Halloween 2012 Picture Parade

Hi everyone!  Today's going to be another really long post, with all of my Halloween cards and the gift bags I made to give my co-workers (I got them Halloween tablecloths).  It's always my goal to use up all the little bits and pieces I have- swapped images, old patterned papers, die-cuts, stickers, etc., so you'll see a lot of that here.  Maybe one day I'll be able to create cards from scratch and use some of the stamps that are patiently waiting to be opened!  :)  Anyway, enjoy the show and thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )  

Thanksgiving 2012 Picture Parade

Hi everyone!  Happy Saturday!  I'm spending the day in working on my Valentine's Day cards and tonight Chris and I are going to see Les Mis.  Not sure if the movie will live up to my standards (I've seen it on Broadway three times!), but I'm looking forward to it.

Today I want to share all of the cards I made for Thanksgiving.  I used up a lot of older papers, swapped focal pieces and bits and pieces of embellishments.  If you have any questions, just ask.  I hope you enjoy my picture parade!  I'll be back tomorrow to do the same with my Halloween cards.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Make a Wish

Hi friends!  I'm headed to a craft gathering after work tonight, so I have to get my post in early today. This card was made back in October, when I was in the midst of getting ready for Halloween and my November craft fairs.  Needless to say, I didn't have much time (or creative energy!) to do side projects, so I think that's pretty evident in this card.  There are a lot of things I don't like about this card- my color choices, the patterned paper, and the old stickers.  Looking back, I'm not sure how I would have changed it, because I think it all started with the piece of patterned paper (which I don't really care for), so I picked colors I didn't like based on that and it went downhill from there.  

In any case, I think it's good for me to share the cards I don't like so I learn from my mistakes and grow from them.  The paper is SEI, the cardstock is PTI and the make a wish embellishment is Making Memories.  If I had to guess, I think the epoxy flower stickers are American Traditional Design (really old stuff!).  

Thanks for stopping by today- hopefully you don't hate this card as much as I do!  LOL  :P

-Suzanne :O )

Baby Shower Tags

Hi there!  I've finally wrapped up sharing all of my Christmas projects, so now I'm going to start heading backwards to share the many cards/projects I made last year that never got posted.  First up are some tags I made for my friend Jen's baby shower.  The tag above is the one I put on her gift.  She lives in Seattle, but the baby shower was given here in NY, so guests were instructed to have gifts shipped to her house in Seattle, but to bring a book to the shower (to build the baby's library).  Since I was giving a book (The Polar Express, in case you're curious), I thought this sweet little moon/blanket/book image from Clear and Simple Stamps would be perfect.  I stamped it on a manilla tag and add the to/from sentiment from My Favorite Things.

This tag was just a quick way for me to show Jen what I got for her.  I made a simple pocket out of PTI aqua mist cardstock and adhered an old chipboard embellishment from K & Co.  (I don't know if you can tell what those pictures are, but I got her the accessories for her stroller- that picture peeking out is a tray).

This last tag is the one I made for my mom to give.  I've known Jen since we were in middle school, so my mom wanted to send a little something for her.  I die-cut the tag from kraft cardstock and used another to/from sentiment from My Favorite Things and a dimensional sticker from K & Co.  You can see the tag/stamp set I used here:  Tag You're It

So that's it for tonight, I hope you like my tags.  Thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Get Well Soon

Hi everyone!  This is a get well card I just made for a family friend who was in the hospital with pneumonia.  A while back, I bought one of those dollar books of stickers- you usually see them in souvenir shops or AC Moore.  Anyway, I thought they'd come in handy for this card.  I feel like there's a stigma against using flat stickers on cards, but it sure was easier than stamping and coloring!  :D

I used the current Sweet Sunday sketch for the layout:

All of the papers are My Mind's Eye, Lime Twist (Life of the Party).  The pink cardstock is Recollections and the little dimensional tissue box sticker is K & Co.  I also used a piece of Simply Chartreuse cardstock from PTI.

I hope this card cheers Lori up, and I hope you enjoy it, too!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Craft Fair Photos

Hi friends!  Today I'm sharing pictures from my Christmas craft fairs.  I did two shows, one on a Saturday, the other the next day. The picture above is the center table at the first craft fair.   You can see the banner I made, in rainbow colors, of course, that says "The Card Garden."  LOVE!  :)  I haven't totally figured out how to get it to hang securely, but using some picnic table clamps seems to be working okay for now.  That table had lots Christmas cards and some Thanksgiving/fall themed cards (it was the weekend before Thanksgiving, I believe).  I also made some Thanksgiving themed pencil packs, which I sold for $1.

The table below had my super popular snowman soup and cake-in-a-cup mugs.  I amassed 62 mugs throughout the year, picked up from thrift stores and garage sales, usually for just a quarter.  When I first realized just how many mugs I had, I panicked thinking that I went overboard, but it turns out I didn't!  As you can see, the table was fully stocked, so I had two copy paper boxes beneath the table that people started to pull out and rummage through once they realized there were additional mug choices.  Many people bought 5-10 mugs each, so they went fast!  I sold these for $3 each, and a couple of people told me I wasn't charging enough!  :)

The cake-in-a-cup mugs also sold really well; I believe I sold 12 or 13 mugs at the first show, out of the 16 I started with.  I also had a bunch of snowman soup packets (for $1 each) in the basket, and those sold out on by the end of the first day.  Some girl had been looking in my booth at one point, but hemmed and hawed about getting the packets.  When she came back later, I heard her say to her friend, "oh, there are only eight left."  I asked her how many she needed, and she said ten, so I put two extra packets together while she waited.  I had brought the materials to make 50 more packets, but my booth had been so busy that day, I never got a chance to work on them!  Anyway, once I was done scrambling to fill her order, I set to work on the other 48 packets and filled my basket up.  You can't hem and haw, people, I can't keep up!!  LOL!  I started out with 150 packets all together, including the ones used in the mugs, and I only had 7 packets left, and that's because one of the craft fairs I signed up to do got canceled on me.  Needless to say, snowman soup is always my biggest seller!

Okay, so the last table was set up with all of my office-y type products.  I'm not sure how clearly you can see everything, but in the back I have a basket with handmade tags, some altered composition books, gift card holders and lots of post-it note pads.

These magnetic clips were a BIG hit.  I sold 15 out of 16 on the first day!  I bought clothespins at the dollar store, decorated them with some Authentique paper and added strips of magnets to the back.  I sold them for $3- people loved their practicality!

These post-it notes were copied from Kerry.  I know she sells them like hotcakes, but I think I only sold one or two.  I have a ton left over.. perhaps I'll get around to posting them in my etsy shop some day.  They're made from plastic picture frames and patterned paper.  I don't know if I was charging too much ($4) or if people didn't like the paper or what.  Maybe if I had sold them with pens like Kerry does, that would have convinced people to buy.  I'll have to try again and see if I do any better with them.  :)

These next few pictures are from day two of my craft fairs.  This show provided the table, so you can see that I had to smush whatever I had left onto an eight foot table.  I think I only had one of the magnetic clips left, and those sold, along with many more mugs and handmade tags/gift card holders.

That's pretty much it for today.  Thanks for bearing with me through the long post, and if you have any questions about anything you see on the tables but I didn't mention, please let me know.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )