Love Bugs

Good morning!  I woke up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday, so I figured I might as well get out of bed and start working on some more Valentine's Day cards! :D  Here's one I made following the Mojo Monday sketch for this week:

I believe that was the last of my aqua paper :(  sniff, sniff.  I also used some dark pink DCWV paper that I bought a ton of when I first started making V-Day cards several years ago.  I've really been trying to work on using it up because it says "LOVE" in giant block letters, and it's all scrolly and not my style at all.  It's been working as background paper though, so the good news is that I only have one 12x12 sheet left!  Okay, moving on- the light pink paper with hearts is also DCWV, but I actually like that paper. :)  The red w/ hearts paper is Target, and I added that to some kraft cardstock, and tied a bit of white ribbon around the piece.  I believe the image is Inkadinkado, but I'm not 100% sure because I got it in a swap.  I added some Target brads to it and colored the image with my watercolor pencils.  I couldn't resist adding a bit of iridescent glitter to their wings.  :) The "lovebug" sentiment is another piece of that fabulous chipboard I picked up at Hobby Lobby.  And that's it!  Another card waiting to be mailed out for happy hearts day :)

Today I'm going to a friend's house to watch the Jets game- for my boyfriend's sake I hope they make it to the SuperBowl! :D  Enjoy your Sunday, friends!

-Suzanne :O ) 

Card Set: Tea Time/Thanks a Bunch

Hi all!  Hope you're enjoying your weekends. :)  These are the last 2 cards that were part of the gift sets I gave to my co-workers.  I'm really proud of the "tea time" cards because I made more of my own patterned paper, which is SO time-consuming and therefore something I rarely ever do.  I started off knowing I wanted to use the mug and sentiment from the Coffee Cafe stamp set by TPC Studio.  I colored the mug with a Copic marker and matted the image with some kraft cardstock, cut out with a Nestabilities template.  The idea then popped into my head to emboss the tea bag image on cardstock with clear powder, to create my own patterned paper.  The watermark effect is subtle, but I think it's perfect!  I doubt I'd be able to find tea bag patterned paper anywhere! :)  I added a bit of sheer purple polka dot ribbon and added the piece to some K&Co paper.  I believe I stamped the inside with "feel better soon" or something to that effect. :)

The "thanks a bunch" cards were SUPER easy to make, and super cheap!  I found a huge bucket of foam flower stickers at Office Depot, of all places, on clearance for 47 cents!  I wouldn't normally buy foam flowers, but for that price I couldn't resist.  Perfect for a project like this, too!  I sorted all of the flowers before I started sticking them to the cards, and I'm glad I did, because that's when I realized that for each design, there was one in each color, so I knew I was going to go with the rainbow theme.  I figured I would keep the background plain white so the flowers would really stand out.  I stamped the Hero Arts sentiment and called it a day!  Those cards took me about 5 seconds each to assemble- yessss! :D

 I hope you enjoyed seeing all of the cards in my set!  It was such a fun project and I'm so glad I was able to give a gift that wasn't store-bought.  I'm definitely going to do this again next year- using up so many supplies in one project makes me feel like I'm making a dent in my stash (I'm so NOT, but it makes me FEEL good anyway! lol)  Thanks for swinging by!

-Suzanne :O )

Heart Tree

 

Hello, hello!  I decided to submit another card to the Cards blog tree challenge.  I just bought the most amazing pack of chipboard at Hobby Lobby, and when I saw this tree full of hearts, I knew I had to make it happen.  :)  I used the last of that aqua glittery polka dot paper from Target's dollar spot, as well as some K&Co pink goodness.  I knew I wanted to use a tree quote along with the image, so I went through all of my sentiments but couldn't find the one I was looking for.  :(  I did come across the "friendship" rub-on (Target dollar spot, again!) that I've had forever, so I thought I would just use that up and add the aqua Making Memories letters to supplement.  I thought that was an appropriate quote, even for Valentine's Day :)  I added some clear pink gems that came with a card kit and that was just enough embellishment.  I'm thrilled with how this card turned out, hopefully you enjoy it too!

I can't wait for tomorrow night to get here- I've had a pretty busy week at work, so I'm looking forward to some serious craft time! :)  Thanks for checking in!

-Suzanne :O )

Card Set: Birthday

Hi there!  Just wanted to do a quick post showing you the set of birthday cards I made as part of my co-workers' gifts.  I bought a pack of lime green printer paper on clearance at Office Depot, so that was my base.  I added some blue K&Co paper on top of that, and then handmade my own orange patterned paper by stamping the circular pattern w/ Versamark ink and embossing it with clear powder.  To that I added some red scraps and multi-color paper by Sizzix, and adhered the Fiskars cake image to bit of yellow cardstock.  I added some yellow brads and colored the image with my water color pencils.  It was a LOT of work making all that orange paper, but I'm really pleased with how bright and fun these cards are.  Hope you like them too, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Hand-stitched Flower

Hello again! I'm back to participate in Kim Kesti's fun challenge, based off of her card:

We could either make a card based off a second love (hers is quilting), or use the design layout, colors, etc. for inspiration.  I have to admit I cheated a little here, because I don't LOVE sewing, but I wanted to use this flower I had hand-stitched a loooong time ago (I'm talkin' years here).  I am currently cross-stitching a baby quilt, but it's taking me forever, so that's why I don't LOVE it anymore!  :)  I used a Bazzill template to outline the flower, and then stitched it with some floss.  I added some brightly colored Art Institute Glitter to fill in the petals and leaves and a button for the bud.  The floral paper on the top of the card was from a swap, but the geometric paper on the bottom is K&Co.  I added a bit of Michaels ribbon and a Making Memories epoxy tag with some twine.  The bee is a button, but I snipped the loop off, adhered it with a glue dot, and hand drew the bee's path. :)  You can see I'm still experimenting with trying to get better pictures.  I took one with the card flat on my table, one standing up so you can see how the tag hangs, and one that's just a close up of the tag.  I hope you like this card, and man, I'm glad to have finally used that flower! :D

-Suzanne :O ) 

Card Set Packages

Hi everyone!  I had a FABULOUS time shopping on Saturday.  I'm head over heels in love with Hobby Lobby.  Seriously.  I'm totally smitten.  I can't wait to go back.  :D  I wonder if they give coupons, though? 

Today I'm finally sharing these sweet little DVD boxes I picked up at my local thrift store.  I bought 12 of them for a quarter each, and at the time I didn't know what I was going to use them for, but I figured for that price, they had to be mine! :)  Originally, I thought about using them to package some of the Christmas cards I was selling at the craft fairs, but they were already sealed in plastic, plus I would have either had to jack up the price of the cards or included the box in the price, and then I would have been losing money.  SO... it finally dawned on me that instead of buying small little gifts for my co-workers, I would use the boxes to package a variety of cards! 

My first thought was to decide which occasions to make.  I figured birthday, thank you, get well, and sympathy were cards most people would use (and appreciate!).  To make my life easier, I made 12 of each, so I didn't spend more than 2-3 hours on any one occasion. I kept the layouts pretty simple, too. :)

You can see a sneak peak of all the cards in that first photo, but the first set I'm showing you in detail is the sympathy card.  I used up some old K&Co papers, and these kraft "bookmarks" I bought on clearance at Michaels.  I put bookmark in quotes, because they're really just strips of cardstock, intended to be embellished as bookmarks.  I got a package of 50 for something cheap like 50 cents or a dollar.  Anyway, they come in handy for trying to save time on projects like this! :)  I used my 3inch scalloped circle punch and the bird-on-a-branch image by Inkadinkado for my focal point.  The sentiment is My Sentiments Exactly (Sympathy Sentiments) and the inside says "Our hearts and prayers are with you at this time" 

I will be posting the other 3 cards this week, so stay tuned!

-Suzanne :O )

Just think...

Hi everyone!  I'm back again with a quick post.  This card is based off of this week's Mojo Monday sketch.  I haven't done one in forever, and it REALLY feels good to participate again!  Here's the sketch:

 

I moved the circle element to the other side because of the cat's hand. :)  Both stamps are Inkadinkado, although they're from different sets, and I colored the little guy with my water color pencils. The papers are both Colorbok, the ribbon is from Michael's, and the chipboard balloon I got in a swap.  I added a touch of twine for the balloon string, and rounded the corners.  The "cardstock" is actually from a pile of index cards my brother just gave me.  They're so old that they're not exactly a crisp white color anymore, but I kind of like that.  I made this card for my cousin, so it's a little tongue-in-cheek about his parents! :)  Hope you enjoy!

-Suzanne :O )

thoughtful

Hi there! I'm combining a couple of challenges here with this card- first up is the tree/branch challenge from Cards Blog. Second is this sketch by CPS:

 

I'm using more of the aqua/kraft combo here- it's so soothing! :) The tree is a clear die cut by Deja Views. I adhered it to some white cardstock, and then just cut around the outside. (The white paper helps show the die cut's color and the white border helps it stand out) :) The raspberry scalloped border might look familiar- it's the rest of the Target dollar spot punch-out. The yellow rick rack is from my stash, and I believe the white & pink striped ribbon is some leftover Making Memories. The ribbon slide is by Colorbok- I've had that forever! I stamped the Fiskars sentiment with Versamark ink and embossed it with white powder.

I have to say these colors are a little out of my comfort zone, but I pushed myself to do something a little different, and I'm really happy with how it turned out! I also tried to take a better picture. Everyone else seems to have a great set up, so maybe I need to look into a light box or something.

Tomorrow I'm heading out to a city about 30 minutes from my house that I don't normally go to, to do some serious shopping! I saw that there was a Hobby Lobby there (it must be new!) last week, so tomorrow I'm going to check it out. I'm also going to Michael's, AC Moore, Joann's, and Big Lots- they're all about 5-10 minutes away from each other- how convenient! :D I hope you all have a fabulous long weekend!

-Suzanne :O )

touch of love

Hi friends! I'm starting to work on my Valentine's Day cards- early!  I thought I would get back to using challenges for inspiration, so I based this card off of the Cards Blog challenge.  We were given Maile Belles card for a basic guide:

You can see that my interpretation is pretty close to the original!  I tried to use the same colors and the same layout- I guess I don't trust myself creatively just yet.  :)  On to the supplies:  I bought a pack of paper at Target's dollar spot last week, hence the glittery aqua paper.  I have to thank the dollar spot also for the tag, rick rack, and pink scalloped border.  The kraft cardstock was a scrap, and the quote is from Joann's.  The epoxy cupid embellishment is Making Memories and the love letter image is Hero Arts. 

  

My friend is an English professor, so I thought the whole poetry idea would suit her for Valentine's Day!  :)  Hope you like this card, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O ) 

PS- What a difference the staging/photo quality make!  I'm almost embarrassed to have my photo near Maile's! lol

Pastel Thanks

Hi there! Quick post today- I made this card with scraps (light green paper is Paperbilities/Autumn Leaves, blue/green is Basic Grey, and the kraft paper is Paper Reflections) and a tag by Around the Block. I added some buttons from my stash and a bit of American Crafts ribbon, and called it a day! Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by! :D

-Suzanne :O )

Monochrome Cupcake

Hi friends! Quick post tonight- I made this card for one of my co-workers, and I was reeeeally hoping that she liked pink! LOL I used some of my Sweet Stack papers by DCWV, a chipboard frame by Making Memories, a sentiment sticker by K&Co and some Darice gems. I colored my Inkadinkado image with my water color pencils and made a super fast and fun birthday card! It looks yummy enough to eat- hope you like it too!

-Suzanne :O )

Seize the Cake!

Hi all!  First off, I have to apologize for my pictures- my boyfriend updated my computer, and now I don't have the program I used to have for editing my photos.  He's supposed to come fix that tomorrow, so that's why my picture is so dark and askew and not cropped.  Anyway, the story behind this card, is that my mom was ordering a cheesecake from Juniors (best cheesecake in the entire world!) and was so excited about it.  She loooooves her cheesecake. :)  When I was rummaging through my supplies, I came across this old sticker, and I thought, that is exactly how she is going to look when she gets through with that cheesecake! LOL  I added the sticker to some papers by American Greetings (I found their scrapbooking kit at the dollar store!), added a sentiment by Hero Arts, and some purple gems around the scalloped rectangle, and that was it!  Pretty easy card- I really wanted the sticker to be the center of attention.  On the inside, I printed a sentiment that says "Enjoy your birthday (cheese)cake coma!"  She got a kick out of the card, and I hope it brings a smile to your faces as well!  Hope you have a GREAT weekend!!

-Suzanne :O )

Baby Boy

Hi friends!  I hope you're all having a happy new year and enjoyed your winter holidays!  I'm playing catch up on all the cards I haven't been posting, so here are two I made for my dad to give to his co-workers.

The first one uses scraps and some gorgeous silky coffee colored ribbon I got on clearance at Michael's.  To the knot in the ribbon, I added a baby footprints charm that came on a baby shower favor (love recycling products!).  The 3D sticker is by K&Co.

The next card was pretty simple; again I used scraps, a journaling card by Martha Stewart (got a pack of 18 on clearance at Walmart for 50 cents!) and a chipboard sticker truck by K&Co.  My co-worker had given me her leftover chipboard stickers, so of course I had to use one of them immediately! :)  I added some buttons from my stash and stamped the sentiment by Stampin' Up!  

I really like how simple but colorful these cards are, and I hope you do too!  Thanks for stopping by- I can't wait to show you all what else I've been working on these past couple of months! :D