Blogging Break

Hello my crafty friends. I wanted to come on and let you know that I am taking a blogging break until after the holidays. I had plans to be back blogging sometime in Oct. but that is not going to happen. All is well though, so please don't think it's not. I did get the flu shot and got very sick from it. Took a week to get better from that! 

Anyway, I will be checking in on what you are doing when I have the chance, but probably won't comment right now. After the new year, I hope to be back at sharing and commenting. 

Wishing everyone has happy holidays and are blessed.  I will see you in the new year God willing!  

Crafty hugs,

Card Recipe:

Christmas Window

Hey crafty friends, happy Saturday to you all. If you are between Willington, NC all the way up to Boston, Mass, you are in the path of heavy rain and wind from the tropical storm. We still need rain, so we will take it. We have definitely hit fall with temperatures around my neck of the country. Today never even reached 60 degrees and it looks like next week will only be in the  low to mid 60's. It was hot for Labor Day weekend, and since then, we have went down to the 70's, 60's and 50's. Which the 70's are perfect, the 50's and 60's.....well they are great in the winter, but right now that is feeling a little cool. LOL Never happy am I?! I think winter will arrive early this year for us. Yuck! 

I have a simple Christmas card for you today. I made 8 of them using Katy Sue images. Love her images and thought I would try my hand at using some. She has some adorable snowman images as well, but I didn't get that book. Now, I'm sure I am not doing them justice like some people can!  But I am pleased with how these came out though. 

I started stenciling some "bricks" in different areas of my card base with DOI. Cut my image out the solid piece of the window die, then die cut the window out and it's "wooden" piece to lay on top. You can keep it plain or place this on top, I opted for the "wooden" piece. I popped the window up from the image so it looked a bit farther away from the window. On this one, I got my image up a little higher than I intended, but it is still a sweet scene as you are looking "through" the window. Very simple cards but the Katie Sue images really take it up a notch I think. 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what I've been up too. Not much crafty things happening, but now that the pool is closed up, I am hoping to have a bit more time to get crafty.  Yep, we were late closing the pool this year with all that was going on between Bret and the weather. 

If I haven't been by to see you, I will be soon. Until then, happy crafting!

Hugs, 

Card Recipe:

Katie Sue Greyscale Christmas Collection

Hero Arts Card Kit #MH0217 from years ago for the window

Distressed Oxides Fired Brick (I think)

A brick stencil, no name so I don't know who makes it. But it is a small brick pattern 

Kraft paper scraps for the "wood" on the window

Wedding Cards

Happy Monday my crafty friends, I hope you are all doing well. It's been a busy week this past week for me. I finally got my car back, Bret had it for a month. His car's water pump went out and the mechanic couldn't get to it right away. Then once he did get to it, they found out that his timing belts needs replacing as well. Last Tuesday he got it his car back and I got my car back. So I ran errands and did some eye testing to see if I can stay on my Lupus meds for another year,  and other errands. We had a family wedding on Saturday, the one I made the invites and such for. Last night and today, I've been paying the price of the stress of the wedding (stress put on myself, not by anyone else), the embarrassment of a young fella (19) singing an Elvis song to me at the wedding, and all the excitement of the day and I found myself sick all night last night and today. I've has it happen to me other times-like when I went to the Outer Banks with my brother and his family, and right here at home three times. Not really  sure what triggers this "sickness" but when it comes on and one had better be close by the bathroom when it does!  I didn't get the stinging palm rash this time though. So that was good. Lupus is such a fun friend to have. LOL Not really!

So I'm sharing wedding cards today.  I just made simple CAS wedding cards but am pleased with how they turned out. I hope the brides and grooms enjoy them as well but I'm sure they will enjoy that is inside them more!  

Used a Cardz TV sketch below to make this one. Made for a quick and easy card. But then all of them were quick and easy makes.

That's it for me today. Thanks for stopping by to visit and see what I've been up to. I know I'm behind once again with visiting you...nothing new there, but I hope to get caught back up this week as short lived as that seems to be. But it is fall or will be next weekend, then winter, so I will be hold up in the house a lot then and shouldn't get so far behind as much. 

Crafty hugs,

Card Recipe:

Card 1:

Tim Holtz Alterations Sizzix 3D embossing folder

Spellbinders Arches Dies

My Creative Time "Wishing You Both the Best" stamps and dies

foam tape

Ohuhu Alcohol markers

Card2:

SU Painted Texture 3D embossing folder

Spellbinder Jan. '23 Small Die of the Month "Sentimental Ampersand"

Cardstock snippets from the snippet drawers

Cricut Joy to cut the Mr., Mrs.

Card 3:

WR Dotted mini embossing folder

My Creative Time "Wishing You Both the Best" stamps and dies

foam tape

Cardz TV sketch #48

Thank You Cards

Hello my crafty friends, I hope you are enjoying your weekend and keeping cool. 

I needed a few thank you cards. One for some produce someone gave me from their garden and another one for the help a neighbor gave me when I got locked out of my house earlier in the week. That is quite the story! Long story short, Bret installed a smart lock when my regular lock broke. I thought I gave him fresh, new batteries....but nope, come to find out they were old used batteries. So I got locked out without my phone and Savannah was locked in. Didn't know anyone's phone numbers off the top of my head because who memorizes them anymore?! Had two neighbors helping me, one who tracked down Bret's number and one who drove me to Bret's place, only to find out he was at my house. Anyway, I paid my neighbor handsomely but wanted to also send a thank you card. Yes, I got back into the house thanks to Bret, he had the key and also replaced the batteries with nice new fresh ones! Lesson learned, get a key made to hide and I have memorized Bret's phone number. I had myself all worked up to say the least, took me a few days to recover from it!  LOL 

So here are my simple thank you cards. The first one is a CASE of Carol's patchwork cards. Love those and thought it would work great for a thank you too. I just cut out (guessing at sizes) my panels, then did a print then cut of the veggies with some extra's so I could layer it up. So the veggies were attached together before printing then cutting. I cut an extra cabbage and two zucchini's. Layered the cabbage on foam and attached to the group veggies, then added double layer of foam on the ends of the zucchini with one layer in the middle and placed on top of the cabbage. I forgot to get a side view of the dimension, but love how it came out. Cut out a "thanks" die and layered it up three times, glued it down and called it done. All snippets on this card but the card base and mat layer. 

This is the one for the neighbor, again a simple but effective thank you card I think. I cut some snippets into 1/4 inch stripes and layered them in rainbow order on my mat layer...yes, I forgot the purple! Duh to me!! But anyway, then die cut my heart out of the the panel. Popped the panel up, then double layered foam for the heart and placed it back in. Layered 3 "thanks" together and glued it down. Done.  I am happy with both cards and they were pretty quick to make which is always a plus. 

Thanks for taking the time to stop in to visit with me. I will be by to visit you as well! Enjoy the weekend! 

Crafty hugs,

Card Recipe:

card 1

snippets from the snippet drawer

Cricut & Cricut Design Space for my veggies

My Creative Time - Happy Thoughts stamps and dies

card 2

snippets from the snipped drawer

My Creative Time - Happy Thoughts stamps and dies

                                Stitched Sweetheart & XOXO dies

More Christmas Cards

Hello crafty friends, I hope your new week is off to a great start! 

I have made some more Christmas cards for my stash, although I've got a long way to go. This is a simple card, just stamped my image, rounded the edges over and glued on to an embossed layer. Before I embossed it with the embossing folder, I embossed my sentiments with gold embossing power. It was hard to get a good photo especially of the gold embossing. And that is it, told you it was a simple one! I made 8 of these for my stash.  

Thanks for taking time from your busy schedule to visit with me, your comments are always so sweet. If I haven't been by to see you and comment, I should be soon. 

Crafty hugs,

Card Recipe:

Maymay Made It stamp set - Just Believe

Wow - gold embossing powder

SU 3D textured embossing folder

Crafter's Companion box maker scoreboard - to make my rounded edges on the image strip

Onyx Black ink from Versafine

More Wedding Stuff

Hello crafty friends, I hope you all have had a nice weekend. My heart and prayers go out to those in Hawaii and Canada (and anywhere else) with the raging fires and now to CA with that awful hurricane. The weather is getting pretty scary to say the least! I hope you are safe where ever you are! 

I have done a little digging on the "malicious website" warning that I've been getting on some blogs. Please, if I've told you about me getting this warning for your website, watch this video. It is a safe video per Norton.

https://kinsta.com/blog/deceptive-site-ahead/

Now onto more crafty wedding stuff. I thought I was done, but guess not. The wedding couple came to me less than a month before the wedding to make these favors. I don't like doing things last minute, but here we are. What do you do but just make them, right?! She saw a Pinterest photo and sent it to me for what she wanted. I just designed in their theme. so definitely not my idea. I did 60 wedding favors and 40 thank you cards. I kept the thank you cards very basic and simple. They are much smaller than an A2 card because that is what the couple wanted, 5 x 3.5 when folded. Now, hopefully I am done with wedding stuff! 

Front

Back

I am behind with my commenting, but hopefully I will be by to catch up soon. As always, I sure appreciate when you stop by and visit with me. Hope the sun is shinning where you are and if you need rain, I hope you get a nice gentle soaking rain.  

Hugs,

Card Recipe:. 

Cricut

Cricut Design Space

Ivy file from Etsy

Happy Thoughts

Hello Crafty Friends, I feel like August is already zipping by me. Where did the summer go? I know many are ready for fall or winter, but I have to say that I am not. Summer didn't hit here until July, then it hit with a bang. I hope August stays hot here, more pool time. LOL Usually in August we start getting cooler nights, which in turn cools down the pool water. But we will see how it goes this year. Although, I do enjoy what I call "perfect temps" of fall, it is what follows next that I just don't love anymore. 

I have a simple card today. Mostly white on white with a touch of copper. I cut a hexagon out of a card panel, embossed a piece of scrap white paper and put that behind the panel, then popped the panel up on a copper mat.  Then I took two hexagons to make the fame out of the copper paper. Die cut my poppies and glued and popped them up on the front of the card. Added my sentiment and it was done.  I don't hate this card, but not sure if I really love it either. I think it will have to grow on me some. 

Thanks for stopping by to visit. Thank you for your sweet comments, they always make my day. I will be around to visit you all soon too if I haven't been by already. 

Crafty hugs,

Card Recipe:

We R Memory Keepers - Mini embossing folder "dots"

AliExpress - The poppies-I think

Sizzix - Hexagon Dies

CTMH - Sending Smiles

DCWV - Metallic Paper Pad 

Christmas Cards....finally!

Hello crafty friends, I was without internet for several days. Bret was trimming the bushes last Sunday and accidently cut into the internet cable. Oops! I'm back up and running now though, so all is good. Now I'm trying to play catch up, as you know I tend to get behind on my own without any help of losing Internet! 

Since I didn't have internet or TV, (I have YouTube TV) I decided to get a start on my Christmas cards....finally! Have a lot more to go obviously but at least I finally started. LOL I had colored 6 of these Penny Black Snowy the Snowman images eons ago and threw them in my leftover's box. Well, I thought it was high time to use them on a card! I dug into the backgrounds box and found smooshed backgrounds to match each of the snowman I colored, how fun that I had little pieces that matched each snowman! I am tickled pink on how these came out. I was inspired by Pinterest and this is my take on it. I let some of the scarves hang over and some not, all the pompoms hang out over though. Some different backgrounds as well. My panels are popped up from the background. I hope these bring a smile to your face like they did mine!

I tried catching up with my commenting yesterday after the service guy was here. So if I missed you, don't worry I will be by to visit! Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to with no Internet. It's amazing at what all you can actually get done when you aren't "wasting" time on the Internet. LOL But it is oh so fun to be on it, isn't it?! 

Crafty hugs,

Card Recipe:

Penny Black - Snowy the Snowman

My Creative Time - Stitched "Capture" Frame w/arrow die, Chalkboard Christmas (sentiment/Santa & reindeer)

CTMH - Frosted D1562

Maymay Made It - Fond Noel (pine boughs), Just Believe (sentiment), Ornamental Greetings (snowflakes)

Cardz TV - Merry Everything (sentiment)

Ohuhu Alcohol Markers

Distress Oxide smooshed backgrounds

Stampendous Frantage

Happy Wishes

Hello Crafty Friends, happy weekend to you! We have been hot, our heat index has reached 104 the past few days. Now I know that isn't as hot as some of you all, but it is plenty hot for me. LOL So I've been enjoying the pool. Had bad storms roll through yesterday, so today was spent cleaning up from that. 

My card for today is of course another birthday card. No surprise there, right?!  Just a little simple one, but I do love the way it came out. I stamped my "watercolor" background, then popped up my black eyed Susan's along with my die cut panel. Added my little lady bug and sentiment and it was done. All my coloring was done with alcohol markers. 

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up too in my neck of the woods. I should have been by to see you too, if I haven't been, I will be soon. 

Crafty hugs,

Card Recipe:

My Creative Time - Hey There Little Lady & Build a Scripty & Watercolor Background

CTMH - Sending Smiles

We Are Memory Keepers - Circle Dies

Ohuhu Alcohol Markers

Foam Tape

Versafine Onyx Black

Ink Swiping

Hello crafty friends, I hope your week is going well. All is week in my neck of the country.

I know you are probably tired of seeing birthday cards, but they fly out of this house faster than I can make them. So it's more birthday cards today. Lou Collins has videos of "5 Minute Makes" and I've watched a few of them. This is the one where this card idea came from. It is swiping ink across the paper using mini ink cubes. So I had a few Distress Inks ink cubes and used a few of them for my three cards today. I really like how they came out. Once again, still using up things out of my "leftover box", the flowers are the only thing I die cut for the cards. Once again, I used those gifted pre-made sentiments. The ink swipes on the first card were my best. But I couldn't waste the other ones, even though I didn't care for those swipes as much. And no,  your eyes aren't crooked, my swipes are crooked because I can't do anything straight anymore to save my life! LOL All in all though, I love the way these came out-simple little cards but fun and cheerful I think.   

Thanks for popping over to see what I've been up too. If I haven't been by to see what you have been up to, I will be shortly. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Crafty Hugs,

Card Recipe:

Distress Ink Cubes

SU - Forever Fern

My Creative Time - Flower Petal Dies

SSS - pre-printed sentiments

Enamel dots from my stash 

Sending Love

Hello Crafty Friends, I hope this Sunday finds you all well and staying cool. 

I have a card that never got posted. Not sure why I never posted it. Forgot about it I guess. It is a quite simple card cut on the Cricut and then dressed up with a stamp and sentiment dies. It goes all the way back to Valentine's Day. Yep, you heard that right! That's worse than the late Mother's Day card I posted. LOL Anyway, not much to this one at all. The pattern paper is by Cricut and is adhesive which I stuck to a pink card base. I was trying to mimic the flowers in the paper, didn't do such a great job of that, but I still like the flowers I used. Kept the coloring the same as the paper or tried too anyway. Added my sentiment and called it done. I actually cut this panel on my Cricut from the adhesive paper years ago and just never made it into a card. I guess I finally decided to get it out the leftover or unused box (whichever one wants to call it as it is both) and used it. It's a different card that is for sure, but I think I like it. For something different that is. 

Thank you for stopping by and seeing what I've been up too. It's always a pleasure reading your comments and of course I will be by to see what you've been up to as well. 

Crafty hugs,

Card Recipe:

Cricut/Cricut Design Space

Cricut Adhesive Paper - it came with my Cricut Joy years ago

Penny Black - Blooming Garden stamp set

Spellbinders - S5-443 Cursive Sentiments

Ohuhu Alcohol Markers

Another Birthday Card

Hello crafty friends, I hope your weekend has gone better than mine. Bret brought the pups over on Wednesday evening because he was going away for the weekend. He also installed a new smart door lock to my  back door. My old fashion lock broke and I couldn't lock up the house when I left. Anyway, he also brought the flu and gave it to me, which in turn has flared up my Lupus and Fibro. Talk about miserable and hurting all over! It's been rough going since Friday evening and I've got 3 dogs not happy with me because we aren't going out to play ball in the early morning before the heat gets to bad. Or in the evening. They will be going home on Monday evening and for the first time, I am ready for them to go because I feel so bad. 

I have a another birthday card today. Still simple but not as CAS as the previous ones. Again, using stuff from the "left over" box. Actually everything but the card base is from the "left over" box. I used alcohol markers to color the flower and leaves, the other leaves are die cut from vellum, a die cut stitched square from the "left over" box and that is it. 

Well that is it. I'm soon off to take my meds and head to bed for the evening. I'd like to just stay there! As soon as it is daylight, Maverick is waking me up wanting to get up. Savannah doesn't move a muscle until I put my glasses on, then she knows I'm getting up. Not Maverick! I will be getting around to visit during my "feel decent" part of the days. Not many of them, but hopefully soon I will be back to normal. 

Crafty hugs,

Card Recipe:

Stamping Up - Forever Fern, Bloom with Hope

SSS - Leaves stamp set (has flowers too, but I didn't use them) and the pre-printed sentiment

Ohuhu Alcohol Markers - I have the pastel set

Cricut Joy card base

Birthday Wishes and Butterfly Kisses

Hello Crafty Friends, welcome back. Are you ready for the weekend? Unless one goes to work each weekday, I guess everyday is a weekend. But for some reason, we look forward to the weekend. I do anyway. LOL 

I'm back with another CAS card, using up some of those smooshed backgrounds and left over bits and bobs from my "leftover's" box. I love the colors in this one, as well as the card before this one. I embossed my smooshed background with a mini embossing butterfly folder. Framed it, popped it up and added my images and a pre-made sentiment. 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what I am up to in my neck of the country/world. I will most definitely be by to visit you too!  I am dog sitting all the dogs as Bret is away. Fun times, a little bit of crazy times and to hot to let the dogs go out and play ball. And even though it is hot here (95 today with feels like temps close to 100, good pool weather)  I know there are some of y'all that are even hotter. Like AZ, I think they are predicting 118 for Phoenix, now that is hot!!! TX is in the 100's. So stay cool!

Crafty hugs, 

Card Recipe:

My Creative Time - Stitched Squares Inside and Out, butterfly 

Crafter's Companion - Butterfly mini embossing folder

SU - Forever Fern

Distress Oxides

SSS - pre-printed sentiments

Birthday Hugs

Hello crafty friends, hope everyone's Sunday is going well. 

Another birthday card for today, Sweet and simple. A DO smooshed background, a frame using stitched square dies, a SSS preprinted sentiments (a gift) and a leaf image that was in my leftover's box. Again, not much to this one, but pleased with it. As you can see by the shadow, the whole lot is popped up on the card base. And that it is, told you not much to this one.

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what I've been up too. It's always a pleasure to read your comments. I will be by to see what you have been up to as well soon. Enjoy summer, it is marching on way to fast for my liking! 

Crafty hugs,

Card Recipe:

My Creative Time -  Stitched Squares Inside & Out

SU - Forever Fern

SSS - Preprinted Sentiments

Distress Oxides

Foam Tape

Sweet Wishes Just for You!

Hello my crafty friends, I hope you had a safe and enjoyable 4th of July. 

I have a winner for the stamp set. Now, I put in you ladies that are in other countries because I knew going into this that those who comment are far away. So I already took that expense into account, so no worries there. So I wrote each name down in the order the comments came in and numbered them accordingly. Then used a number generator to pick a random number.  And the winner is:  Lynn!!! I have your address Lynn, so I will get this set out to you soon!

My card for today is a simple one, You will be seeing a lot of them coming up because I am trying to use the images up that I colored quite a while ago. This is the first one.  My image was colored with alcohol markers and then with colored pencils. I love these arch dies, but wish they were just a bit wider and shorter. The Distress Oxide inky background was done by smooshing inks and then I splattered. I also used embossing gel through a stencil and then dusted with mica powder before it dried. Added my sentiment, popped my panel up on foam  and was done. 

I have some commenting that needs to be done, I got behind a little as I was helping Bret paint a little and other things. But I should be by soon. Summer finally got here and the pool water has finally made it out of the 60's and 70's, so I will be taking advantage of that since I haven't yet been in it! So I will be by sometime soon. Thanks for stopping by and seeing what I've been up too, it's always a pleasure when you stop by!!

Crafty hugs, 

Card Recipe:

Heffy Doodle - Sweet Stuff for the macarons

My Creative Time - sentiment

Spellbinders - Essential Arch's

Embossing Gel

Arteza Mica Power - Rose Gold

Prisma Colored Pencils

Ohuhu Alcohol Markers

Distress Oxides

Foam Tape

Watercolor Paper

Versafine Black Onyx

A Lou Collins Mixed Media Case-sort of....

Hello crafty friends, I hope your weekend is off to a great start. We finally got some much needed rain. So happy about that.

I wanted to try a mixed media card following Lou Collin's tutorial and I needed a masculine birthday card. I'm not great with mixed media, but it sure was fun playing around and I'm pleased with my results for the most part. I'd tell how to make it, but most of you already know how most likely. Since I was hand delivering this card, I went ahead and used lots of foam tape. I should have used some white paint in my embossing paste, I didn't realize it was so transparent. I think I've only ever used it once and that was years and years ago. Thankfully it was still good, it just is hard to see in the photo. In real life, it shows up better. I do wish I would have left the sentiment all black, IRL it shows up better too.

I also have a giveaway that I'd like to send someone. I accidently bought two of these stamp sets, so please let me know if you would like to be entered into a drawing for this stamp set. It is a great stamp set for mixed media. I'd love to send it to someone if anyone wants it. This is what the stamp set looks like:

That's it from me, thanks for stopping by and seeing what I've been up to. I will be around to see you soon as well. 

Crafty hugs, 

Card Recipe:

2 Creative Memories Hexagon Punches-each punch has two different sizes of hexi's

Waffle Flower A2 dies to cut my panel down

Spellbinders s5-443 sentiment die set

My Creative Time Number Fun Dies & Add On, Type Background Stamp set

Maymay Made It Patina Stamp Set

Liquitext Flexible Modeling Paste-Gel medium from Hobby Lobby

Tim Holtz Mini Stencil THMS094

TH Stencil Burlap

Distress Oxides in Iced Spruce, Black Soot

Distress Inks in  Rusty Hinge, Dried Marigold

Hero Arts Ink in Black, Soft Granite

 

Gold and Silver gilding wax

Dollar Tree for the foam tape

Iridescent Watercolor Ink from an old Hero Art's Kit

Save the Date and Wedding Invites

Hello friends, I hope your weekend is going well! I want to wish all the men in your life a Happy Father's Day. I will be taking my step father out to eat. I had to laugh at him as when I asked him if he had any plans for Sunday and he said no, so I said that I wanted to take him out to eat. He said, "I will take you out instead!" I had to tell him it was Father's Day and I WAS taking him out. He is so funny. 

Anyway, Dwayne's cousin is getting married and I made their Save the Date cards, the Wedding Invite with the reply card as a gift to them. They wanted an ivy image on a cream background so this is what I came up with. So happy to have this job done as the groom was very picky about fonts! All was designed in my Cricut Design Space studio and then print and cut  out. I think they turned out well, but my photo's don't do them any justice. So they look better in person. I know the ivy looks faded in some areas, but that is the way it was design to look. The couple was happy with everything so I am too. All the Save the Dates went out in January and now the invites are all out as well. 

Thank you for stopping by to see what I've been up to and hopefully I've been by to see what you have been up to as well. If I haven't, I hope to be soon. 

Crafty Hugs,

Card Recipe:

Ivy from Etsy

Designed in Cricut Design Space

Print and Cut using the Cricut