice birch tree embossing folder and inked it tourquoise to make the colored embossed background. The images are from paper Smooches except the words which are from tachnique Tuesday.

Another super fun card. This time I embossed the frame (Sizzix) right onto the card and then rubbed darked green and white ink over the card. I added the die cut snowflake (Cheery Lynn) and added Stickles to the bow to make it pop. Then I added the snowman, a sparklely die cut circle and the words (Technique Tuesday).

And lastly, this other bright card. Images are from paper Artsy, excpet the red dots on the card which are from Cornish Heritage Farms-one of the original backgrounder stamps.

 

Hope you got inspired to do some holiday play this weekend.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO ready to bring out the Christmas bins-

I am bad- I have 3!

I need to clean out- but maybe I'll wait until after the holiday and unload some stamps that I've out grown or don't speak to me the same way any longer.

Do you have a 3 day weekend?

I do with nothing more planend than lunch with a friend on Monday.

I think that is the moste xciting thing-

a quiet long weekend.

Hopefully some art, some sleeping, some reading, a bit of cooking and maybe I'll even get a bit of my disasterous studio mess picked up a bit.

Starting to get dangerous in there.

 

I want to thank you for stopping by to visit and

have a great weekend too.