Could you live until you're 90...??

My mom has a dear friend who is turning 90 this year and I wanted to make her a very special birthday card. She is famous for her gardens and lives on one of the gulf islands. My mom and her count on each other for many things - people do that when you live far away. I am thankful for my mom's many friendships she has developed on her island. It truly is peaceful living. My card uses kiwi kiss, black, urban garden DP (SU!) and whisper white. I was able to use my nesties again and also tried my hand at dry embossing a grid on the upper 1/3 whisper white panel. I added a little bling by the greeting and popped up most of the layers. I wanted to use wide black ribbon but had to make do with old olive striped and added some small black knots. I followed a card done by Beate here http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1108919?cat=500&ppuser=458 . I just love her work. So clean and fresh. Well, happy stamping and don't forget to get crackin' on those christmas cards - time-is-a-tickin'. Thanks for stopping by.

Karen

Blog candy from the Jessica Rone...yippee!!!

Well, as I was upstairs checking out all the fabulous blogs for new ideas, a loud banging started downstairs. I raced downstairs to find the post man holding a box from Jessica Rone. My blog candy had arrived. Check out her blog you will be amazed at her talent. http://canyousayaddictedtostamps.blogspot.com/ When Jessica was having her 30th birthday, she invited guests to leave a comment with a story of other birthday memories. I decided to participate and wow, to my surprise, I was "randomly" chosen as a winner. Wowza!! I am so appreciative of all the work Jessica shows on her blog. She is truly an inspiration to all artists and receiving a handmade card from her is a prize in itself. Look at the detail. And of course, you will notice the grey copic pencil she used around her image. I just love it. So, leave comments on other artists blogs showing them that you appreciate their work and you never know, you could be the next winner..... Thanks for stopping by.

Karen

It's a baby girl...now I can use pink!!

I volunteered to make a baby girl card for one of our pathologists who just had a baby girl in August. They were actually going to buy one!! I almost fainted. I knew it had to be pink and as luck would have it, my nesties just arrived and I was anxious to try them out. Took awhile figuring out the layering of the plates etc. but I finally got it right. I just love how finished a card looks when nesties are used. I know I will be using these alot. I know, I am a nestie newbie but I am thrilled to be experiencing what everyone else has been doing on their blogs. Anyways, used pink pirouette from SU! and bella rose DP. I also used for the first time my vanilla hardware frame and some of my pewter HPH. I love this layout--tri-fold--makes it more interesting. Thanks for the tutorial SCS. And thanks for looking. I love to read all the comments left by viewers so please feel free to join in.

Bye bye for now...

Karen

More Halloween boxes...scary!!

Well, if you are squeemish, you may have to look away. I made a halloween pizza box and decorated it with halloween DP from Stampin'Up and used the rub-ons from Chills and Thrills. The inside was filled with a "finger" wearing a monster ring. Are you scared? I always like the pizza box. It can be used for most any occasion and is so quick and easy to construct (follow SCS tutorial).

TFL Karen

Baby gift basket...

Well, my co-worker's daughter had a baby boy last week. Four weeks early but all is well. I madly started making a little gift for her, of course all coordinating using Urban Garden DP from Stampin'Up! I decided to make one of the treat boxes using the tutorial from SCS and made 8 3X3 cards/envelopes all inside a coordinating box. I filled a sour cream container and two others with chocolates and made "mom" a matching bracelet using the same DP. Thanks to Nichole Heady's instructions for the bracelet. I just love all the ideas that people share. Hope you like it. Lastly, I made a card to match. TFL.

Karen

Christmas card a making...

Well, I've put together a class for Christmas cards and tags. I just love this time of year. I can already smell the apple cider and the fresh green pine boughs. Not sure how to do the tree this year as with the addition of 2 kittens, we will have to be very clever and careful with our decorations. My mom is usually with us over the holidays and we try to get in some craft fairs and outings when she is here. We always have a blast. So, for my class, we will make 8 cards (4 designs and make two of each) and 4 gift tags. I used primarily Stampin'Up! supplies and added in some other brands as well. The old vintage Santa is from Delta stamps and some of the embellishments are non-SU!. I think the combinations work well. Happy stamping and happy holidays.

Halloween view finder and treat box

For this month's stamp club we will be making some more halloween cards and treat boxes. I finally made a view finder card and boy did I need to review the instructions. I just couldn't work in the direction that I was supposed to. I ended up working backwards in order to properly line up my centre of the circle so that it turned evenly. I thought halloween is the perfect occasion for a view finder as there are so many scary creatures to choose from for the images. And of course, I used the new ghostly greetings DP from Stampin'Up!. The little treat box is perfect for a handful of chocolates to offer your guests. And if you change the DP for christmas or valentine's paper, you can change the look very easily. Thanks for looking. I will post the third item that we make soon so keep checking. Happy stamping.

Karen

I'm in the Christmas spirit...

I'm showing a sneak peak of 2 of the cards we will be making for my christmas card class. We will be doing 5 designs and making 3 of each for a total of 15 cards. I'm trying to stick to a theme using the new Ski Slope DP from Stampin'Up! but also use a variety of christmas stamps - some traditional and some casual. I really like the shine from the dazzling diamonds on Santa's beard. Using the criss-cross fold also adds a different style to the cards. I wish to thank Nichole Heady for her inspiration for her xmas card last year. Please check out her blog Capture the Moment. I know whoever receives these will be just as excited. I will post the other 3 soon so keep coming back to check it out. Thanks for looking and have a great evening.

P.S. I'm having trouble loading my card with Santa. Will try again later. ARGHHHHHH!!

Karen