Stuck on You!

Hi friends! Just popping in with a quick post to share this super cute Inky Antics card!  I'm working on a set of 4 Valentine's Day cards to put up in my Etsy shop and this porcupine is the second of punny characters.  I colored him with Copics and used my Nestabilities for the circles and banners.  The patterned papers are all Doodlebug, matted with black cardstock.  The sketch is this week's Sweet Sunday sketch:

I also realized this card fits with this week's TCP Tuesday challenge to use these colors:

I hope you enjoy my card, thanks for stopping by!  I'll be posting the other 3 in the set in the next few days and you can check out my Etsy shop when they're up for sale!

-Suzanne :O )

Craft Fair Merchandise: Snowman Soup

Hey all!  I'm back again to share more craft fair goodies with you.  Snowman soup has always been a hit for as long as I've been doing shows.  I made 60 packets to start with and they sold out in one weekend!  :)  I charge a dollar a pack, which means people buy in multiples for stocking stuffers and inexpensive "just a little something"s. Here they are all nestled together before the show started:

I packaged 10 or so in mugs and charged $3 each.  Those also sold very well.. people don't mind paying only $3 for something that looks all fancy.  :)

Each soup comes with a packet of hot cocoa, a mini candy cane, a package of mini marshmallows, and 2 Hershey's kisses.  The bag toppers were made with my Nestabilities and these sets from Inky Antics:

Snowman Soup

Sweety Snowman #1

If you're looking for craft fair ideas, I would definitely recommend this.  People think they're so cute, and they can't resist for only a dollar.  I make a pretty nice profit, too!  :)  I pay $10-$12 for the cocoa, marshmallows, kisses, candy canes and clear bags, and get $60 in return.  Of course I don't charge for my time, but that's because I enjoy doing it.  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my little project, and you can click on my "Snowman Soup" category to see the ones I've made in previous years.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Craft Fair Merchandise: Bookmarks

Hi blogland!  I'm trying hard to continue this series of posts about my craft fair merchandise.  These little guys are bookmarks (or giant paperclips!) that I sold for 50 cents each.  They sold okay, but I thought they would do better since I was selling them for such a small price.  You can never tell what the crowd wants- that's rule number 1 of craft fairs!!  :)  These were pretty easy to make.. I had a couple of packages of giant paperclips that I had bought at Walmart a while back and decided to put them to good use.  To embellish, I used this set from Inky Antics (Christmas Gift Tags) and a couple of paper punches. 

You're supposed to line the images up with the tag's rectangle, but it was just as cute to line them up with the edge of the circles.  I added them to the paperclips with some adhesive from my tape gun and a foam square in the middle to stabilize them.  This was a pretty quick and easy project, and I'll probably make them again next year with more small Christmas stamps.  I hope you enjoyed my little project, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Rock-a-bye baby

Hi friends!  It's been a wicked week at work (end of the year in the Guidance Office is always super busy!) so I didn't get to post as much as I wanted to.  I made this for a friend who ordered a baby shower card so I pulled out my baby supplies basket and got to work.  I started with an Inky Antics image- this actually came in a set with the sick turtle that you saw in my nursing home card kits but I thought it would be great for a shower card, too! :)  I used this week's Sweet Stop sketch for the layout:

I flipped pieces around a little bit when I found the rock-a-bye baby sentiment.  It's a clear overlay by Making Memories that I've had in my stash for a while.  I really have to stop forgetting what great supplies I have!  :)  I layered the clear strip on some white cardstock so it would stay pink (and not bleh looking with the yellow patterned paper behind it).  Speaking of, the yellow paper is American Traditional Designs and the purple is ATD, but I'm not sure if they're the same company??  Anyway, I finished off the card with some gems and baby shower ribbon that I was looking to use up (success!).  I think this card turned out pretty cute and I hope you do, too!  

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're staying cool!

-Suzanne :O )

Nursing Home Card Kits

Hi friends!  I've been teaching card classes at the nursing home where my mom volunteers for the last 3 months, so I wanted to share with you how I do that.  On the first Saturday of the month, I bring 12 card kits and then my mom runs around trying to gather people up.  Having a sign up sheet wouldn't work as people don't feel well, fall asleep, have visitors, etc.  I think my biggest group so far was 10 people, but I always make 12 kits since I have lots of  DCWV/MME/K&Co stacks that give you 3 sheets of each pattern.  I get 4 cards out of each sheet, hence the 12 kits.  


Anyway, this first picture was taken so you could see my mass production in progress.  Tying ribbons or handling small objects is hard for the group I work with, so they basically just glue the pieces together.  Below you can see where I was adding the green brads to the sentiment so that the pink piece was already put together for them.  :)  

Here's the first kit, a sympathy card.  The paper is K&Co, the stamps are Impression Obsession and I'm not sure if you can tell I embossed the off-white pieces, but it's got a damask design.

Next up is a get well soon card featuring Inky Antics stamps.  More K&Co paper and lots of Nestabilities used here.  I also paper pieced the turtle's blanket to match the patterned paper.

I started my class off with this card as the layout was very simple.  A Paper Smooches sentiment and some DCWV patterned paper paired up with some bright cardstocks make for a fun thank you note.

Last but not least is this cutie pie hedgehog by Penny Black (he was a big hit yesterday!).  More Nestabilities and DCWV paper used here, along with Target's dollar spot brads.

I thought you might want to see how the cards would look when they were assembled, so I just layered the pieces quickly so I could photograph them (that's why they're not all lined up; I just wanted to give you an idea)  :)

A deep turquoise-y-green ribbon was added to this card at the last minute, right over the off-white piece.  I tied the ribbon right before I started the class- it needed that extra embellishment, even though I try to stay away from things they can't manage.  

My mom could only round up 3 people yesterday because the nursing home was running a Bingo program at the same time- I can't compete with that!! :)  It went well though, one lady was 101 (!) and one man had had a stroke, so he couldn't use his left arm.  My mom and I were able to give them lots of attention, which we can't always do when we have a larger group.  


It's a little time consuming to make these card kits, but I *really* love using up my older supplies.  I'm always amazed out how much I end up liking papers I desperately wanted to get rid of after I use them in a kit!  :P  It's been really rewarding to do these classes and give back to my community in a way that suits me.  I hope to keep doing these classes as long as I have people interested!  


Thanks for taking a peek into my latest card making venture!  Hope you're having a great weekend!


-Suzanne :O )


PS-  Have extra kits is fine with me, I'll just assemble them myself and sell them at my next craft fair! :D

Mouse with Cake

Happy Wednesday, friends!  If this little mouse doesn't make you smile, then you're probably a robot.  :)  I made this for my brother's girlfriend, whose birthday is tomorrow.  The stamp set is by Inky Antics (Millie Mouse Clear Set) and is especially awesome because the mouse comes with a blank area behind her arms, and she comes will all different accessories to hold.  She has different hats to wear, too!  

I had to stamp it a couple of times to get the cake to line up juuuuust right, near her fingers. The clear wasn't quite clear enough to line up all those details, but I'm glad I wasn't working with a rubber stamp! ;)  Of course I colored Millie with my Copics and used some more MME Quite Contrary papers (you'll be seeing more of these papers again very soon, I couldn't stop using them!).  To finish off the card, I wrapped some We R Memory Keepers twine around the card a few times and tied the bow off to the side.  I hope you like my happy little card!


Tomorrow I have off (use-'em-or-lose-'em vacation days) so I plan to stay in and get my nursing home card kits ready to go.  This time I'm going to take pictures so you can see what I've been doing with my little friends for the past couple of months.  :)


I hope you're staying cool (it's 90+ and humid again.. yuck!).  Thanks for stopping by!


-Suzanne :O )

You're Grate!

Hi friends!  This is a fun birthday card I made for my uncle, who I hope likes to barbeque!  lol  I really went to town with this Inky Antics stamp set:

I made my own patterned paper with the smaller stamps and colored the chef and grill with my Copics.  The patterned paper has been sitting in my stash for years unused but it fit perfectly with this card! I believe it's one of those dollar store packs by Miss Elizabeth's.  I used this week's Sweet Sunday sketch for my layout:

I used my Fiskars ShapeCutters for the two circles, my Nestabilities for the lacy circle, and my Stampin' Up ticket punch on the grey stamped paper.  I added some olive green brads to pick up the green in the chef's shirt.  I really love the sentiments in this set; I stamped "happy birthday hot stuff!" on the inside of the card- my uncle always loves silly/humorous cards.  :)  I hope you get the same kick out this card that I do!  Thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

HoneyPOP Easter!

Hi there!  I'm very excited to share this card with you, as I've not seen any products like it before (you'll see what I mean in a minute!).  For the front of the card, I used some pastel cardstock scraps and patterned paper by DCWV.  I ran the purple cardstock through my Cuttlebug and lightly scrubbed it with some darker purple chalk ink to accentuate the polka dots.  For the focal point, I lined the two images up so it looked like the bunny was leaning against the carrot (this is why I prefer clear stamps!).  I used my Copics and added a bunch of craft floss for the top of the carrot.  To do this, I wound the floss around my fingers several times, then tied it in the middle so it looked like a figure 8.  Then I cut the loop on one side and on the other end, I cut just below where I had tied it off.  Then it made a nice poofy bunch of strands, which I adhered with a glue dot.  To finish off my card, I added some American Crafts ribbon and stamped the sentiment with some Memento ink.


To see why I'm so excited about this stamp set, let me show you the inside of the card!  :)

Ta-da!  The HoneyPOP line of Inky Antics stamps are specially designed to work with honeycomb paper.  I was lucky enough to win the stamp set and a pad of orange paper on the Inky Antics blog, but now I need to get the other sets/pads!  :D  You can see a video on the Inky Antics website that demonstrates how to do the honeycomb piece, and you can also see the other stamp sets:

http://inkyantics.com/honeypop.htm

I added the other half of my floss bunch to the top of my carrot, but now I'm wishing I had added more floss. I'll probably go back and fix that, but you get the idea.  If I had had the green honeycomb pad, I would have used the coordinating stamp, but for now, I think the floss works just fine.  :)  I have to practice a little more with the placement of the images and the honeycomb piece, but this card was SO much fun to make! I hope you like it as much as I do.. thanks for "popping" by!  ;)

-Suzanne :O ) 

Sending you sweet wishes

Happy Sunday, friends!  This card was made combining two challenges- Riley & Company (brown plus another color) and the sketch from Sweet Sunday 106:

I used my Coffee Riley stamp and colored it in with my Copics.  I layered my focal point with brown cardstock from Martha Stewart and purple cardstock from WorldWin, which I die-cut with my Nestabilities and jazzed up with some gems from my stash.  Both patterned papers are from DCWV (Flower Power and At Home Stacks) and I ran some kraft cardstock through my Cuttlebug.  I stamped the Inky Antics sentiment on a scrap of kraft cardstock with Chestnut Colorbox ink and trimmed it into a banner shape.  I added some Prima flowers and a chocolate brad from Recollections.  I've really been neglecting my Primas.. I bought SO many when Michaels first started carrying them, and now my jars sit lined up collecting dust.  This will be remedied.. don't you love rediscovering your supplies?!  :)  To finish the card off, I added some light brown brads by Imaginisce.  This card is pretty busy, but I like it!  Hope you're having a great weekend... Chris and I are off to a college basketball game (one of the perks of working in a guidance office!) and dinner.  Thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

sick turtle

Just a quick post on this so-hard-to-go-back-to-work-Monday!  This is a card I made using an adorable set by Inky Antics.  I looooove this turtle guy, especially this image!  So cute and clever to have him resting in a bed made out of his own shell!  hehe  I used some old Basic Grey papers here, and paper pieced the blanket to match the background.  I colored him in with my watercolor pencils (I didn't have the right color Copics at the time) and added a couple of buttons to finish the card off.  I love how easily this card came together, and I'm SURE it brought a smile to my co-worker's face.. that little guy would cheer anyone up!  Thanks for stopping by today!


-Suzanne :O )