Just me and the dog

Another big batch

2008-12-28T14:55:00.000-08:00

Well thank you notes were the order of the day the last few days. Mom was all in to her cuttlebug that we gave her for Christmas. Lots of folders and she is all set. Here are the cards we have made.

Here is the whole pile.

Here are mine.

I got this set of dog stamps from mom for Christmas because the reminded her of Delilah. They were so much fun. I used them to make Delilah's thank you notes. I think in terms of number of gifts, she got more than I did :)

I made this one for a couple that we are having dinner with tonight. It is their anniversary.

Here are some thinking of you / sympathy cards I made. I love that embossing folder. I might have to get one.

Here are some more thank you notes.

Here are Mom's cards. I like what she did with my initial stamps.

Here is a thank you note.

This last one is her first Valentines day card.

Birthday cards mom made.

Hope you all have a great end to the new year.

Been way too long

2008-12-24T20:32:00.000-08:00

My camera broke and I got out of the habit of taking pictures and posting cards. Here area few catch up cards from the fall as well as a whole batch Mom and I made in the last few days.

I got on a bright and happy pink kick for a while this fall. Nothing says happy like monkey cards. Here is a sample of them.

I also started the task of filling my sister-in-laws box of cards. Here are some of the more masculine cards for the set.

I also made her this pretty set of simple thank you notes.

Here are the cards from Mom and I this weekend. I love stamping with her over the holidays.

Here are some closer looks at my cards.

I found this happy hopper stamp in the clearance bin. I was not sure what I would do with it, but I really like how it turned out. It took the words from a pun stamp set from StampIn Up. The result should be a good Congratulations or Way to Go card.

This was in the sale bin too. Love the mice!!

I found the paper for the next two sets in Mom's stash of paper. The papers were so pretty the cards come together easily.

Here are some of Mom's. I love the flower on this and the way she made the tag effect with the ribbon.

Simple, cute and fun. They are even better in person where you can really see the dimension and glitter.

I like these two cards. We were playing with the different looks of markers and water color pencils. Both are great.

These are some of the cool cards my Mom has made this year. I wanted to copy some of the layouts at home, so I snapped some pictures. I thought I would share them as well.

I love this first layout. Too cute. I have most of these things and would have never thought of doing this.

The lighting does not show this one off well. It is a stunning card all in purples.

This one is a work of art. All of those flowers are punched out and glued on. A little glitter in each one. It looks great!!!

All the details

2008-08-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those weeks where you want to curl up in bed and pretend the world will go away??? That has been mine. I decided some stamping therapy would help tonight. It did :)

So my mom's best buddy has the same birthday as my dog. Mrs. R. is pretty fun loving so we pick on her about it quite a bit. I decided that this year I would send a card from Delilah and I. I actually really like the way it turned out. It is pretty simple but the embossing and dots on the ribbon seem to tie it together well. I added a little stickles on the candle for some shine. I wanted it to be from the dog too, so I added a little bone brad at the top of the otherwise pretty card. Inside I wish her a happy birthday but divide her age by 7 (sort of like we multiple a dog age by 7 to figure out their comparative people age). I guess great cards are all in the little details.

Last year I made my sister-in-law a whole box of cards for Christmas. She loved it and tells me all the time how she is using them. She also has started hinting that she wants more. I decided to start early this year so I would not be scrambling at the end when I am trying to grade finals, shop, make and mail Christmas cards, etc. Here are the first four of the year. I am not positive what occassion they are for, but she will find a good use.

BTW, then I came down stairs to take pictures of the cards, I busted Delilah who decided my bed was better than her own :)

Sometimes you just need to make your own card

2008-08-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

There are times when only a homemade card will work. For example, Hallmark does not make a "Sorry my dog ran through your screened" card. Delilah did just that the other day. There is a big doodle size hole in my friends screen out back. I was mortified. Delilah has no idea she did it. I made this card to mark the occasion and deliver the Lowes gift card we bought to pay for the damages.

Also, her dog sitter did a great job staying with Delilah last week so I made her this card.

Finally, I had a baby card. Nothing too original here. Just a cute little baby card.

Hope you are having a good day!

Sleeping doodle

2008-08-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

Today Delilah went to get a bath. The groomers put little bows in her ears. Normally she has them out in minutes. Today she has not cared. Here is the sleepy doodle.

I was playing with my new camera last week and took these too. You will see by the end, she was totally done :)

Pun Fun!!!!!

2008-08-12T21:06:00.001-07:00

I am learning to use orderless mineral spirits and the new colored pencils I have. Love it. I thought I would start with some fairly simple images and work up. Here is the first pass with my pun fun set. Hope you like them. The were all pretty simple cards, but really fun to make.

Some more cards - monkeys and gina k

2008-07-30T17:59:00.001-07:00

Even though I have not been posting, I have been creating. Here are some of my prior card. Hope you like them.

The first are one of my new loves....monkey stamps. He is so cute. The cards always make you smile. Some were for friends having a tough time. Others were anniversary cards.

The others are from my Gina K stamp stash. Love her stuff. Very different but both good cards.

Have a great day!

back in a big way

2008-07-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been MIA all summer. I decided to redo the house and it has been all consuming. My digital camera developed issues but I have replaced it. Life is good again. I hope you all are still out there. Lots of my own stuff to post but first a great stack a stamp set of cards from last weekend. Check these out!

It was a great set of really diverse cards. For the SU fans out there, you will notice the theme was retiring stamps. Loved the cards. Here is the whole set!

Here are some cool birthday cards. We punched out the shapes of the cards from a 12X12 sheet with all kinds of shapes and got to keep the other pieces. Really fun versitle cards.

Here are some really elegant cards. What a great sympathy card and a pretty delicate birthday card. Love the colors. I will miss them. Love the stamp set too. Glad a good friend has it.

Here is my first criss cross card. Love it!!! I must do more of these. A little bit of a pain but well worth it.

I love these two bright cards that I can use for almost anything. So fun. I love it when I remember to stamp the enevlope too.

These two are great. Love the layout and hardware. I wish I had jumped on the hodge poge stuff sooner. The images were fun too. It is the perfect baby card for a new baby coming soon.

These two little cards were so fun. Don't you love the mini card for a boy birthday! It rocks.

Anyway, it was a great night of fun and fellowship. Once again, my demo and her daughter rock. I wish everyone was a blessed as I am with a good person to lead the way on stamping.

In other news, a huge branch fell on my roof. Here are some shots. It is hard to see with the big trees in the background. They are taking it off in the morning. The main tree is suspect. This might be a battle.

What would a post be without a shot of Delilah. Such a good girl!

Hope you are well. Look for more posts soon.

Graduation!!!!!!

2008-04-22T21:25:00.001-07:00

Tonight Delilah graduated from doggie school!!!!! Here is a picture of her in her graduation hat. I was proud. She was happy. It is a great day for goldendoodles everywhere!!

2008-04-21T20:28:00.000-07:00

I

I was playing at the Gina K release party last night and saw this sketch challenge. I really liked the sketch but was too beat to play last night. Tonight, I jumped in. I was having a rotten day so I reached for the set that always improves my mood. This pig (and his animal friends) are really cute. They are going in my stash of cards for emergency use. You never know when a pig card will be needed!!

Hope you like them!!

paper giggles and a muddy puppy thank you note

2008-04-19T20:36:00.001-07:00

So the last pink cards helped with the cheering up, but some frowns are tough to removed. Here are two more. How can these silly monkey's not make someone smile. I mean a monkey with a sparkley banana on his head would make me smile :)

What about a monkey holding flowers?? In case the monkey was not enough, I put instructions on the tag.

Also, this is the last week of Delilah's doggy school. I am in charge of picking up the "teacher" gift. I figured I might as well make the card. Delilah was a muddy puppy this morning, so that inspired this muddy puppy thank you card. What do you think?

Have a great day!

Pretty pink smiles

2008-04-15T20:40:00.001-07:00

I have a couple of friends that are having a tough time. I decided to make two happy cards for them. They are both girlie girls so it was all pink for the day. Some coordinating paper, the cuttlebug, and the markers make it all good.

The first one is made from some stamps from Micheals. I love them, especially that little giraffe.

For the second, I wanted to see if I could pull off a card without an image stamp. I just used my curvy words get well stamp. I think I like it.

It has been a while since Delilah made an appearance. She needs a haircut. Poor thing. Still cute though. Those big eyes always make me feel better.

Have a good day!

catching up

2008-04-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

So, I have been AWOL for a while. Lots of cards to catch up on and some blog surfing to do. Surfing will have to wait until tomorrow. Tonight, I post!!

Here are some pics from a stamping day with the girls. I was playing with pun fun from the new SU catalog. I LOVE it. Such cute images for some really happy cards. It is all SU with some watercoloring and cuttlebug additions. I tried to make subtle differences with the pairs of cards.

The next set is a set of cards for a variety of reasons.

The first two are friends birthdays. I really like this first one. Simple and cute. That embossing made all the difference.

The next was for a 50th birthday. I decided to avoid the tendancy for all black and dark and go playful and happy.

This one is a simple sympathy. I love the elegance of the Lovely as a tree set. The black and grey was a nice elegant solution to a somber card.

The last is a card for a friend who deserved to know how much he has helped me. A simple masculine card. Not my favorite of the batch but good.

The last two are all about the pink. A happy birthday and a thank you. Bright and fun.

Now you have seen my stash. I hope you like them. Any favorites or feedback. I am trying to work on taking my cards to the next level. Feedback is welcome.
What would you add or change? What do you like?

Easter fun

2008-03-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a good Easter. I hosted a little gathering this year. It was fun. Here are the cards I made for my guests. Super cute cuttlebug fun mixed with some Micheal's dollar stamps.

I only was able to get a good picture of one of the cards before the camera became goofy.

Hope things are good.

Three new stamps same paper

2008-03-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

I have been really wanting to use my new stamps but I have been swamped with being sick, work, and cleaning for company. Anyway, here they are. All with some random decorative paper I found in my scrap bin. A cute thank you for a dinner with friends.

A wonderful card for a friend recovering from surgery (I swear that is a stray ink mark, not bird poop :).

And a happy hopper bunny to wish my little niece a happy birthday.

Two cards and a doodle

2008-03-09T19:52:00.000-07:00

I finally made it up stairs to stamp after being sick for about two weeks. It felt so good that I made two cards :)

Both for a friend that has been ill. I am WAY behind sending them to her. She will be all well before I get things to her.

The first is my new fun pun stamps from SU. Love the whale. I think next time it will be better. I was having coloring issues tonight so I covered him up with glitter. Pretty cute though. I love rich regals blues. They are great with this stamp.

The other is simple and clean with a little bling. I like this hostess set with friend on it. I think I will use it a lot. Sometimes one word says it all doesn't it. The cuttle bug really added a nice touch as did the little rhinestones.

I just had to post this shot of Delilah. I had tossed the moose on her bed earlier in the day. When she went to nap she just curled up around him. Too cute. She has been a good dog taking care of me the last week or two. Today I took her for a short walk. We were both pretty happy.

Have a good day!!

A quick happy card

2008-03-05T19:23:00.000-08:00

I made this card a while back but never managed to get it posted. It was a quick and simple card for a young friend of mine. Very fun and bright. I really like the sliders with the bright ribbon.

I hope your day is bright and happy!

This is what happens when I am sick for too long

2008-03-02T18:42:00.000-08:00

When I am l trapped in my house for days, I have a tendency to get a little punchy. Poor Delilah, she was a good sport.

Here is the issues. I got to thinking the other day, maybe Delilah does not like riding with the top down on the car because of the hair in eyes. I know that I am happier with a hat and some shades on with the top down. So, I did want any compassionate (and slightly nutty) dog owner would do. I bought her a matching hat and glasses. They were pretty cheap and turn out not to fit well. However, the results were hysterical.

Here is the whole outfit.

I was pretty sure the glasses were to problem since they would not stay up without smashing hair in her eyes, but I wanted to be sure I tested one item at a time.

As you can tell, Delilah was not a fan of the glasses but will tolerate the hat.

I know that is not a truly happy dog, but look at the top of it. Her little ears come out of the top. Come on, that is cute!!!

Just so you don't think she is abused, here is a picture of a happier Delilah playing with the love bug a friend of mine gave her for Valentines Day.

Hope this brightened your day!

Finally a post

2008-03-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

I have been swamped with work lately. I finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Then I got sick last week. I mean nasty virus with fever sick. Yuck. I am on day five of the fever. Ugggg. I am so annoyed. I must be a little better because I am board and annoyed. That is progress right???

My dog has been taking good care of me. However, the other night I fell asleep on the sofa. I woke up a few hours later and did not see Delilah on the floor where she usually is. I finally thought to look in my room. Here is what I found. Silly dog. I had to shove her over so I could sleep on the bed too.

Well, a little over a week ago I had a GREAT workshop at my demos. I cannot wait for my treasures to come from my order. However, here are the cute things we made.

The little box was fun. I think my goofy friends and I were taxing on poor Victoria (my demos daughter who was working to help up). They are really cute though. The candle was cute too. We had some rub on woes, but all lived.

I LOVE this blue birthday card. It was so happy. We used that spray thing with a SU marker. It always makes me laugh. I will never own one, but it is fun every once in a while.

This card is stunning in person. We stamped the butterfly on the paper and on vellum. We added some sparkling power on the vellum and embossed. So cute!

It was a really fun night. Two friends took up stamping. There were lots of laughs. It was GREAT!

More to come. It is time to go back to bed for now.

still alive

2008-02-25T20:01:00.000-08:00

Life has been crazy. I do have some cards and things to post, but alas I must sleep. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some good posting and surfing time. Hope your day is great.

Quick birthdays

2008-02-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is birthday day at work. We are celebrating several birthdays. I had most of the cards but needed a couple of quick ones. Here they are!!! I used some designer birthday paper to make it easy. Some markers and stickles made this dollar stamp look even better. I added layers and ribbon to finish it off.

I hope you like them.

Happy, Happy, Happy

2008-02-02T20:05:00.001-08:00

Some people just need HAPPY cards. Layers, cuttle bug embossing and some ribbon and stickles can fit that call.

My nephew's birthday is this week. He totally needs a happy card with a hint of mischief. This house mouse stamp fits the bill for him.

Another friend has a 40th birthday this week. She is very sassy, so the card needed to match. I think it does. I love the groovy paper. They saying was perfect too.

Finally, I have a friend that just got some great career news. This happy card will mark the occasion well. The turtle cracks me up.

Nothing sappy for frilly here. Just a happy set of cards. I hope you like them!

A friend of mine said there is not enough of me on here. Hmmm, what to say. Today was all about hanging out with friends, grading, and a card making evening. Now I am watching Trading Spaces which I recorded earlier. I am SO glad Page is back. The exercise march has been on hold lately because I hurt myself. I thinik it is time to get back though. Yep, that is enough sharing :)

Have a happy day!!!

Same idea, different cards

2008-01-31T19:29:00.000-08:00

I thought I would play with the out on a limb set again. I needed a birthday card and a sympathy card. It felt a little odd using the same basic card for such different things, but it seems to work.

I really like the crackle background on the brown and red. The cards came out nice an soft. The twine and distressing seemed to bring it together.

Here is the birthday.

Here is the sympathy.

I hope you like them.

To pretty valentines

2008-01-27T19:34:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun making cards with the girls yesterday. I took my Cuttlebug with me. They were in love. I think they embossed everything that was not nailed down.

Here are two of the cards I made. It is a combination of target paper, SU pinks, and vellum. Very fun. I added some stickels and ribbon. I like them. I hope you do too.

Have the best week ever!

I did not mean to make two happy thank you cards

2008-01-24T19:33:00.000-08:00

Honest, I went to my stamping pile with the purpose of making a sympathy card. This is what happened. I made these two really bright happy cards that I will use for thank you notes this weekend.

I started out with this card because I thought if I made one happy card with the sketch challenge for the week, that would get me moving and I would make the sympathy cards. This card had a mind of its own and I was not able to use the original image in the middle that I stamped and colored. I did get to finally put some ink on this word on word hostess set, so that was fun. I like the card too.

Well, then I had this random happy butterfly image that I "needed" to use. That lead to some more cuttle bugging and lots of layer to create this little thank you note. I think it might still need something, so there is chance it will come apart and get some extra ribbon or stamping. Only time will tell.

The good news is that I am stamping with the girls this weekend. There will be six of us playing for about three or four hours. It will be fun. Look forward to great treasures to come.

Have a great day!

Canada and blessings

2008-01-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

I made two cards tonight. The first is a thank you note for a friend having me over for dinner. It is the perfect reason to use my really random Micheal's Dollar Stamps. I was digging through the bin and found these two Canada stamps. The first if of the country. The second is a version of the flag. I wondered if I would use them at first, then I realized I would find an array of reasons to get my $2 worth. Here is the first pass at using them.

The second card provided an excuse to use my new paper tray set. I used pallet hybrid ink and distressed the paper for the look I was going for. I wanted something soft and pretty. Nothing to perky. It is a simple blessings card for a friend that is having some health problems.

Hope you like the cards and have a great week!

Ramblings and Grumblings

2008-01-21T18:31:00.000-08:00

This was good weekend. A little stamping, some exercising, some time with friends, and some work. All in all, it was a good few days. I got a new Pilates DVD. I must say that I have a few muscles I had forgotten about. Today they are reminding me that I have them :)

Since it was a day off today, I decided to get Delilah a bath. She was smelling like a dog and we cannot have that :) The dryer they use broke and she had to be blown dry by hand. The good news is she is really white and fluffy. The bad news is that she is beat from all the grooming and primping.

They put a clip in her hair. I managed to get her to let me take a couple of pictures before she worked it out of her hair. She was grumbling about that little clip the whole way home.

Here is Delilah in her full fluffy glory. She could barely muster the energy to go outside.

Hope you have a great week.

Fun Frogs

2008-01-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

I went to this really neat Stampin Up sale yesterday. Several of the local demos were selling their retired stamps. I picked up the Frolicking Frogs on a whim. I am so happy. They are really fun to play with. Here are the two cards I made.

They are both made with papers from a scrap booking pack I bought a while back. The stickers and papers are fun. I used SU markers to color the frogs and my tag punches for the tags. I also worked in some fun brads I had around. I think the happiness card will be a thinking of you card for a friend having a tough time. The savor card will go in my stash for a congratulations card.

Hope you like them and have some time to frolick this week :)

Workshop Wonders

2008-01-18T21:00:00.000-08:00

My demo had a workshop tonight. It was wonderful. There were great projects, great company, and great fun. Here are the projects.

I always show them to Delilah when I get home. Here she is checking them out.

Yep, she approves :) You cannot see the wagging tail, but it was going.

This is the first card I made tonight. I love this new stamp set. I forgot to write down the name, but it is GREAT. The colors are so nice. The metallic pencils are SO fun. What a pretty, pretty, look. Those things are like magic. I always love the cards I make with them. I might just have to crack and buy them soon.

We also made this brownie box. Too cute right??? The added touches with the gel pen make such a difference. Dee cut the circle for me. What a great demo!!! She helped with my bow too. Dee is the BEST!! The other ladies were jealous that I outsourced some of the key elements.

I have been in love with this elephant stamp since the demos online started giving sneak peaks. I was super excited to see it out tonight for a card. Isn't it cute. I also love that we learned to tie those cute bows.

I don't have a good close up of the little triangle box for Hershey's kisses, but it is GREAT. That stamp set is one of the new ones too and is super cute. Dee's daughter was helping us with that project and the first card I posted. She has the patience of Job with all of us. She is really wise beyond her years.

I must delve into the new catty tomorrow. So many treasures and I just got my paper copy. It is much better than the online version.

Have a great weekend!

Playing again

2008-01-16T18:47:00.000-08:00

Last week, I promised that I would stamp at least one night during the week. Tonight was the night. I did the sketch challenge on SCS and made another card. Both were made with some target paper, ribbon and chip board. Of course they were all Dollar Spot treasures. So much fun for so little money :)

I used my Gina K Whimsical Valentine set. I am really enjoying using these unmounted stamps. They don't take up much room at all and they stamp GREAT!!! I love the faces on the animals. Yep, these stamps made my really yucky day all better.

Have you have a great day!!!!

You can do it

2008-01-15T19:18:00.000-08:00

No cards today. However, I had to share. On the quest for getting in shape, I broke out my "You Can Do Pilates" DVD. You know what? I CAN do pilates! No, it is not the best DVD or the hardest workout, but it taught me some basics. I will see if I can feel it tomorrow. The up side was that it was relaxing. After a hard work day and having to chase down Delilah because the yard people left the gate open, I needed it.

I do have a picture for you. My brother gave me a fake alligator for Christmas. If you are tempted to ask why, just remember the post a few posts back with the picture of Bubba the Gorilla that I got from my parents. These things just happen :) Anyway, Delilah loves the alligator. Here is a picture of the two them for your amusement.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a card making day. Have a great one!

Delilah thanks yous and Valentine Buzzzz

2008-01-13T19:59:00.000-08:00

This Christmas, Delilah raked in a ton of gifts. I figured it was only right for her to send out thank you notes. I got three made tonight. It is hard to see, but I colored in the bones the little dog is holding to match the color of the bones the person gave her. The purple card is my favorite of the set.

I also got a start with my Valentines cards with this cute bee from Gina K. It was so much fun to color. I was getting tired, so I kept the card simple. They are fun though.

Have a great week!

BTW, another mile and a half walked today!!!!

What a week.

2008-01-12T19:38:00.000-08:00

Work was so crazy this week, I did not get to stamp once. I realized last night that it might be part of the reason I did not feel good and was so cranky. I must be more careful in the future :) I did manage to get another 3 miles or so walked this week. That is good. Today, I spent the day hammering nails for Habitat for Humanity. The family was such an inspiration and so happy about their house. I am not a great carpenter, but I had a good day. It called for a shower and nap when I got home. Once I got up, managed to clean my stamping space some and get a few cards made.

I got some new stamps from Gina K today, so I started to break those out. These are from the Carlyn King, Collection 1. They are fun images. I need to work on coloring them some, but these quick cards will work for the stream of card needs this week :)

The first is a birthday card for Delilah's friend Jazzy. It might be that Cynthia just wants me to send her a card, but she emailed and reminded me it was Jazzy's 2nd birthday. So, I made a birthday card for that spunky little dog. Of course it is from Delilah :)

The next is a birthday card for a friend with a birthday that is tomorrow. The card will be late, but I will stamp a late birthday sentiment inside, so it is all good.

The last is for a friend that will be having surgery soon. I want to try and cheer her up a little. I know it is heavy on her mind.

Hope you like them. Have a great rest of the weekend!

Happy card for a thank you

2008-01-06T19:09:00.000-08:00

There was a Gina K sketch for her release party that inspired this card. It was a good way to use this happy Target dollar paper and coordinating piece of chip board. It also was a good excuse to make a happy thank you note, and use my Gina K stamps.

It is a pretty simple card with a couple of layers, a little coloring with markers, and some stickles on the flowers. I ended up distressing the paper. I probably would have skipped that, but my cutter blade is dull and I was not happy with the crispness of the edges at first. I needed to even it up.

I hope you like it!

I am back on my exercise program. I managed to get two good workouts in last week and one minor workout moving a friends plants inside. Yesterday was a little more than I wanted. A friend of mine and I took Delilah for a walk on some local trails. We must have taken a wrong turn because our little 45 minute walk ended up being a 2.5 hour trek. The good news is I am not too sore today. The better news is that it takes my miles walked for the year total up to 10 miles. I am rewarding myself at 100. Stay tuned for the progress.

Soft birthday card

2008-01-02T19:04:00.000-08:00

I have a friend with a birthday Saturday. I decided to use it as a chance to ink up a stamp that I had not used. It is from the Wreath of Roses set. I think it has been retired for a while, but I thought it was so pretty, I bought it over the summer. I used the Cuttlebug to emboss two of the layers. The top two layers are on dimensionals. I water colored the roses. In side is a simple script happy birthday and a small scroll of the same roses.

It was wierd tonight stamping alone tonight. I miss my mom as a stamping buddy. It was fun to play and make cards together.

Hope you all have a great day!

Happy New Year

2007-12-31T20:39:00.000-08:00

It is almost new year. I hope that in 2008, you keep all your resolutions.
I hope you and your family are blessed with good health and happiness.
I hope you have a few happy surprises too.

Happy new year!

Time with the Christmas Gifts

2007-12-30T20:21:00.000-08:00

Tonight, I decided I would only use the things we got mom for Christmas. This was in part because I don't have them when I leave and in part because they are cool. Before I share the cards, I wanted to share one of my gifts. I got a framed picture of Bubba. Bubba is this big mechanical gorilla that stands on the corner in my home town by the vacuums cleaner store. They dress him up for various holidays. He is pictured here in his Christmas outfit. He is pretty ragged and ugly, but I used to beg my Mom and Dad to drive by there when I was growing up. Do you have these sort of odd landmarks where you grew up?

Enough of Bubba. Here are the cards. My mom was doing Valentines Day and I was playing with some designer paper. Here is the set.

Here are closer views of Mom's.

Here are mine. The first is a birthday card.

The second two are some flowers I made with the oval punch. It was fun. I used the crop-a-dile to punch the whole through all the layers and once and add the brad. It was pretty easy. I like the way the came out. The ink is all mellow moss.

Hope you have a safe and happy new year.

Another set for the box of cards and more

2007-12-28T13:28:00.000-08:00

So I guess I got used to making tons of cards for my SIL. Today, I sat down and decided I would see how many card I could make out of two sheets of designer paper from the Target pack I bought last week. It turns out 10 is the answer. I could have probably squeezed out one or two more, but I lost steam :) I like them. They are mostly Garden Whimsy and Short and Sweet stamps. There are are a few miscellaneous dollars stamps and another random set thrown in. The ink is all certainly celery. There is a little white ribbon and some flowers on the cards. The little flowers are also Target Dollar Spot finds from earlier in the year. The paper actually looks prettier in person. My photo editing software and I were not getting along today. She and my brother are coming back in on Monday. I might give her these to add to her box of cards. If I pull two out of what I have done this week to go with them, that would give her 75. That sounds like a good number :)

Here are the two cards Mom made. I really like the happy birthday card. Simple and cute. It is from little hellos.

The other card is a thank you mom made with her new oval punches. You know that really happy feeling when you get it all lined up and the stamp in the right place? It was fun to watch.

Hope you have a good day!

Many ways to say thank you

2007-12-27T20:31:00.000-08:00

The stamping mania continues. Dad was doing other things tonight so mom and I took out the treasures to stamp. All but one of the cards are thank yous. Mom and I both have several to send out. Here is the set of all the cards.

This pink one Mom mad is my favorite of the evening. Isn't it pretty?

I pulled out my Gina K stamps for two fun ones. The first is fish.

The second is sheep. I love the sheep card. So simple. I cut an extra lamb out and put it up on dimensionals.

I took out the target designer paper to make this set. FYI, this was in the Dollar Spot with the Valentines day stuff. I LOVE this paper. It is a little thin, but the patterns are great.

Mom made a more manly thank you too.

Here is the one non-thank you card of the night. I simple but pretty birthday card made by Mom.

Hope you like it. Can you tell we are having fun? I think we will both have our stashes replenished soon :)

Have a good day.

Playing with new stamps

2007-12-26T20:29:00.000-08:00

Mom and I checked out the clearance bin at Hobby Lobby :) We each found a few. We also thought we would play with her new sets from Christmas. Here are the results.

I really like my new mouse stamps. One is perfect for birthdays.

The other can probably be used for an array of things. I made one a thank you and the other a general card.

I also played a little with Mom's Garden Whimsy set. It makes pretty soft, girlie cards.

It also makes a nice bright card too.

Mom made several cards too. Of course Garden Whimsy was on her list to use.

This might be my favorite of the night.

So was her new birthday cake stamp.

In case you wonder what dad does while we stamp, here is a shot. He just hang out until we show him the cards, then he says they are great. (Mom trained him well. :) )

Hope you like them.

She loved them - Christmas comments only stampers will appreciate

2007-12-25T21:18:00.000-08:00

So for the last few weeks I have been posting tons of cards for Christmas and even more for my sister-in-law. Well, I gave her a box of 63 cards. (I know, random number but sometimes that is life. :) ). She loved them. She looked at each one of them cards. I even heard her on the phone with one of her sisters talking about them. All the work was totally worth it! I even found a great fabric covered box and Hobby lobby for them.

Mom loved her stamping stuff we gave her too. I think you will see some cards made with her new oval punches, short and sweet stamps, and garden whimsy. We also gave her soft subtle inks. My brothers were perplexed as to why these were great gifts. I told them to just write a check :)

All in all, very happy except for one stamping tragedy. I forgot to send a stack of my cards. I just saw them in my room :( I will be sending those soon.

Hope you and your family had a great holiday too.

Cards for Three Seasons

2007-12-23T19:46:00.000-08:00

Well, tonight I made the last cards for my SIL's box of cards. Mom made her Valentines Day cards (or at least some of them).

Here is the whole pile.

Here are mine.

Here are Mom's.

Here are closer shots of Mom's.

Here are my beach themed cards with my Gina K stamps. They are among the final cards for my SIL.

Here is my final set of Christmas Cards. They will most likely go in SIL's box too.

Hope you have a happy holiday.

Filling the box

2007-12-22T19:21:00.000-08:00

I am determined to give my sister in law a great gift. I showed my mom all the cards I had for the box of cards. I decided to make a few more. I found this great paper at the Target today for a dollar. The paper is really pretty but tears easily. Oh well, it is a great value for a dollar :) Mom and I took the afternoon to make cards. Here is the whole set.

Here are mine.

Here are mom's.

Here is a quick shot of the first set I made all in pink. I used some clear stamps to make a monogram on them for her. A few embellishments, but I kept it simple.

Here is the next set of Judy cards I made all in blue. I used a Paper Tray Butterfly stamp and some shimmery embossing powder.

Here is a closer look at one to see the stamp and paper better

I made a set of Bella Birthday cards.

Here is one a little closer.

I also made two with you are in my thoughts and prayers. I am not sure I love them, but they are not bad.

Here are some of my Mom's cards.

I love this yellow thank you note. It is Paper Tray and GREAT!!!

Here are two cards with the same sentiment and paper. It is amazing how changing a layer can do so much.

Here is another thank you she made. She does not like it. I think it is cute!

The last one is my nephew's birthday card from mom. Very cute. The versamark balloons on the background are hard to see.

Sorry for the long post. I hope you liked all the cards!

Merry Christmas.

Moooore Cow Cards

2007-12-17T19:37:00.000-08:00

I loved the cow birthday cards I made for Jim and Chuck. I decided to play with the design a little tonight. Same idea of patterned paper with embossed vellum over it. I used some eyelets and tape on others. Today was a pink backing with "stitching". Each card is a little different with placement and ribbon.

Hope you like them. You cannot help but smile at this cow from Gina K. It might just be my favorite set ever. I will have to use the pig and sheep soon.

Here are some closer looks.

Have a great one!

Birthday Cakes Everywhere

2007-12-16T18:59:00.000-08:00

I decided that since it was only a little after 8 PM that I would knock out a second set of cards for my sister-in-law. Since many of the cards will be used for birthday cards, I went with my Gina K birthday cake and my "wish big" stamp from Stampin up. I used some random decorative paper and pink and purple cardstock. I tried to use my new little paper piercing bugs. I am not impressed with them, but the cards are OK anyway. I colored and added some stickles. Each cards is a little different. I left hardware off too in case she is mailing them. I never know how hardware will go with the new mailing rules.

The stickles are not dry. They will look a little better in the morning, but you get the idea.

Here is the set:

Here are two of the cards a little closers.

This gives me about 25 cards. Maybe more if I use some of my stash. Hopefully, I will have some more time in the next few nights.

Mud puppy and some cards

2007-12-16T17:12:00.000-08:00

Last night, I came home from a holiday gathering. It was rainy and I let Delilah out. This is what came back inside. Meet the mud puppy:

Needless to say, she was not allowed back on the sofa or on my bed after that. I put her in the crate with a couple of towels. She came out clean in the morning. I don't know how she does it, but the dirt was on the towels and she was white and fluffy again.

I decided a while back that I would try and make a huge set of cards for my sister-in-law. I fell way behind. Here are a few that I just made. I might try and make another set tonight as well.

These are with some Target dollar paper I had an my new oval punches. They are pretty fun to use. I have never bought that brand before.

Here is the whole set:

Her are closer looks at them:

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Udderly Fantastic Birthday Cards

2007-12-13T19:10:00.000-08:00

I was feeling down so I decided to do something. I went up with the intent of making sympathy cards. A good friend of mine lost her mother-in-law this week. My last gradmother passed away too. I thought I would use some creative energy to send some sympathy cards. Well, I got up to my craft space and was distracted by a couple of birthday cards I needed to make.

I decided that maybe the birthday cards would cheer me up a little. I have to admit that this cow from Gina K does make me smile. The face is so pitiful. I used my favorite things too...my cuttlebug, crop-a-dile, and ticket punch. I probably should have put the image on dimensionals, but they were down stairs, so I let that go :)

Both have the "have an udderly fantastic birthday" on the outside.

Inside, one has "wish big" from short and sweet.

The other has "heard you're celebrating a belated birthday this year....Bet all those other fools send cards on time!" Obviously this one is a little late :)

Hope you like them and they make you smile.

Tagged

2007-12-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

Boy you stray away from the blogs for a day or so and all kinds of things happened. For example, I was tagged. So, the rules say that I should share 7 random facts about me. Here goes:

1. When I was little, we lived in Connecticut. I had this really cool green snowsuit. It had a big red apple on it.

2. In Kindergarten, I got an F on my report card because I did not know how to skip. My mom made me practice so I would not fail again :)

3. I never crawled before I walked.

4. I Tivo and watch all the episodes of America's Top Model (including prior cycles I missed.)

5. I have a picture frame on my mantle with three does that I don't know because I am too lazy to replace the picture that came in the frame :)

6. Today was trash day and I forgot :(

7. I got to work before I realized that I had on two different colored sock.

Can you tell it was a bad day? You don't know the half of it. Oh well, life will improve and this little walk down memory lane made the day a little better.

Hope your day was great!

Dog Gone Good Christmas

2007-12-09T18:39:00.000-08:00

It is shaping up to be a good holiday season. I finished my bulk card making tonight. I saw a stamp about three months ago that looked like Delilah is a Christmas setting. It also had a dog that looked like a lab and an bulldog. I have friends with both, so I jumped on the Christmas Dog Cube. Of course when I saw a super cute trio of dog Christmas ribbon, I knew I found a match for the stamps. The ribbon is the same brand as the penguins a few posts below. If only there was more theme ribbon that match my stamps. Anyway, I stamped, colored, cut, embossed with iridescent ice, embossed with the cuttlebug, layered, and tied. I think I like the results.

There is the full set.

Here are is a a shot with the three ribbons on the Delilah stamp.

Here is the close up.

I also made one with the bulldog colored like my friends dog Cookie. I think he will like it.

I made another for a family I know that currently has a white bulldog and two black labs all under one roof. I thought this was appropriate for their card.

All in all, it is a dog gone good set. Forgive the pun :)

Happy cards for good reasons

2007-12-06T19:56:00.000-08:00

I totally forgot about a friends birthday. I stamp with his wife, so a store bought card is not an option. Also today, I found out that Delilah's dog sitter was at the top of her college math class. I am so proud of her. That girl has done a great job. She also makes my life so much better. I love knowing that Delilah gets to go out during the day. Yep, Sarah makes our life great.

Here are the two cards:

The birthday card is stamped with my Gina K birthday cake. It is layered with textured card stock and some designer paper. Both were run through the cuttlebug. I colored the cake with bold brights and added some stickles on the candles and icing. The wish big is from a new set I got from stampin up. I attached it with a cute piece of swirly hardware.

Sarah's card has this happy frog jumping and raising one finger. I have smiled for months when I saw this stamp. He was on sale last weekend and hopped right in the basket. What was I to do? A few brads and some designer paper and this one was quick. I think she will like it though. I will have it out for her when she comes to see Delilah tomorrow.

Have a great day!!!!

Snowball surprise!!

2007-12-04T19:15:00.000-08:00

Warning: If you are not a dog person and/or think dog people are crazy do not continue to read. If you love dogs and dog stories, read on.

I went out to get the mail and there was a Amazon.com box on the doorstep addressed to Delilah. We opened it to find a gift from her best friends Bruno and Jazzy. To appreciate how much the three dogs like each other, you have to see them together. Here the three of them are.

I forgot how cute the picture of the three of them were their last night playing. Here is one of Delilah and Bruno.

Here is Delilah and Jazzy.

Anyway, her friends moved to Toronto. They sent her an early Christmas present. It is a doggie snowball. She loves it. I chronicled to gift giving. Unfortunately, the could not get her giant muppet dance running through the house chasing it. Here are some of the other pictures though.

Here is Delilah when she realized the present was for her. Look at that happy girl!

Here is Delilah taste testing it.

Here she is wondering why it is not moving. She had been rolling it all over the house.

Here she is glaring to tell me that we have taken enough pics and she wants to play fetch or at least her version of that.

Hope all your Christmas gifts make you as happy as this one made her.

Thanks Cynthia! You made our day. Give Bruno and Jazzy hugs from us. (You can tell Cooper and Peter thanks too!)

I forgot the best part of my night

2007-12-03T20:53:00.001-08:00

OK, the cards were great, but do you know what is better than making cards? Making cards and watching a Charlie Brown Christmas. I LOVE that show! I had the CD with the music in my car for six months last year. That song with all the kids dancing makes me happy. Oh, and the song where snoopy dances. That is happy music. It made a long day at school all better. Now, I am just mellowing out with the dog and getting ready for some sleep.

I have some new traffic here. On splitcoaststampers, there is a group of bloggin buddies. I joined the group to get some feedback and share my cards. It seems like some really neat ladies. I am glad to have found their blogs for inspiration. They are listed now under the banner for the group on the right side of my page. Welcome ladies. It will be fun to get to know you and see your work.

Have a good day!

A coold dozen

2007-12-03T19:56:00.000-08:00

I was roaming through Michaels the other day and saw this set of ribbon for $1.99. It was the super cute penguins. I also have is great penguin stamp I bought a while back. Of course, I realized that I needed the ribbon to go with the stamp. Now, I had no idea what to do with them. Today while giving an exam, I pondered the cards. It hit me. Snow! Penguins like snow. I ran some vellum through my cuttlebug. I added some layers, and colored the penguins. I did not realize the ribbon was so short, so I modified the bows a little. I really like it better though. Add that it was faster, and it was a bonus.

Here is the whole set:

Here is a closer look at the three ribbons:

Here is a close up of one of the cards.

I hope you like them. They were really fun!!!!

Have a great day!

First batch done!!!!

2007-12-02T20:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I was determined my first batch of Christmas cards would be done tonight. Here they are. There is a post from about a month or two ago with the initial layout that links to the card that inspired them on splitcoast. I made 32 of them. As you can see from the picture of all of the cards, I still have two sheets of the paper I used for the main images. I ran out of ribbon though. I found some thing close at Michaels, so I might make another 16 with the new ribbon since I have all the dimensions. This gives me the freedom to make what I like for the other Christmas cards I will send. I do love these though. They are on vanilla paper with gold cardstock. The snowflakes are stampin up and embossed with a mixture of gold powder and iridescent ice. There are some plain iridescent ice snowflakes too to fill in spots. I thought these would be quick and easy until I started mass producing them. It was not bad, but a lot of steps since it was embossed twice and all the small snowflake pieces are on dimensionals. Oh well, it is still better than the cards I made last year. I mass produced cards with origami Christmas trees then stamped and spounged multiple layers of paper. I have got to find someone that still has one to take a picture. They were amazing but time consuming.

Enough of that, check out these!!! Here is the group shot.

Here is another shot with the color altered some.

Here is a closer look and a shot of the Peace on Earth stamp inside.

Here is a picture of Delilah because she was standing there watching me take picture of the cards.

Hope you have a great day.

Stinky pup

2007-11-26T20:17:00.000-08:00

I picked up a stinky but happy dog today. She was covered in dirt but as happy as a dog could be. She ran and played a lot from what the kennel said. She was pretty much brown when I got her home. She played in the rain and that helped some :) Here area few shots of the sleepy but happy Delilah. Glad she is home :)

Yep, it is good to be back to just me and the dog. It was too quiet and still with just me here.

Love my new toy

2007-11-25T20:12:00.001-08:00

I realized tonight that I have a birthday card that has to go out in the morning. I traveled yesterday so I felt lupusy. It had to be quick. God Bless the Cuttlebug. Two papers through it and two quick stamps and I have a pretty card for a man. Happy day! I think Terry will love it. I am so glad I broke down and bought that machine. I am also happy the crank turns easily so it does not hurt my hands.

Off to bed. Delilah has been at dog camp (AKA the kennel) for 10 days. I miss her. It is so loney in the house without her. I keep looking for her when I come into a room and listening for her in the morning. I will retrieve her tomorrow though. Of course she will have to stay in her crate right away for work, but that is better than the kennel. I cannot wait to see her. I am sure you will see doodle pictures tomorrow.

Happy days!

More mom and me cards

2007-11-24T19:53:00.000-08:00

While Dad played golf, Mom and I made a few more cards. I am not in love with one of the sets I made, but we had fun. My loves her new eyelet setter. A whole world of possibilities. It was a good visit. I am back home now and looking forward to the next visit.

Here is a look at the cards.

These are Mom's. I like the flower card a lot.

This one is where she embraced the eyelets :)

Here are two of her other ones.

Here is a set I made with some of Mom's new paper. I am not sure if I like them or not.

Here are some with my new Gina K stamps with the super cute fish. They are so fun. It did not occur to me until Mom pointed it out that the fish should be on the bottom on bird on the bottom. Oh well, it was fun. I bought her some glitter glue and we tried it out. It was fun.

The other one is embossed with some holographic powder. It was really sparkly and fun.

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving week too!!

Mom and me day

2007-11-21T18:51:00.001-08:00

I am visiting my parents for Thanksgiving. Mom and I worked hard today to get pies made and other prep for Thanksgiving done early so we could make some cards this afternoon. I brought home some of my new Gina K stamps for us to play with. We have several birthdays this time of year, so we made lots of cards. Here is the result of the work.

These are Mom's.

These are mine.

Mom was a little hesitant to let me post her cards, but look at them up close. They are so pretty. She always picks such pretty paper and pays real attention to the details. I love them.

Here is the one for my brother's birthday.

Here is the one she made for my sister-in-law's birthday.

Here is the one for my niece. She is going to be 16 next month. That is crazy! The card is so pretty for a girl.

Here are mine. The first is for my brother's birthday. I love this new Gina K stamp set. The pig is too cute.

This one is Gina K's wishing well set to benefit the Make A Wish Foundation. I used some designer paper then did some sponging to cover up the smearing.

These are part of my series of cards for my friend that had surgery. This little rat doctor and bunny is too cute. Can you believe I found it in the clearance bin for under a $1.50? That rocks.

The octopus is a nice way to remind them that I am happy to lend a hand.

Finally, this little kitty is just a cute happy card for them.

It was so much fun to get to stamp with my mom today. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Maybe it is just dog withdrawl but...

2007-11-16T18:54:00.000-08:00

I know I just might miss Delilah who is at "dog camp" tonight but have you seen cute overload today????? The eyes on that lab and the little fluffy pup a few pictures down eating rawhide. Those are some cute pictures!!

OK, enough rambling. I hope there are cute things everywhere you look today!

smore fall

2007-11-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

I was inspired by two things tonight. A cool new package of paper and a post with a card that looked like it had a smore on it :) Anyway, this is the combination of cards that came out.

First, the fall cards. I love the colors here. It turned out that the designer paper is really going to let me get some pretty cards made. It comes in a bunch of useful sizes all in nice pads. It should be fun. I decided to use the cuttlebug to add some dimension too. Stem silhouettes seemed to be a good set to use to prevent things from being too busy. I made one a thank you and one a happy birthday. I have a feeling I will make a few more of these in the next day or so. I really like them.

This thank you already has a home for a dinner I am going to tomorrow.

The birthday card is destined for one of the many Thanksgiving week birthdays in my world.

These next cards were inspired by another blog called stampin' space.
I made two cards because they were so fun.

I used the basic idea to make another in the long series of get well/thinking of you cards. Since I was sick last week, I slacked on the cards. I thought I would get back into it for a while. I thought putting "smore cards?" was a cute way to do that.

The other is a take on the holiday "Let it Snow" cards. I live in the south where it does not snow, so I decided that I would put "Let it Smore". My sister-in-law loves chocolate so I might send it to her. They are in the mid-west where fall is here, so she might find humor in it. (Unless it has started to snow by then.)

Hope you like them!

More wonders from Dee's House

2007-11-09T20:36:00.000-08:00

So tonight was stampin up club. Again, Dee and her daughter created a great experience. I even brought a friend who is an unexperienced stamper and she loved it. My demo's daughter is wise beyond her years and very talented. She is so good at getting a new stamper and any confused stamper through the meeting. It is a great group of people.

Anyway, on to the three killer projects. Here is the whole grouping.

The firs project was the blue card. I made mine a birthday because I have a couple of special people with Nov / Dec birthdays. We embossed white on a glossy paper and then did a marbling technique on top. A quick pass with the heat tool and it was an awesome card!!! She designed it to be Christmas, but let us make it a birthday if we wanted.

Next we made these ornament cards. I think Dee totally changed the card because she knew that I liked to aqua paint with embossing. Isn't it pretty??? I messed up a little, but I love the idea.

The last project was a paper star. She did this because one of the ladies was in love with these stars. I am glad. They were pretty cool, but I was beat. I named my Vernon for reasons I cannot explain. I think I will try it again sometime when I am more awake.

So, can you tell it was awesome? I did some shopping for stamping stuff for Christmas gifts. I was the hostess, so it was like buying something for me too. Oh, wait, I did use my credit for me :) Happy stamping dance for me.

On other news, Delilah got a haircut today. She has eyes again!!!! They are pretty sleepy though. A day at the doggie spa wears her out. Her are a couple of shots anyway.

In this one, it is clear she is not in the mood to pose for the pictures.

Have a good weekend. I hope there is more stamping to come!

Stamp a Stack Treasures

2007-11-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

My Stampin Up Demo rocks. She is a wonderful person and makes great projects for us. One of my favorite things to see in my email box is that she is having a Stamp A Stack. It makes me do the happy stamping dance every time. Saturday was the big day. It was a small but mighty group. Here are the treasures from the day.

First the group shot of all the cards. Aren't they pretty? I bring them home and spread them out to look at them. I always feel so accomplished.

Here are the individaul pairs. I love this marble effect that we did on these two with reinkers and alcholol. I had really thought about this set for Christmas. While I did not use it for my big set, I cannot wait to see who gets these two special ones. My bow tying is not a reflection on my demo. Any bow issues are my own :)

These two cards were fun. It never occurred to me to emboss on cards then water color. It is so much easier to keep the water color from bleeding and the cards look great! I will have to do that at home. My friend Christy suggested we make some thank yous. That was brilliant. These two are ready to go.

The day just kept getting better. I am in LOVE with these two cards. I don't know if I will give them both away, I love them so much. They are stamped then the whole image is embossed. They are amazing in person.

If these six were not enough, at the next table there were even more treasures to explore. This was fun. I have seen it on splitcoast but never tried it. We stamped on vellum then flipped it over and colored the back. My hands were hurting so my coloring is not the best. They are really cute. My super demo could tell my hands hurt so she punched the stars for me and I just got to assemble them. It was fun.

We also did these modified buckle cards. I picked Santa and the snowman to do. They are so cute. A little glitter and some coloring. It rocked!!!! I could have put something on the background of the cards, but I was a little tired and thought I would go with clean and simple.

So that is my stamp a stack day. Aren't you impressed? Don't you wish you had a demo that rocked as much as mine? It was a great way to spend the morning.

Sleepy weekend

2007-11-04T17:30:00.001-08:00

It was a lupus weekend here, so I basically slept. Delilah, being the great dog she is did the same. I cannot tell you how happy it made me that she picked her new bed to be her favorite spot. She is so cute cuddled up on the bed. It makes all the sewing trouble worth it! Here are some pics.

Preparing to nap.

Falling off the bed napping.

I wonder if she is looking at me under all that fluff?

Yep, that is one comfy dog.

Now that you have endured my doodle pics for the day, I should tell you that I went to a stamp a stack Saturday. It was fantastic. I only was awake for a few hours that day, I could not think of a better way to have spent the limited energy. I checked with my demo to see if I can post pics of the cards. They are great, but I was not sure of the protocol on posting cards I did not make all on my own. Stay tuned for more on those cards.

Tags, pockets, blessings and happiness

2007-11-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a good card making night. I was a little intimidated when I started. I had the daunting task of making a birthday card for my stampin' up demo. Even more daunting is the fact that I will give it to her at a Stamp-A-Stack where others are likely to see it. I did it though. Not only did I make one I liked, I made a second one for my friend that I have made all the get well cards for. He is doing better and this card is a nice way to count those blessings. Here they are.

Here is a closer look at the birthday card. It has two pockets. I cased it off of a card I saw on splitcoast. Mine is pretty different, but the layout is close. I really like it. It is Stampin' up designer paper, always artichoke (I think), bravo burgundy, and Sahara sand. Same inks, some eyelets, and twine. I did some sponging to distress the paper and tie it together. The stamps are stampin up too.

The second card is a set from the winter mini and more of the same papers and inks as above. It is a single pocket. Simple and very pretty. It is a nice way to my friends progress in recovering from surgery. I know they see each set forward as a blessing.

After two pretty cards with muted colors, I went bright, happy, and girlie for the third card. It is a thank you for my friend who sucked me into sewing classes and has loaned me her lovely as a tree set to make a ton of cards. She is the best as the card says. Since it does not have to be mailed, I decided to add some metal to it. I had the binder clips that matched perfectly. A little ribbon, some target dollar paper, cool caribbean paper, a bella, and some stickles and it was pure fun. I think she will like it. She has not see the bellas before so she will likely be borrowing them soon :)

Hope you have a great weekend!

Maybe it is just time for a change

2007-11-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

I decided that with Oct. over I would go back to black. Maybe I needed a change. Maybe I am grumpy because of my lupus flare. Luckily, I have Delilah to keep me company when I am home sick. God bless the dog!!! I feel a little bad canceling everything for a few days. My poor dog needed that haircut. Oh well, I love that scruffy puppy but hair can wait and work can be done online.

Hope you have a great day! More creativity to come.

Hang in there card

2007-10-31T17:05:00.001-07:00

Still making get well cards here. I took a break because I was not feeling well. I love this card though. It is a giraffe stamp that I bought for baby cards. However, I am in love with him so I made him a get well card. I paired it with this cute dollar stamp that says hang in there. The papers are old olive and one of the pinks from stampin up. I was too lazy to dig out brads, so I used stickles in the corners. The bow is some dollar ribbon I had. All in all, I like the way it came out. Simple and fun.

I hope you are well.

It is hard to say what the bigger accomplishment is....

2007-10-28T18:46:00.000-07:00

It really is hard to say what the bigger accomplishment is. Me making Delilah a bed, or me getting Delilah to actually get on the bed. In either case, both happened.

I am SO proud. I made this dog bed for Delilah. It was the second (and last) project from my sewing class. I was not able to get too much help because the class was only an hour and a half and in that time I could not even get that white cord all the way around the blue part. After several desperate calls to Mom and some real quality time with the seam ripper, it is done. Here it is.

The bed:

The dog by the bed:

The dog on the bed:

She actually dislikes the camera. That is part of the reason for the pitiful face. Of course once the camera battery died Delilah made her self comfortable and is sound asleep on the bed. More pictures of that later. I am so giddy!!!! Yeah that is right. Cheesy, but I made something and my favorite creature in the world likes it. Hooray!!!

It is almost begining to look a lot like Christmas

2007-10-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the night I was going to rock the Christmas cards. I started the process but got distracted. Here are the cards I have to show for the night.

The first are my real Christmas cards that I borrowed the pattern for from someone on splitcoast stampers. Here is the original card. Mine has a way to go, but here are the first three. I will start to mass produce them soon.

I got board pretty quick, so I took a challenge from a friend to use this really bright designer card stock. She was convinced it could not be used in anything that would look good. Well, the Christmas card went terribly wrong :) Here it is though. It makes me laugh. I tried to mute it with the chocolate chip base and the always artichoke version of the tree from lovely as a tree. I realized part way through that was hopeless, so I glittered it up with stickles and made a scalloped edge on the pink. It is now going to be a get well card for my friend in the hospital. I know he needs a laugh. I will tell him it is a Christmas Card gone bad. I am sure he and his wife will be happy I am smart enough to realize not to mass produce this one.

I was determined that this paper could make a cute card. I made a quick I miss you card for one of my favorite people in the WHOLE world who moved to Toronto. Sort of appropriate since Bellas are from Toronto. Hopefully she will like it when it makes it way up there.

There has been a real lack of cards for a few days since I have been working on my big sewing project. Hopefully, I will be able to post that in the next few days.

Happy weekend!

Bellas are very fun to play with!!!!!

2007-10-21T19:17:00.000-07:00

Surfing the various stamping blogs I have seen lots of interesting stamps, but none have quite the flare and sassy feel that Bellas do. At first, I thought they would be hard to use and/or hard to find uses for. After a while, I realized I really liked them and I liked the fact that it was a small business owned by a woman who was passionate about her products and business. There was free shipping so I decided to see if they were as much fun as they looked. Here are my first cards with them. I have to say I was having a bad day and by the time I was done with these cards I was all smiles. They are fun stamps.

The first is a belated birthday card. I like the stickles on the balloons. In terms they are really 3-D and cool. I also like the way the bella came out. I probably would note punch the flowers on the blue again, but all in all it is pretty cute.

The second card is for the girl that watches my dog for me. Sarah is all girlie girl. I think she will like it. It is a simple card with just a little paper piercing and some glitter. I still like it. I will probably use water color pencils next time to keep the detail in the stamp, especially in the stripes on the pants. Still it is a happy card.

The last is yet other thinking of you card for my friend that had heart surgery. At least the sending happy thoughts is a decent sentiment. I might have to put a note in this one to note that it is not your normal get well card for a 76 year old man, but I really wanted to use the stamps and clearly the girl in the ball gown would not be right :)

Hope you like these!

An array of cards

2007-10-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well, tonight I am beat. School was tough today and I was tired when I started. I needed to make another couple of cards in my get well series for my friend Chuck. I know this week will be hectic. I also needed to make a birthday card for my friend Freddie who has a birthday tomorrow. That women LOVES birthdays and coffee. What better to use than Stampin Ups Treat Yourself Set for her. I thought I would use a little Cool Caribean and Chocolate Chip combo. I also added some Real Red and Pallet Gray for the steam and some of the words. It is a cute slider card so the steam rises up from the mug. I put a Happy Birthday inside in red.

While that set and those colors were out, I decided a little popcorn action would make a cute get well / thinking of you card. I like it. Basically the same stuff as above with a little Marigold Morning for the pop corn. Both cards have some stickles for fun. I love that stuff. Glitter made clean. God Bless the person that made Stickles!!!!

The last two cards are ones from my stash. The first is a monochromatic card with Brocade Basics. A little paper piercing and some dimensionals and this one was done. I love the cherish stamp in that set for so many things. However, in this case, when I know he and his wife are really cherishing life now, it seemed really nice.

The last card is a fun one. I used tag punches to make the pinwheel out of designer paper. I am a fan of the burgundy paper and ink too. I also love the swirly background stamp but cannot remember the name. I am too lazy to go look :) The tag is stamped with Happy Harmony's thank you stamp. I know that for me, being thankful during a long illness is hard. I figured that a gentle reminder of thankfulness would be good as well as my thankfulness he is doing better.

I hope you like the collection. I figured I needed to get a pile ready for the mail each day this week.

Have a wonderful day!

My first project on my own

2007-10-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

Today I decided it was time to make my first sewing project on my own. After a few calls to Mom, and some improvising, I finally finished here it is ........

Yeah, I know the picture is bad but it looks like a little blanket. That's right. It took most of the day to sew that. But it is more than you know. There is batting in there people.

So, when I started the process, I thought it was going to be a much bigger blanket. Based on the pattern, I thought it was going to be about a yard and 7/8 on the top and bottom. Nope. It is much smaller. However, I learned a lot and now can put together something bigger someday. (I hope).

Well, of course this was for Delilah. Clearly it will not cover the furniture when she lays on it, but I thought she would like it anyway.

She did not look impressed. I told her it was her treat. Below is her reaction to the word treat. She was a little annoyed when there was no snack for her.

However, all the excitement did make her sleepy.

Hope you had a good day!

A strange trio of get well/thinking of you cards

2007-10-11T19:38:00.000-07:00

Still trying to keep going with a card a day for my friend in the hospital. I realized that with no mail on Sundays, I needed to add a card or two to the stack to go out in the morning. I admit that get well cards and masculine cards are hard for me. Combining them has really made me stretch a little in the last few days. It has been good though. So, here is the set of three. How is that for diversity????

You will notice that I cased myself with the Believe card. It is the same card as in prior post. I made if for a Confirmation Card for my niece. I was thinking of the faith of this couple I am making the cards for and how much they appreciate the prayers of others. I thought it was important to celebrate that beautiful faith, so that card seemed appropriate. It also let me put off making a masculine card for a few minutes :)

Next, I took out the Lovely as a Tree set that I borrowed one more time. I stamped some of the small leaf in chocolate chip on the natural colored card. I then sponged chocolate chip, green, and mustard over the card to create a weathered textured look. I put the green on next with the little pine cone/branch stamp in green chalk ink. It all looked a little bright so I sponged it with brown and added the brown eyelets. I distressed the long edges too.

The next layers are some mustard designer paper I had and some misc red. I stamped the green tree in a green liquid chalk ink and used my white gel pen for snow. I never did that before, but I like it. More chocolate chip sponging. The red is on dimensionals and the twine is tied around.

I like the card. I really took some time to make it work. Normally, I would have either dumped it half way through or just went with what I had and coped. I guess I am learning something with practice.

The last card is just happy and bright. I guess I needed to balance the other two cards somehow. I love this little ghost stamp and only use him a few weeks out of the year. There was a challenge a few weeks ago where you were supposed to use Halloween stamps in a different way. That was my inspiration for this "Hi" card.

Well, I am getting that look from Delilah that says stop blogging and pet me. With that face, I cannot resist.

Happy day to you all!

Pink with a twist -- Part 2

2007-10-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks to some good friends, I found out that the comment function has been fickle in letting comments go through. I decided rather than continue to collect comments on the pink with a twist thread, I was going to just celebrate all the women dealing with breast cancer and lupus by making the donations to both organization. I will send $100 to each in honor of all those women and their families that we know dealing with these illnesses.

Lovely as a tree and natural beauty

2007-10-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a REALLY long day and a I was cranky. I decided to stamp a card for my friend in the hospital. I was looking for some inspiration so I surfed onto Splitcoast stampers and decided to use the sketch challenge for a layout. I think I like this card. The base is chocolate chip. The patterned paper and the green color are a sheet of two-sided designer paper. The mustard is from a packet I picked up at Target. The leaf is from stampin up's lovely as a tree and the background on the mustard is from stampin up's natural beauty. It is hard to see, but the yellow and green sheets have been sponged with chocolate chip to create some depth and I punched the edges of several sheets for a little added detail. The right sides of the card are distressed.

These are the two sets of thank you notes that I mentioned a few days ago. They are simple cards for my friends that will need so many thank you cards since they will need to send out a bunch to thank all those helping them and praying for them. I hope to make another set or two in the next few days. The top set says "Thank Heaven for Friends Like You" inside. It is Lovely as a Tree of course for the stamps. The bottom set has the oak from Lovely as a Tree in Chocolate Chip (can you tell I bought a whole pack of that :) ). There is just a simple thank you stamped at the bottom. I wanted them to have options on how much space they had inside to write or not have to write.

The last pictures are of Delilah because, of course, this is about me and the dog.

Off to play!

Odd get well cards

2007-10-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well a dear friend of mine had quadruple bypass surgery Monday. Thank God he is alive and doing well (all things considered). Due to the risk of infection, the family has asked that people not visit. They will take him cards though. I thought I would make a couple. I sat down with the intent of making a pretty and thoughtful card. They I thought, "He is going to get a ton of pretty sappy cards. I want him to smile." I went through my stamping treasures and found my happiest stamp, which just happens to be these penguins. I thought I would bust out my snowflake punch to add to the card (mainly because I would have had to walk down stairs to get my snowflake stamps for the background). Then I thought, it needs something to make it pop. I remembered I had a bottle of stickles I have never opened. I managed to get the bottle open and stickles flowing (which was quite the task). Well these things rock. Shiny, happy, texture, way cool!!!. Here is the card. I wonder what they will think when they open it. It is not a typical "Get Well, Thinking of You, Praying for You" card. I just wanted to make sure they smiled. It makes me smile.

I was having stamping fun, so I made him a card from my dog too. I had not used this little dog stamp yet, but I had to buy it because it reminded me of Delilah. The "ruff day?" stamp from A Little Love at Stampin up rounded this out nicely. It is Marigold Morning (I miss that color) and Chocolate Chip. I put two of the dogs on dimensionals and put the other one flat and at an angle to make it more interesting. It is a little closer to a get well card. (I hope).

Thanks for looking.

Delilah and her hair saga

2007-10-08T19:54:00.001-07:00

Today was a tough day at work. I made some great thank notes for a dear friend and his wife last night. He had quadruple bypass surgery today. Thank God it went fine. Now if he can move through the recovery. They have had so many people doing so much already, his wife is overwhelmed. She said she did not think she would ever be able to thank everyone. I thought I would help by making the thank you notes. I wanted to make another set and put on stamps and return addresses tonight, but no energy. There is always tomorrow.

Anyway, I did feel like blogging a little. I found the inspiration. There was a great card on Inky Paws in the post Doggie Kisses. Here is the link.

It completely reminded me of Delilah before her haircut. I know, you are thinking that is a sheep dog and Delilah is a Goldendoodle. Well, you are seeing the well groomed doodle on the right of the page. Here is shaggy Delilah before her last haircut.

Wasn't she cute all fluffy?

Well maybe scruffy is better.

Either way she was cuddly.

Did I mention that was the tragic haircut? She had been at the kennel and got a little matted. Here is the result of the haircut. God love the groomer, he tried to make her cut. She was not amused. It took me forever to get her out of her crate where she went to pout.

She clearly was not a happy camper.

I hope you have a good day, even if it is a bad hair day.

Pink with a twist--

2007-10-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

I was surfing some stamping blogs today and saw that some of the ladies were not only turning their websites pink for October, but were going to donate money based on web traffic. What a great idea. I think I will do the same with a small twist.

For each comment on this post, I will donate 50 cents to the Susan G. Komen fund and 50 cents to the Lupus Foundation of America. I will donate up to a $100 to each foundation. Why split the money? What is lupus? Both good questions. You see, I have lupus. It is an autoimmune disease that impacts an estimated 1.5 - 2 million people, over 90 percent of which are women. The experts don't yet have a known cause or cure for lupus. It is often hard to diagnose, so the number of women that have lupus may be underestimated. While lupus can be deadly, it also can be treatable in many cases. Unfortunately, the road to diagnosis can be long and frustrating. Many people have significant organ damage before doctors figure out what is happening.

Here is a list of symptoms that is published by the Lupus Foundation of America.

"Although lupus can affect any part of the body, most people experience symptoms in only a few organs. The most common symptoms of people with lupus are listed below. Occurrences of particular symptoms happening are listed as percentages.

Achy joints / arthralgia (95 percent)
Fever of more than 100 degrees F / 38 degrees C (90 percent)
Arthritis / swollen joints (90 percent)
Prolonged or extreme fatigue (81 percent)
Skin Rashes (74 percent)
Anemia (71 percent)
Kidney Involvement (50 percent)
Pain in the chest on deep breathing / pleurisy (45 percent)
Butterfly-shaped rash across the cheeks and nose (42 percent)
Sun or light sensitivity / photosensitivity (30 percent)
Hair loss (27 percent)
Abnormal blood clotting problems (20 percent)
Raynaud's phenomenon / fingers turning white and/or blue in the cold (17 percent)
Seizures (15 percent)
Mouth or nose ulcers (12 percent)"

I am lucky, my lupus has been annoying. While I have ended up in bed many days, for the most part, lupus has left my organs alone. Hopefully, we will see a cure for lupus in my lifetime. Thanks for helping fight two illnesses that are a constant battle for millions of women.

Here is a card a made a while back that seems to fit this post. One of the traits of lupus above is a butterfly rash. As a result, butterflies are often associated with lupus. This one just happens to be pink.

These two cards were made for two women I know that are currently battling lupus.

Hopefully we will all see a day when people no longer have to raise money to find cures and they can spend all their money on stamping :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Pick for October

2007-10-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

It seems there is a movement on the internet to have blogs go pink in October. Here is the site coordinating that movement. It is a novel idea, so I thought I would make the change. I might even keep it for a while. The pink is pretty cute.

So now you know the reason for the change.

I hope you have a great day. Let's hope that by next October there is no need to go pink. God bless the work of those trying to find a cure for all diseases.

The new machine

2007-10-06T18:04:00.001-07:00

So, after I went to sewing class, I thought, "Hey, I could do this." I came home and made a list of things I would actually sew:

I could fix the hems in my pants.
Finally replace my curtains.
Make happy accent pillows.
Treasures for the dog.
A blanket for where Delilah sleeps on my bed.

OK, so the point is I could buy all this stuff and move on or I could spend the money on a sewing machine. The people where my class was showed me their machines. They were expensive. I pondered. I surfed the net. I found a sale. God Bless Amazon.

Well, today it came. My new, highly discounted sewing machine. Of course, I could not leave it in the box, so I went out and bought a couple fabric straps and spent the afternoon working through the owners manual. Yep, I can work it. It is pretty fun. Now, of course after a few hours, I got board. I really needed something to make for there to be a point. For now I have it set up in the living room so I can watch TV while I play. I will find it a better home after sewing class later this week.

Of course that means that my good intentions of starting Christmas Cards today are shot. I think I will go play with stamping stuff for a little while though. A good way to unwind before bedtime.

Happy Saturday!

Fish out of water......

2007-10-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

So today was a big day. I went to my first sewing class EVER. Now the real odd part of this is that I don't own a sewing machine, but a friend asked and I thought "Why not!!!" Anyway, today we learned to measure and cut out our pattern. So far so good. Next week we get to sew. So tonight, I went online and surfed for a machine. I found a really nifty one that was 56% off with FREE shipping. Happy dance for me!!!

I am pretty excited about learning a new project. Now I have to decide what I am going to make for my second project once we finish our skirts. I am thinking that I should make something for the house or dog because I don't know that I am confident enough to wear what I make. I know, silly but true.

Anyone know some good doggie patterns????

Have a great day. More cards and stories about the dog to come.

Delilah is a dog and a pretty card too.

2007-09-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

So those are clearly unrelated thing. First, the dog breakthrough. Delilah is more of a muppet than dog some days. She has never liked wind in her hair when we are driving. That is a big issue when the top is down on the car. She just crams her head down between the seats when we drive. Cute, but that cannot be comfortable :) Anyway, tonight, she stood up and put her head out the side of the car with her face in the wind. She had a big dog smile and was wagging her tail. She rode like that for about 30 seconds. Go Delilah!!!!

Anyway, it is the little victories in life that matter!

The other big task for me this weekend was making 4 cards for my nieces and nephew. I am sending some belated gifts and two gifts that are on time. The bottom line is that there is a gift for each of them, which you know is important. Anyway, some of the cards were super cute. One is for my nieces confirmation (very late gift). I really like the way it came out. It has layers of torn paper and is topped with velum. I always have trouble with the velum. I can never figure out how to attach it so you don't see the adhesive. I decided I would tie it to the decorative paper with ribbon. It turned out great.

The other card was for my little niece. I just really like the watercoloring on the bears. I am still learning, but it is fun.

The other two cards are not spectacular. However, those two will have the card tossed on the floor looking for the gift, so it is not a big deal :)

Well, that is it for now. Of to praise Delilah for being a dog. Of course now, she is growling at my bed, but that is a story for another entry.

Have a great day!

Highlights of the week

2007-09-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

I figured that I better post something. I have been sick and resting A LOT. This week had some good things though. A friend of mine made the whole world better sending me these yummy soup mixes. They ROCK! I had part of the first one last night and will have more tonight. Happy dance for me. I also made by first postings to my card gallery. (Cynthia, if you are reading don't look. I have to mail your card and a picture of it is up. Now you will look for sure if you are reading.) Anyway, here is a link to my little gallery of cards.

I also finished some of the touches to my new crafting space. It is great having the space to store things and keep some of my favorite cards out.

As strange as it sounds for those that know me, having the stamping clutter out of my kitchen ROCKS!!!

Of course this would not be all about the dog if Delilah did not get a picture in here. Her hair is growing back after that tragic haircut.

Hope you have a great day!!! Of to make a birthday card for my little niece!!!

The first post looked so sad there all alone

2007-09-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

I thought it needed a friend. So, what else to share. I was inspired to start blogging by the ladies on SplitCoast Stampers. Many of those ladies blog every day with AMAZING stamping creations. Do I think I will do that? Nope. I may get to the point where I post some of the treasures that I make, but don't get to excited about that. Remember, this is me and dog.

Speaking of the dog, she is currently sleeping at my feet. She is a little ticked that we did not go for a walk tonight so she is pouting. Poor dog. A good tummy rub should make it all better.

Have a great day!

My first post

2007-09-16T16:28:00.000-07:00

So, I have been reading blogs and discussion boards for years and decided that I should have a blog too. What will I type? Who knows! Be sure there will be random ramblings from me and dog. Well, she does not have thumbs, so maybe just me for now :)

Hope you have a good day!