pre-decorated box

Hi again- just thought you might all like to see how the box looked before I decorated it.  This is certainly not my style, and I might even go so far as to say the box is... ugly..?!  haha  I feel bad saying that, but I think my version of the box is SO much nicer to look at.  I try to keep an eye out for things like this that can be quickly/easily converted into something that works for me.  I think I paid $2.99 for this box- not bad, huh? :) I could see some scrapbooking company charging like $14.99 for a chipboard box that you decorate yourself, so I'm really pleased with how the whole thing turned out.  Hope you're all having a great weekend!


-Suzanne :O )


PS- Last night I went to a penny social called Bountiful Baskets, and I won one of the *huge* business baskets, which just means that a ton of local businesses all chipped in to make these enormous and expensive baskets.  My basket was called "Art Gone Postal" and was full of prints/painted tiles from the local art gallery, several gift certificates (a free pizza, manicure, a $50 gift certificate for a local pub and a $25 gift certificate for the art gallery), 100 postage stamps, mailing envelopes and tape, and a picture frame.  Oh, and $25 cash from our local bank. My friend won one of the "regular" baskets, which was filled with baking goodies- a cookie sheet, a hand mixer, and some other things like spatulas, bowls, and measuring spoons.  I was so happy that we BOTH won something, because there were over a hundred baskets up for grabs, but several hundred ladies were there (and some of them were SERIOUS about winning!! lol) so we didn't think we'd walk home with anything.  Anyway, just wanted to share my excitement because I hardly ever get lucky like that! :D 

Box for holding cards!

Hi there! Super quick post today... here's a project I just finished that was actually super easy to do.  I found this old ugly box at Goodwill, but it came with dividers like "birthday", "get well", etc, so I knew it would make the perfect altered project with some TLC.  I used some cheerful American Crafts patterned paper around the sides and top of the box, along with a clear sticker.  I've had these chipboard letters sitting around forever, so I colored them with a copic marker to match the color scheme, glued them down, and that's it!  Super easy, and now I'm starting to make cards ahead of time and store them in this cutie pie box!  Hope you like, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Sunflower thank you

Hi everyone!  I've had a busy weekend, so my post will be short tonight (they've all been short lately, I don't know why I keep making a point of saying it! lol).  I got some good stuff at the Albany show yesterday, specifically some clear stamp sets by a company I haven't heard of before, Woodware.  They had a christening/baptism/communion/confirmation set that I was especially excited to see, since I never have anything for that occasion, and usually end up buying some Jolee's stickers.  Now I have an alternative! :)  Anyway, it was a fairly good show and I'm glad I went.


Onto the card- super duper simple here... I matted some DCWV patterned paper with brown cardstock and blue paper, glued down a DCWV chipboard bird, added a Basic Grey rub-on to another DCWV chipboard tag, and tied the tag around some ribbon from Target.  I let the patterned paper do all the work here- looks fancy, but it was really not a lot of work on my part! :)  Hope you enjoy my card and had yourselves a great weekend!


-Suzanne :O )

Feel Better

Hi all! Just wanted to share a simple card that my friend had ordered. I used kraft cardstock, K&Co patterned paper, and a scrap of brown cardstock. I put the Around the Block tag on foam tape, added a bit of Target ribbon, and some Making Memories heart brads to finish it off. I have a hard time with get well cards because I usually rely on images to be the focus of my cards, but I don't really have any appropriate images for this occasion. Eh... I guess I pulled it off, but it always feels like I have to scrounge for supplies when I need this kind of card! :) I'm off to another rubber stamp expo tomorrow.. hopefully I'll come home with some more goodies!! Have a great weekend!


-Suzanne :O )

Baby Shower/Stork's bundle set

Hi friends!  My dad's co-worker is having a baby boy, so he volunteered me to make the cards for the faculty to sign.  I thought it might be fun to use the same papers/stamp set to make both cards, so I used some left over polka dot paper by DCWV (Spring Stack) and a Katie & Co. stamp set made by Hampton Art (Oh Baby).  To the shower card, I added some buttons, a charm from Target, and this ribbon I bought on clearance (27 cents!) at Michaels.  The striped paper is also DCWV, but that sheet is from the Summer Stack.  I used some yellow cardstock from atd.  The baby card uses more of my beloved Nestabilities, some gems from Darice, and a bit of ribbon from Michaels.  I colored the image with my copics, and added a touch of shading with my colored pencils.  Some pretty simple cards, but I like how they're a little matchy-matchy! :)  Hope you like, thanks for checking them out!


-Suzanne :O )

Laughing Deeply...

Hi friends!  Just a quick post on a simple card today- I went to a rubber stamp show yesterday, so I'm itching to play with some of my new stamps!! :D  This card uses lots of scraps, with a computer-printed image.  I picked up this book of 388 butterfly images (published by Dover, they come with a CD for your computer, have you seen them before?) at a used book store for $10.  A little pricey, but I figure I'll get some good use out of it, especially for occasions like sympathy, where I have a tough time finding the right image to use.  After I printed the image, I realized I was left with a lot of white space, so I stamped the sentiment by Fiskars.  To my disappointment, the top half of the quote looks crooked, but hopefully I'm the only one who notices that. ;)  


I hope you're all enjoying your weekend... I'm off to put together my new unmounted stamps- this is a first for me, I always buy clear stamps!  The stamps are really cute and funny- just my style- so stay tuned for some quirky cards, courtesy of www.starvingartistamps.com! :D


-Suzanne :O )

Dry-embossed Thinking of you

Hi there!  A few days ago I was looking at www.cleardollarstamps.com and found that I really loved the stamps illustrated by Laurie Wilson.  I checked to see if she had her own blog, and sure enough, I found it at http://clearlydelightful.typepad.com  She does monthly challenges on the 5th, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  She's giving away a free digital image to everyone just for participating (you can see the images here:  http://doodlepantry.com/)!  Sweet, huh?!  Here are her stipulations, if you want to play along:

TO BE A PARTICIPANT do the following 4 things (super easy stuff!):

1. Follow the challenge theme with a project or card --The theme is to 1. Use DRY EMBOSSING and 2. Use some YELLOW color on your project. (Note: the yellow does not have to be on the dry embossing)
2. Post MUST be dated within the time frame of the challenge.  Please, no past creations, create something new 
3. Use Mr. Linky Widget to share your creation post (direct link to actual post)
4. YOU MUST Leave a comment on THIS challenge post AND mention which Doodle Pantry image you want for free just for participating.

*****Entries due by April 19, 2010***** 

I knew as soon as I read the dry embossing part what I was going to use.  I've had the flowers in a can/sentiment for a long time, just sitting in my stash from a swap, and you know I've been on my use-it-up kick lately, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to see it used.  Of course some of the flowers happened to be yellow, so this challenge almost *wasn't* a challenge to me!  hehe  This was such a simple card- I used some scraps of cardstock, a bit of yellow patterned paper by K&Co, an oval embossed Nestability, and some of my new-to-me antique buttons.  Note: I just went shopping in the town where I went to college and scored some pretty lace, a couple of jars of buttons, bulk ribbon (50 yards a spool!) and some old sheet music at the antiques stores they have there.  It never occurred to me  to look for card making supplies in an antiques store, but I'll certainly have to go back every now and then!  :)  Anyway, my card came together really quickly, thanks to the challenge and the swapped focal piece!  Hope you enjoy, and hope you check out Laurie's images- they're super cute!!

-Suzanne :O )

Dragonfly cards

Hi there!  I hope you all had a nice Easter.  The weather was gorgeous here in New York- it was a perfect day all around. :)  Here are the cards I made to send Taylor, who was doing a card drive with a dragonfly theme.  She is sending the cards to a hospital, in particular for patients who have lost their babies, so I wanted these cards to be peaceful and serene.  I'm not particularly fond of dragonflies, so this was a great opportunity to dive through my stash and pull out some die-cuts, stamped images, and stickers.  I had way more dragonfly stuff than I thought!  I'm always on the look out for things to participate in like this, and I'm glad I was able to donate so many cards to such a good cause.  I hope you enjoy these guys; thanks for checking them out!

-Suzanne :O )

Easter Parade (of cards!) 2010

Hoppy Birthday, Mate!

My friend ordered a card from me for her friend's birthday, but didn't give me much to go on.  Her friend lives in Australia, so once I got the old wheels turning, I came up with this festive kangaroo guy! :D  I believe the die-cut is a Cricut die (it came in a swap) and I added an Inkadinkado cupcake and a party hat "button", embellished with some Stickles glitter glue.  All of the papers are K&Co- I love how fun and colorful they are!  I added a scrap of purple paper, stamped the Studio G sentiment, and added a brad (also from a swap- look at me using my stash!).  The inside sentiment (Hoppy Birthday, Mate!) was printed onto an Avery label. I love punny cards!! :)  I used a recent Taylored Expressions sketch for the layout:

I hope you get a "kick" out of this card!  Ok, ok, I'll stop with the puns.  :)  I'm SO excited to have a three day weekend after a reeeeeeeeally long and boring week at work (the kids are on spring break, so the office was really quiet).  I hope to get a lot of cards made this weekend!

-Suzanne :O )