Warm Holiday Wishes

Hi friends!  As you know, this year was not a great blogging year for me; I don't even feel like I made that many single cards this year because I was so focused on making card sets!  Hopefully 2013 will be more about getting back to working on single cards.  I'm always looking to improve my coloring, layouts, color choices and using up my ever-growing stash!

I did make many, many single Christmas cards this year, in an attempt to tackle all those bits and pieces in my Christmas supplies, but after I thought I had made enough cards, my dad asked me to make some for him.  Needless to say, I went back to my mass-produced safety net to save on time and creative energy!  I used some papers by Cloud 9 and the Photo Finishers die by Papertrey Ink.  The stamp is from Holiday Photo Finishers (I'm not sure if you can read the tiny banner, but the whole sentiment reads "warm holiday wishes").  I love how simple the design is; I let the patterned paper do all the work!  :)  Here are a couple of close-ups:

I should probably mention that this was the year I finally caved and bought some PTI supplies.  For so long, I didn't see what all the fuss was about, but a few months ago, someone contacted me for a custom order and wanted the inside greeting to mention Christmas AND the New Year, so I purchased the Holiday Wishes stamp set.  It's been downhill from there!  I've purchased a bunch of their thick cardstock, but the stamp sets are still kind of pricey for me, so I only buy when I have enough in my paypal account.  That motivated me to stock my shop, which I am in dire need of doing again now that the holidays are over!  

I hope to post the single Christmas cards I made over the next couple of days, but they're not my best work.  I do enjoy going back over my blog every now and then to see the progress I've made, or to inspire myself to do better than my "eh" efforts.  I hope you've all had a wonderful holiday and wish you health and happiness in the new year.  Thanks for stopping by and sharing this journey with me!

-Suzanne :O )

Let it Snow!

Hi friends!  Here I am with my last SFYTT for the year (and forever, as it turns out!).  I made a set of four Christmas cards using some old scraps from DCWV and this sketch:

The snowman is actually from a set of vellum stickers that I've had for a while now- part of my use it up frenzy.  :)  Here's a close-up:

The snowflakes and sentiment were also part of the sticker sheet.  I have about 10 more cards to make and then I should be all set for this year.  I hope you like my card set, thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

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Creamsicle Cupcake

Hi everyone!  Tomorrow is my mom's birthday, so I thought I'd pop in to share the birthday card I made for her.

I have to say I'm making progress on my hoarding tendencies with this card- I finally broke into one of my Echo Park paper pack collections (Life is Good)!!!  I have a whole bunch of paper packs by all different companies, and all I ever do is look at the papers and stickers and drool over them.  LOL  Anyone else with me there?!?  hah!

Anyway, I based my card off of the current Sweet Sunday sketch:

I know a lot of people are using this sketch for holiday cards, but I swapped out the snowflake for a heart sticker from the collection pack and added a brown button threaded with some Cupcake Doodlebug twine.  The image is Sweet 'n' Sassy Stamps and I blew the dust off my Copics to color Cocoa and his orange creamsicle cupcake in.  My mom loooooves anything creamsicle flavored, so I thought it would be fun to color the cupcake that way.

The aqua cardstock is Papertrey Ink, and of course all of the patterned papers are Echo Park.  I have to say, it does feel good using some of those hoarded supplies- I really like how this card turned out!  :)  I hope you do too, thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Birthday Wishes

Hi friends!  I'm surprising myself with this post, but I had to make a quick birthday card for one of my co-workers and decided I might as well play along with this week's Sweet Stop sketch:

A while back, when I was still involved with swaps, I hosted one where everyone had to create birthday focal points.  The entire yellow piece (including the sentiment and cupcake) was created by one of the swappers- the whole idea behind the swap was to make pieces that would be really easy to add to a couple of pieces of patterned paper, or even just a piece of cardstock, and call the card done.  I wanted to swap really intricate pieces that would make creating cards super easy whenever you found yourself pressed for time.  

Needless to say, one of those focal pieces sure did come in handy tonight!  After I had picked out my patterned papers, this card came together in about ten minutes.  In case you're interested, the maroon piece is Stampin' Up! and the green and blue are DCWV.  

I hope you enjoy this card and are having a happy Monday!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )