I'm back!

WHOWWWWWW!  That's me blowing the dust off my blog!  lol  I haven't been around for over a year, with good reason.  A LOT of good things happened last year, but I'll save that for another post because there are tons of pictures I want to share.  :)

I was looking around at some blogs the other day and spent some time looking at Lori Tecler's blog.  She always has a TON of cards to share and I love how simple her style is.  While looking at her posts, I came across one for Poppy Sketches, which appears to be a new sketch/color combo blog.  I thought I'd ease back into blogging by participating with their second sketch:

I have quite a few cards to make for May/June birthdays, so I used the sketch to make my brother's birthday card.  I pulled out my Stampendous stamps since they're sponsoring this time.  Here's my take, with the Changito Bday stamp set:

I started off by die-cutting the red polaroid frame with my Papertrey Ink die.  I stamped the image on my X-Press It cardstock and colored it with my Copics.  I haven't used my Copics in quite a while, so hopefully this doesn't look too awful!  :)  I cut the cardstock to fit behind the frame and then turned my attention to the gray cardstock from Bazzill.  It looked too plain but I didn't want to add patterned paper, so I took some of the small images from the stamp set and used my Versamark ink pad to clear emboss a pattern on the background.  I think it's the perfect solution to adding interest but not color.  :)

Instead of a literal circular element, I chose to tie a knot with some teal ribbon and add a cupcake charm (which I've had for ages!) with some baker's twine.  Any time my mom gets a bakery box, she saves the twine for me.  Isn't she cute?  :)

Here's a close-up of the image.  That wraps up this card for me.  I hope you like it and I will be back very soon to share all the things that happened in 2013 since I last blogged.  I stopped blogging partly because I was busy and partly because I thought no one was even reading my posts, but I realized that this blog is for ME.  It's amazing to look back on my old posts and have a record not only of the cards I've made, but of my creative progress and the things that were happening in my life at the time.  Yes, this blog is mostly just crafty, but it is also part diary, so I need to keep it going for myself.  I can't wait to catch up and keep my blog current!  :D

-Suzanne :O )

Love isn't Purrrrfect

Hi friends!  Just popping in quickly before work to share these scrappy cards I made over the weekend.  I used lots of older products- images and heart banners were from swaps, the paper is DCWV and the heart border sticker is We R Memory Keepers.  I matted everything on Hawaiian Shores card stock (PTI) and dark grey card stock a friend gave to me (not sure who made it).  I hope you like these valentines, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Celebrating 30

Hi friends!  Today is my good friend Tamara's birthday!  She's the first of my high school friends to turn 30- luckily I don't have to think about that until September.  ;)  I just got some new goodies from Papertrey Ink, so I used my By the Numbers dies on some Vintage Cream card stock and taped some fun patterned paper from SEI behind the negative space.  I stamped "Celebrating" from Big Birthday Wishes around the border and adhered the whole piece to some Hawaiian Shores card stock with some foam tape.  Inside it says "amazing years."  

This is a more clean and simple look for me, but I really like how colorful the numbers are and that the "30" is the star of the show.  I hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

PS-  I successfully made it through my new year's resolution to post every day in January!  That really made me feel good, and I'm excited to continue posting MUCH more frequently this year than I did last.  Thanks for continuing on this journey with me!

Fall Thank You Notes

Hi friends!  Just wanted to do another catch-up day with some thank you notes I made for my birthday, back in September.  I used lots of scraps here and the Do Me a Favor stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  I'm not sure what I was thinking on the yellow card, but the others make me happy.  I hope you enjoy, thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Post-it Notepads

Hi there!  I almost forgot to get today's post in- I've been out and about with my honey and the day nearly got away from me!  :)  Challenging myself to post every day this month has really pushed me to share my creations though, and I didn't want to let myself down so I'm squeaking this post in now.  Today I'm sharing the last of my Christmas projects- some notebooks made for my dad to give to his students.

I used these awesome boards from Arnold Grummer (you get two square pieces of chipboard for the front and back covers and a thin piece for the spine).  There's a template you use to trace onto patterned paper; after you cut out the template, you glue the boards down and cover up the middle with another strip of paper.  I may have made that sound complicated and/or time consuming, but it's totally not because it's all straight cuts, so I use my paper trimmer and it gets done in a flash.  If anyone's interested, I can show you the process step by step.

I wanted to decorate the covers minimally because I had 24 to make, and of course didn't have much time.  The snow globes came together with help from some Papertrey Ink dies and stamps:  Winter Snow Globe.  I'm not thrilled with the red ink I used... I wish it was a deeper red, but that's all I had on hand.  Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with how easily and quickly these came together!  My dad packaged them with some pencils, and his kids' gifts were all set and cheap to make, too!- I think each set of boards cost maybe 25 cents, and the post-its were purchased for less than $4 for a pack of 12).  Here's a closer look:

  

Well that's it for today!  If you want to see how these books are made, please leave a comment and I'll do a tutorial for you.  What's great about these boards is that you can decorate them with any patterned paper and make totally customized gifts!  :)  Hope you like them, thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Oh, PS-  I forgot to post these pictures when I did my Christmas card post.  I made them at the last minute and they weren't photographed at the time all the others were, so here they are now:

This was a super simple card- patterned paper and a Rudolph sentiment adhered with a snowflake brad.  Seriously took 3 minutes to make.  :D

This set was made with some penguin stickers, Doodlebug patterned papers, and various red ribbons.  I thought the black cardstock helped pull the look together with the black on the penguins.  :)

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 )