Putting My Patterned.....

paper to work.  Yep, you read that correctly.  I guess I could say that no stamps were harmed in the making of this card.  I used only two stamps.....the letter "H" and the letter "I".  Now maybe you could shed some light on this for me.  Why is it that while I am sitting on my couch I think of ideas for cards, but let me get in my craft room and those thoughts are totally out the window.  And before you suggest that I keep an idea journal, I do...........some times.  But when the journal isn't "with" me, I assume that I will totally remember that great idea when I am next in my room.  Why do I figure that I'll remember that idea the next time I sit down to craft when I can't even remember what I walked in to the other room to get?!  

Well let me share my crafty tip with you.  When you (I) sit down to create and you (I) can't remember that great card idea that you (I) had three days ago, pull out a great patterned paper and a few dies or punches and let them do the work for you.  That's exactly how this little creation came to be.  I used two coordinating patterns from My Mind's Eye, but I don't have the name of the patterns.  They were individual sheets that I bought eons ago.  

I started with the sheet that had a variety of different striped patterns.  I cut just above the yellow stripe and then did a bit of fussy cutting along the scallop.  Have I ever told you that I don't like to fussy cut?  That's because I am not good at it, so please don't look closely at that scallop ;).  I then added the red/cream striped piece underneath the scallop.I also added the striped twine just above the stripes which camouflages the top of the paper against the cream background.

These elements came from the coordinating sheet.  I used two sizes of circle nestability dies to create the "flowers".  The aqua color peeking out gives the illusion of layering.  I then used my Cutting Garden dies to cut the leaves, which is the flip side of the circle paper.  I "mooshed" up the leaves to give them a bit of dimension. I love that two pieces of 6x6 paper created this card!  I then pulled out a miscellaneous alphabet set and added a sweet little "HI" to the center of one bloom.

And there you have it, one of the easiest cards ever.  The next time that you are having a bit of a creative mental block, pull out those patterned papers and a few dies and let them do the work for you.

Later chickies!

HelloThere.....

This little card was very simple to make.  I started with the Mini Blooms stamp set, stamping it along the side of the small panel using new leaf ink.  Next up I used the coordinating dies to layer in some spring blooms.  

I used my cuttlebug swiss dot folder along the top portion of the white card stock as a back drop for my focal image, which I layered on to a piece of harvest gold card stock.  I added gems and enamel dots along with harvest gold satin ribbon as my embellishments.  

I stamped the sentiment using smokey shadow ink.

And there you have it, an easy little spring time card.

Later chickies!

{Hello There}

Mini Blooms	Papertrey Ink - Mini Blooms Die Collection	*Cuttlebug A2 Embossing Folder SWISS DOTS Provo Craft 37-1604	Stamper's Select White	Harvest Gold Card Stock	Perfect Match Harvest Gold - Inkpad
Harvest Gold 3/8" Bitty Dot Satin Ribbon	Perfect Match New Leaf - Inkpad	Perfect Match Hibiscus Burst - Inkpad	Perfect Match Smokey Shadow - Inkpad	Blushed Mix Pearls & Gems	KaiserCraft Rhinestones Orange
Vagabond Die Cutting Machine	Sizzix Solo Wafer Thin Die Adapter

InLinkz.com

I Received So Many.....

pretty sympathy cards when Doug passed, but this one really caught my "creative" eye when I opened it.  I immediately wanted to create my own version.  I loved the soft colors with the bold embossed print at the top and the soft print at the bottom.   

For my creation I used the Cutting Garden set and I just had to pull out one of the Zing embossing powders recently released by Papertrey.

Here's a close up of that gorgeous floral pattern on the card that I received.

...and here is a close up of my embossed flowers.  Will I ever learn to embrace white space?  I just don't know.  I added some small "white pearls" to break up that "white space".   

I fell in love with this soft pattern.  I also love that there is just a some what narrow strip at the bottom of the card.

For my card I pulled out a piece of chevron print from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan paper pack.  

I layered that panel on to a piece of hawaiian shore card stock, just leaving a very narrow border showing.  Here's a shot of the cards side by side.

My crafty mojo has been on vacation for several weeks, but slowly it is returning.  I hope to get back in the craft room a bit this weekend.  

I hope that your weekend is filled with "fun" times.  

Later chickies!

{Thinking Of You}

Cutting Garden	Scattered Showers Stamp Set	Fine Linen Card Stock	Hawaiian Shores Card Stock	Stamper's Select White	Dear Lizzy Neapolitan
Powder Zing! Aqua Embossing Powder	VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad	Hero Arts Earth Mixed Pearls & Gems	Bluebell Enamel Dots

InLinkz.com

Let's Take A Little......

trip to California.  As you know, Whitney took me on a fun trip to California and I finally have the pictures edited. So I thought that instead of showing you all 4,247 photos (yes, I am once again exaggerating) in one post, I will periodically do a little post of various adventures that we had while we were there.  And with that in mind, we'll start with our first day.  

Our flight left CVG at 9:00 am and we landed at LAX around 11:00 am.  Gotta love that three hour time difference.  HA!  We collected our luggage then headed out to catch the bus over to the car rental lot.  Once we chose our vehicle, we were off on our California adventure.  The weather was not what we hoped for.  It was cloudy and very cool......brrrrr.  We had quite a bit of time before we could check in at the hotel, so we drove around checking out the sights.  I've always heard that when in California, you just had to eat at In & Out, so that's where we stopped for lunch.  It was quite good, but I have to say that I'll take Five Guys first.  Look at this picture, can you tell how over cast it was?

We discovered the gate to the famous Bel Air area.  

And yes, Whitney made a right hand turn and up we went.  She was on the hunt for Chelsea Handler and no, we didn't find her.  

I must say, sunny or cloudy, this is a beautiful area.

After having lunch and doing a bit of driving around checking out the sights, we checked in to our hotel.  We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard in Century City and it was a perfect location.

After resting for a bit and freshening up, we headed out to the RockSugar Pan Asian Kitchen for dinner. Whitney had planned a visit here before we got off the ground at CVG and I was a bit nervous about it.  Not the place itself, but the cuisine.  But let me tell you, the girl can pick them.  I loved our visit here!

Yep, we got there for "rocktail hour".  

We found seats at the bar.  Afterall, that is where you find the most interesting people.  I started with the Blood Orange Sangria.....OMW!! Whitney started with some fancy shamancy beer.

Since we had a late lunch, we chose to have appetizers for dinner.  We started with the Crisp Vegetable Spring Rolls and then had Chicken and Mushroom Lettuce Wraps.  I did discover that if I had to eat with chop sticks all the time that I would probably starve....or at least lose a few pounds. (Hmmm, maybe I should buy some chop sticks for home.)  Thankfully, they also gave us forks.   

But I think this may seriously be the best thing that I have EVER eaten!  For dessert we shared the Caramelized Banana Custard Cake that the bartender suggested.  I think that I can speak for Whit when I say that it was a GREAT experience.  If ever you get a chance to go, be sure that you do.  You won't be sorry.

We got back to our room just before 9:00.  After the few weeks that I had prior to our trip and add jet lag on top of that, I was pretty tired. I think that I was asleep by 9:15 and slept for 12 hours.  I can't remember the last time that I ever slept for that long.  

Well, that was our first day in California.  I'll be back another day to share our Warner Brothers adventure.  

Later chickies!

 

A Little Something.....

from me to you.  I am a very lucky girl to have such great co-workers and a great boss.  I was able to spend the majority of Doug's last days with him at the hospital, with just allowing myself time to run home and take care of my girls before heading back to the hospital.  Those days were very precious to me and I'll never be able to thank them enough for covering my duties that week.  Shortly after the funeral, Whitney and I flew to California for a few days, so again they covered me at the office.  So while touring the Warner Brothers studios I bought them a little "thank you" gift.  Before going back to work I made gift tags for each of the gift bags. Keep in mind that I hadn't crafted in several weeks, so I had to re-acquaint myself with my little craft space.  I used all the same products for each tag, but made them each a bit different with various patterned paper and embellishments.

The color scheme is rustic cream card stock base paired with hawaiian shores, pure poppy and fine linen.  I used the Irresistibly Ikat, Rosie Posie (and set 2), Flower Fusion #6 and Turning A New Leaf dies.  For this tag I added some red sequins as an accent.  Have you jumped on the sequin band wagon yet?  I certainly have and I LOVE them!

This tag received some red gems as an accent.

For this one I used red pearls.  Love those.

This last one I used a kraft button and added a bit of red embroidery thread.

And there you have it, some cute little tags to thank some very special gals that kept my work load caught up while I was away.  

If you work outside of the home I truely hope that you are blessed with special coworkers.  I know that I certainly am.