Fourth of July Pretzel Buckets!

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Hi everyone! I am SO excited to share with you this little project! :D Starting tomorrow, I will now work for three guidance counselors (and I will be the only secretary). I like to give little treats for holidays, so when I saw these buckets in the dollar bins at Target, I knew they would make the perfect container for this occasion. I didn't know how I was going to fill them, but I knew I would figure it out ;)

A couple of weeks later I saw these plain milk or dark chocolate covered pretzels at a local farmers market-y kind of grocery store near my house. I thought they would fit perfectly, but I didn't want to buy them then or else they would have been stale by the time I was giving my treats. So tonight, I went back to buy the pretzel bags and the most amazing things happened:

1. They had said pretzels, only now they were WHITE chocolate covered with red and blue swirls! YESSSSS :D
2. All red, white, and blue confections were 20% off! Double YESSSSS! Don't you love when you were already planning on buying something only to find out it's on SALE?! Woohoo!

I made some fun, slightly different tags to go with the buckets, using up some more of my Independence Day supplies. I am thrilled to say that the majority of supplies for this holiday are gone, so that means I can keep my eyes peeled for clearance items to use on next year's cards! Hooray! :D

Anyway, I hope you like my fun pretzel buckets- I can't wait to see how my co-workers react! Yay! :D

-Suzanne :O )

Use It! #15

Hi everyone! One of my best friends just got engaged, so I thought I'd send her a little congrats card :) I've been SO tight on free time this week w/ craft night, a retirement dinner and graduation, so this is not my best card, but I hope she and her fiance like it. I based it off this week's Use It! challenge, hosted by Roseanne:

1/Use patterned paper scraps you've had
for more than 1 year!
check! The red polka dot paper is K&Co.
2/Use chipboard
check! Polar Bear Express- I used the negative image.
3/Use paint
check! I don't often use paint, but I used some pink paint by Making Memories.
4/Use a rub-on
This was hard for me because I already had two sentiments, so I settled on an American Crafts doodle, but it didn't work out too well on the painted surface. It made everything a bit shiny, so I'll know not to do that again! :)

I also used some ribbon by target, and an epoxy tag and a clip (it says "love" but it didn't photograph well) by Making Memories.

I hope to have a bit of "me time" this weekend, so I can send off my July 4th cards. I also bought some adorable buckets for my co-workers that I'm going to fill w/ chocolate covered pretzels. :D

Thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Robot birthday

Hi everyone! I just got back from my very first "craft night"! A few of my co-workers got together at my boss's house to have dinner and do various craft projects out on her screened-in porch. I had such a good time; it was so nice to be with people outside of work, especially since I got to share my love of handmade projects! :D

This is the card I made for my boyfriend's birthday last month. The two patterned papers are from American Traditional Designs and the yellow and blue cardstocks are DCWV. I believe the orange paper is ProvoCraft. The robot image (isn't he cute!?) is Sandy Lion, the ribbon is from Target, the epoxy tag is Making Memories, and the "boyfriend" word is another one of those non-buttons that I had in my stash. The brads came from my miscellaneous assortment, but I thought they would be a fun robot-looking touch. :) I also used my much-loved scalloped/embossing punch from EK Success.

Hope you like my card, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Teacher Thank Yous

Hello again! I'm so happy to be posting more regularly than last month :) This is the set of thank you cards I made for my dad to give to his "room mothers". I'm sorry the cards look slanted in the pictures- I had to angle the camera because the apples are glossy and the flash bounced back at me if I took the picture head on.

Whenever I know I want to make several of the same card, I go digging through my supplies to see what I have multiples of. I came across 4 coasters that someone sent me in a swap. I cut four 4x4 squares of some K&Co green leafy paper and trimmed the corners off. I didn't love this paper as a whole sheet, but when I cut it up and put it on the coasters, it worked better. I think the leafy pattern works well with the apple :) Speaking of, the apples also came from a swap (I think the same person gave me the coasters) and they seem to be the kind of die-cuts that teachers use. I added a yellow and orange button to each coaster, stamped the Fiskars sentiment and set the coasters aside.

As I was digging through my supplies I came across the Martha Stewart blue apple paper- perfect for this occasion! :) I matted that with some orange K&Co paper and tied American Crafts ribbon in coordinating colors to the paper. I ran out of the striped ribbon (yessss! <3>

I really had a fun time making these cards and my dad really liked them :) His last day of school is the end of this week, so he's going to need a LOT of thank you cards to send to his kiddies (20+ cards, I'm guessing). Not that I'm complaining! I'm going to dig through my stash again and REALLY use up my stash. Yay! :)

Thanks for stopping by!
-Suzanne :O )

Father's Day x2

Hi friends! These are the Father's Day cards I made for my dad and my boyfriend's dad :)

The first card is made from Colorbok's Friendly Forest line. I was looking through the patterned papers and I stopped when I came to the one with the turtles- it was perfect! I have two older brothers, so it just looked like the three of us were trotting along after dad :) Since the paper already had the image, I just added the quote by Cloud 9, an assortment of buttons from my stash and some skinny orange ribbon. I matted the piece with some brown polka dot paper and added the Happy Father's Day tag by Around the Block to the inside of the card, and I was done. Super easy and CUTE! :D

The next card started with the Father sentiment (I don't know who made the stamp as I got it in a swap). I added some blue paper by DCWV and some striped paper from my scraps, along with cardstocks by WorldWin. I added brads and a white tag, both by Making Memories and my new peacock green ribbon. (I got a TON of ribbon at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago- I got five ENORMOUS rolls-- some are about 3 inches thick!-- for TWO DOLLARS! WOOOO :D :D :D I think they may have been from a 1950's seamstress? The spools seem kind of old, but the ribbon is perfectly good. It was SUCH an unexpected score- I'm going to have to keep my eye out for card making supplies whenever I go to yardsales now!) Okay, enough about my ribbon :) The vellum quote on the inside of the card is by Joann's.

Tomorrow night my family is going to Pazzo's, a super yummy Italian restaurant in the town where my dad teaches. I hope you all have a fabulous family day tomorrow! :)

-Suzanne :O )

Big Elephant, Sweet Cupcake :)

Hi everyone! I made this fun, sugary sweet birthday card for my Aunt Mary Jo. I'm not sure about the manufacturers of the pink and brown cardstocks, but the glittery cupcake paper is DCWV (yum!). The giant elephant sticker I bought on clearance at Target. It came in a package of wall decals, but of course I repurposed it for cardmaking ;) I kept the backing of the sticker on, otherwise the clear elephant wouldn't have shown up. I added a sassy little epoxy bow from Making Memories and paper pieced the Studio G cupcake onto scrap paper. I added the last of some fun Michael's ribbon for the finishing touch, and that was it!

I have to say that the elephant sticker looks 100 times different than it does on the package of wall decals, which came as a safari theme. I'm guessing the decals were intended for decorating a boy's room, but I made it girly with just a couple of fun embellishments (I'm tooting my own creativitiy horn, I know, but I'm excited about being able to repurpose something!) :D

Anyway, thanks for checking in, I hope you like my sassy elephant!

-Suzanne :O )

Use It! #14/Card Patterns #19

Hi everyone! Here's a fun, playful card I made for my friend Charles' upcoming birthday. The sketch is courtesy of Card Patterns, and the "ingredients" are from Joanne's Use It challenge:

1. Use pink!

check! Striped paper is Me & My Big Ideas and the tag is Colorbok.

I found the party "button" in my stash (is this even a button? It came in a variety bag of buttons, I think, but in no way would I classify this as a button.)

2. Add scallops

check! My Fiskars border punch came through for me once again ;)

3. Add a tag

I love these tags- I found pads of them in the dollar bin at Michael's after my boss got me a bunch (I couldn't believe someone bought me something from Michael's that I hadn't seen before! I scoured the store in sections that I don't normally peruse, and that's when I stumbled upon the $5 and under aisle. Then of coures I couldn't help getting more! <-- I'm naughty! lol)

4. Enjoy the creative process

as much as the finished card!
that's a check! with no explanation needed ;)

I also used some green paper by Creative Imaginations, ribbon from Target, and gems I found at the dollar store (they came packaged as "cell phone bling"). I'm assuming the image is Stampendous, but I'm not sure since it came from a swap, as did the black brad. The black cardstock came pre-embossed, also from a swap. I REALLY love using up my stash, it feels so yummy! Hooray! :D I hope you enjoy my vibrant card, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

PS- I just finished making my July 4th cards, but there's still time for me to make more if you want one! :D

BBQ Invitations

Hello again! I'm so excited to share with you the set of barbeque invitations I made a couple of weeks ago. The town where I work held a street fair last weekend, and the teachers association had a table where they were raffling off summer-themed baskets, so I told my boss (who was making the basket for our school) that I would donate a set of handmade invitations. Yay! :D I am SO pleased with the results, especially since I forgot how many BBQ-themed items I had in my stash!

I've had the red plaid paper by DCWV forever- it came in an assortment of DCWV stuff, and I never knew what to do with it. I thought it would be perfect for this occassion- it gives that picnic-y summertime feel, plus I used up two sheets! Yesss. :) I used some red scraps from the baby shower invitations and black paper that I bought from the dollor store (a journal made for those milky gel pens). I used a variety of stamps on these invitations:

hot dog and hamburger: JanLynn (LOVE this set!)
grill: Rubber Soul
"you're invited": Creative Cafe
"BBQ": Studio G

I also added some mustard yellow ribbon (finished up the spool, by the way!) and a ribbon slider cut out with my Cuttlebug, on top of which I used some silver ink (Color Box) to stamp the "BBQ" sentiment. I did the same thing with the "you're invited" sentiment, on top of the Stampin' Up! tab punched piece.

I was having so much fun with my invites that I thought it would be swell to decorate the inside of the card as well. I used up another (and my last!) sheet of the red plaid paper, added the "Please Join Us" image (also from Rubber Soul) to some more black paper, and added a couple of ants! The ants came from a swap, and I think they were the perfect touch to that open area. I think if I didn't decorate the inside of the card, it would look too white and boring :)

To package the inviations, I bought some clear bags at Michael's. I thought there were going to have a sticky strip on the back so I could seal them, but they didn't, so I had to resort to making a fun topper. I used some blue grid paper by Colorbok (Friend Forest collection), a ribbon from Target, and my new EK Success border punch/embosser (I can't get enough of this punch!) on another red scrap. I used a giant address label to print the information and voila! A handmade package of BBQ invitations! :D

I'm so happy with the way these turned out- I hope whoever won the basket enjoys them! Thanks for checking in, I hope you have a fabulous Saturday! :D

-Suzanne :O )

Bride to be

Hi everyone! A quick post tonight- this is a bridal shower card I made a while ago for my brother's girlfriend to give to her friend. (She asked me at about 10 p.m., so I threw together what I could asap, so it's not my best card). I used some pink swirly Disney Princess paper, I ran some KI Memories paper through my Cuttlebug, added some sheer pink ribbon from my stash and used Fiskars stamps for the image and the letters that make up the sentiment. The sentiment is a little sloppy for me, but I was tired when I made this card :( Despite its shortcomings, I like how simple this card is, and I hope you do too! Thanks for popping in! :)

-Suzanne :O )

Use It! #13

Hi everyone :) I've been working furiously on my July 4th cards- I've missed having holiday cards to work on! If you want one, let me know- you'd really be helping me use up my stash! :D I used Carla's Use It! challenge as my guide:

1. Absolutely NO full 12x12 paper

can be harmed in the making of this card!

So, scraps, scraps & scraps!!

check! I used DCWV and Provo Craft scraps. A splash of K&Co too :)

2. *BLING*

And then a little more bling... ;) !!

check! I found all the gems in my stash

3. Die cuts

These can be made with a cricut, slice, store bought, etc.,

but I want to see die-cuts on your card!

This one was a toughie b/c I don't have any July 4th die-cuts, so I used this image from an old punch-out-a-day calendar :)

4. *Bonus* challenge:

I'd like to see 4 different patterns of paper

on your card!!
check! Success! This was the toughest part, but I did it, and hopefully it doesn't look TOO busy!

I also added a bit of ribbon (more on this in my next post, I got SUCH a deal!), a sentiment from Joann's, and some flowers (the blue one is Hullabaloo by Making Memories- another good deal, 99 cents for a box at Goodwill!)

Thanks for checking out my card, and please let me know if you want some happy mail!

-Suzanne :O )

Barnyard Baby Shower Invitations

Hi friends! I'm FINALLY posting the invitations I made for Jenn's baby shower. I offered to make the invitations, and then I was told that I needed to make 100 in three weeks- it was a rough three weeks, but I made it happen! :) I took a bunch of photos, some so you could just how many 100 is! :) I also took a close up of the save-the-date-stickers my friend made for me (she's a graphic designer).

I originally thought I would just put a couple of animals on the front, and keep the layout simple (not doing that was my first mistake! lol) but then I got the brilliant idea to make the card itself a barn. I made templates for the barn shape, the roof, and the barn doors. I never want to use a craft knife again! I think my finger is still not right from all that pressing! lol

I searched all over the internet for red cardstock- I wanted a pack of JUST red for not a lot of money, but I wasn't finding anything. I was getting ready to give up and have to pay a ton of money, but I found exactly what I was looking for at Joann's (they had a pack of green and a pack of red, I'm assuming for Christmas), 50 sheets each. YESSSSSSSS! I got two packs (and of course I had a coupon) so I think I spend about $4 all together. Online, I couldn't find anything less than about $10- can you believe that? :( Anyway, so I was super stoked about the cardstock, and then I bought some regular white cardstock at Walmart to keep my costs down.

The "you're invited" stamp came in a double pack of 4x6 clear stamps by K&Co Marcella. I found them at Target for $3.74- hooray for clearance! All of the other stamps are Technique Tuesday (Dog & Pony Show). The "Baby Shower" and "for, date, time, place, RSVP" die-cuts were cut from my New Arrival Cricut cartridge. My poor Cricut is worn out, but I couldn't have made these invitations without it! :D

It was a LOT of cutting, assembly and coloring, but it was all worth it in the end. Jenn and her mother loooooved the invitations- success! Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks for checking out my invitations!

-Suzanne :O )

Use It! #12

Hi everyone! This week, Patti asked us to:

1) Use some old chipboard
check! this is some of the very first chipboard I bought, by Colorbok. The picture below the card is how they looked originally. One was glittery and one was fuzzy, but I wanted the ducks to face the other way, so I flipped them over and added some yummy Doodlebug Sugar Coating. :)

2) Use buttons
check! These came in an variety bag of baby-themed buttons. I used them as my "good wishes". :)

3) Tear some paper.
check! I don't do much of this, but I thought it would be a fun texture for my "water"- I also ran the paper through my Cuttlebug for more texture.

4) Optional: Stitch.
check! I don't do much of this either, but I'm working on my very first cross-stitch project, so the sewing wasn't TOO hard for me.

5) Have fun!!
check! :O )

The umbrella is a die-cut from the New Arrival Cricut cartridge. The baby words and green papers are from the dollar store (Miss Elizabeth's, I think?). I've had this paper forever and this is only the first time I've used it! My dad needed two baby shower cards for his co-workers so I made two of the same card and used up twice as many supplies. Hooray! :D (I cheated on the second card though- I just drew stitches w/ a Sakura pen.) I'm not sure the gender of the babies, so I tried to stick with neutral colors.

I've been using my computer a lot to make sentiments- I just print them on mailing labels and stick them to the inside of the card. Does anyone have any other ways to make your own sentiments? I either get lazy and don't want to stamp a sentiment, or I don't have a stamp/rub-on/sticker that will fit my theme. Let me know if you have other suggestions.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you like my shower cards! :D

-Suzanne :O )