Monday, February 25

Sympathy Card

One of my dear friends lost her brother last week. This is the card I made.

My friends favorite color is purple, so I started with a Lovely Lilac base. I didn't have any 'sympathy' sentiments so I picked up the "Our caring thoughts..." by Hero Arts at a JoAnn's. I stamped the sentiment in Lovely Lilac craft ink and embossed with clear powder. I used the Stylized Flowers Cuttlebug embossing folder for the background and then my sponge daubers and Almost Amethyst and Certainly Celery ink to enhance the dry embossing. I finished the card with a simple ribbon knot. Making sympathy cards makes me sad.

Friday, February 22

Tea anyone?


A group of us from the local Mom's group took our daughters to a new tea shoppe in our downtown square. Alice's Tea Shoppe opened in November and it is absolutely wonderful.
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All of the girls got dressed up for the occassion. Here's a picture I took of Micaela with my phone, (the battery in my camera died).
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Alice's Tea Shoppe serves wonderful food, check out their menu and visit if you're in the area, tell Cindy-the owner I sent you.

Sweet of you card...

This is one of the cards we made at Stamp Club this month. I have new clubs forming next month, please email me if you are interested.

I did not have large brads that matched so I painted some yellow ones to match by smooching them into my Pink Passion craft pad, dipping in clear embossing powder and heating with my heat gun. I did two coats to get the color just right.

Paper: Gable Green, Pixie Pink and White card Stock
Stamps: So Many Scallops (Sale-A-Bration) and Polka Dot Background
Other: Certainly Celery Wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Mat Pack, Piercer and Dimensionals.

A baby will be landing soon....

No, WE are not expecting. My friend Rhonda is....

Rhonda and her husband are expecting a baby in May. We are so excited for them! Rhonda joined the AMA club with me and a bunch of my other girlfriends. AMA stands for Advanced Maternal Age... that is what my OB told me I was because I was over 35 years old and expecting our first baby! I was the first one in our 'group' to be labeled AMA but since then, several other friends have joined me. We support each other through all the trials and tribulations of being 'older' mothers. For example, I know I am not alone when I take Micaela somewhere and I find I am the oldest mother in the bunch. I always know I am older but when some of the other Moms mention they graduated from high school in 2000 and waited to have children, I cringe because. I was well out of college and had been climbing the coporate ladder for nearly 10 years in 2000.

Anyway, Some college friends and I are hosting a baby shower and I am responsible for the invitiations. At first, (sonogram #1) they were told the baby was going to be a boy so I stocked up on a bunch of Ballet Blue card stock and started hunting around for the retired "Toy Box" stamp set. I knew I wanted to use the airplane from the set for the invitations because Rhonda's husband is a pilot for a major airline. (I don't have anything boyish- ya know). Well, at the second sonogram in January, they were told the baby 'might' be a girl. Whoa, we are elated but I had stop the presses.. didn't want to use Ballet Blue if she was having a girl!

Luckily, Rhonda was able to have a third sonogram in early February. She called on her way out of the doctors office and confirmed the baby was definitely a girl. I had everything planned out and was able to start cutting, scoring, stamping and printing immediately, the shower is on March 1st so I had to get the invitations out in the mail quickly.

I decided to keep the airplane in honor of the new Daddy. Instead of the Ballet Blue, Creamy Caramel and Vanilla color scheme I decided to go with Barely Banana, Regal Rose and Certainly Celery instead. I used a double sided 12x12 designer paper by American Crafts called "Pat-A-Cake", it is Barely Banana on one side and multi color pastel dots on the opposite side.

The invitation is a modified Cami Trifold. Here it is as you open it.
And here it is completely open.



The airplane on the cover was stamped in Certainly Celery Craft ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I used blender pens to color the airplane in Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery. The wheels were done in Creamy Caramel and the windshield in Barely Banana. I 'shaded' around the plain with my Aqua Pen and some Bashful Blue ink to simulate a cloud. I used the fine tip of the Regal Rose marker to dot a flight pattern.
I printed most of the text on the computer. It was very tricky to get everything to print right, I used some desktop publishing software to help me but it was still a challenge. I had to stand on my head and single feed each page into the printer twice to get it to print right. Don't you just hate tempermental printers? I think it was worth it because I have gotten some wonderful feedback from the guests.


I Cuttlebugged the back with the "Created for you with love" embossing folder from the To/From set. (I think I am hooked on that one little embossing folder.

I am planning on making coordinating favors and a few other things. Look for more matching items by March 1st, the day of the shower. Thanks for stopping by...

Paper: American Crafts "Pat-A-Cake", Whisper White, Certainly Celery and Regal Rose card stocks from SU
Stamps: Airplain from "Toy Box" stamp set
Other: SU Scalloped Circle Punch
Font: Crazy Girlz Blond BTN

My family is growing....

Please help me welcome Sarah Dedmon and Jennifer Meredith my Stampin' Up! family. Both ladies are planning to be hobby demonstrators, welcome aboard!

Thursday, February 21

RAK for Micaela

Micaela got some mail last week, a little valentine from my friend Rhonda who is a former demo. Micaela was thrilled to get some mail, thanks Rhonda!

Wednesday, February 20

Card for a friend...

This is a card I made for a friend. I love Pink Passion, Gable Green and Black together. I made a similar card for swaps at convention last year. The flowers are from "Year After Year". I love the simplicity of this card... it's just layers, Basic Black ink, some ribbon, two markers and a single brad. I used the new French Dot Cuttlebug Embossing Folder for the background. I just love these dots, they remind me of Minky Dot fabric (which is something I have been looking at lately-- more on that in another post).
This card is heavy with five layers on the front plus the rhinestone brad and ribbon and two additional layers on the inside so it would probably take additional postage to mail it (I am sending it in a package so I will have the postal person weigh it and find out).


I love layers on the inside of cards, it was pretty necessary on this one because I also embossed on the back of the card. (otherwise the inside would be lumpy with the embossing on the flip side). The "created for you with love" sentiment is from the To/From Cuttlebug set. I love how it looks on the back of the card...
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Thanks for visiting and happy stamping....
MC2F

'Tis the season....


'Tis the season.... for Bridal Shows. Close your eyes and think of the wedding march.

I've been very busy with KA. I'm scheduled to be at a bridal show just about every weekend this spring! In the last couple of weeks I've done shows at Macy's and Dillard's. The Macy's one was huge with more than 400 brides in attendance, it was the largest show I had ever worked/attended. It was fun but very hectic and it took several days for my feet to recover!

This weekend I will be at The Great Bridal Expo at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Dallas. If you're getting married and in the area, please stop by!

Please join me....

Second Annual
Scrapbooking Retreat

Come spend 3 days scrapbooking & stamping with
me at the Creative Cottage in McKinney!

Invite a friend to come with you!

Mark your calendars
April 25-26-27
I have a few spots left
Check in
Friday, April 25th
at 12 noon

Depart
Sunday, April 27 by 6pm

$156.00 ($169.14 with tax)

Accommodations Snacks Meals included
(all money goes to Creative Cottage, I do not profit in any way)

Creative Cottage Retreat in McKinney

If you are interested please let me know.

Friday, February 1

Berry Bliss Love Book

Ta Da! It's done. I have been working on this book the last few days but it's been in my brain ever since I saw the Berry Bliss paper back in December. I have been wanting to do one of these Word Books for a while and finally I was able to put it all together-- the right season, right paper, and book.
This was alot of fun to put together and it came together quickly. I will be offering this as a class on Feb 7, 13 or 21 @ 7pm. If these dates don't work for you, please let me know and we'll work something out.

Cost of Class: $22.00
Kit Includes:
LOVE Chipboard Album by Bo Bunny
6 sheets of 12x12 Berry Bliss* Designer Paper
6 sheets of coordinating card stock
6 yards of assorted coordinating ribbon (gingham, wide & narrow grosgrain and double stitched
3 rings
Assorted chipboard (hearts, flowers, corners, etc)
Use my ink and stamps to personalize your book

*If Berry Bliss is not for you I am happy to substitute another SU Designer Paper, coordinating ribbon and card stock.


Bring:
Adhesive. (sticky strip or a glue stick for adhering the paper to chipboard)
Paper Snips
Basic Cutting Tools
Pictures

Reserve your spot today!