Heartfelt Sympathy

I made this card a while back. The patterned paper and the River Rock cardstock (the card base) are now retired, but I thought you might like to know how I placed the flourish at the top of this card. This is a 3x6 card.


The flourish is from the stamp set "Baroque Motifs", which I stamped with Versamark ink on the card base and clear embossed it. I stamped the sympathy stamp from the "Close as a Memory" set in Always Artichoke ink. Then, after insuring the sentiment was dry and using my embossing buddy over the cardstock, I used my stampamajig to help place the same stamp onto the Summer Sun cardstock so that it lined up with the one on the base and again used the clear embossing technique.

The final touch is tying the Mellow Moss tafetta ribbon around the top of the patterned paper before adhering it to the card front.

Don't forget to leave a comment and have your name entered into my July 15th draw!

Pretty Cute in Pink

Here's a little baby card I made while just playing around with ideas. I got a baby card from my dear friend Melanie and really liked the layout so I thought I'd give it a try. This one has a few retired items on it. If you like those, I'm sure you could find a substitute.



The base is on Very Vanilla cardstock. I started with a basic 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" card and cut it with my Fiskars paper cutter to make the shape of the sleeves and the angle of the sides of the shirt. I then used my 1-3/8" circle punch to punch the neck hole and the leg holes. The scalloped edges around the neck and legs was made by first punching a 1-3/8" circle out of pink patterned paper (this is a retired paper), then placing the scalloped circle punch over the hole that I made and punched again, resulting in a scalloped circle with a 1-3/8" hole in the middle. The scalloped "donuts" were then trimmed to size and adhered using a small amount of my Tombow adhesive. The pink gingham ribbon (retired) was tied in a bow and adhered with a small amount of Tombow as well.

Tip: When using SU's Tombow adhesive, be sure to use a small amount so that it will not ooze out from under what you've glued down. This glue remains sticky even when dry If any is left exposed, it will be sticky and collect dust and dirt. Drying sticky is handy however, when making sticky notes or other items that you wish to be removable or repositioned.

The image (retired stamp set called "Punches Three") was first stamped in Pretty in Pink on the shirt. Then I stamped the image again on a separate piece of Very Vanilla cardstock in Close to Cocoa ink and trimmed around the center part of the stamped image. This was placed over the first image with Stampin' Dimensionals for a bit of "pop".

Don't forget to leave a comment and get your name entered into my draw on July 15th!

Thank you notes.

Here's a simple little thank you note. I made a number of these as thank you cards for baby shower gifts I received. Many people gave money toward a Joovy stroller! I am so thankful!!


This is just a little 3x3 note made out of SU kraft cardstock. The Classic Stripes background stamp is stamped on the envelope in Pink Pirouette and on the kraft CS in Whisper White craft ink. Using the Scalloped Square, I punched the Pink Pirouette paper. I used the 1-1/4" square punch to punch out the white square and sponged the edges with Pretty in Pink ink. The heart is from my "Moose You" set (now retired) and was stamped in Pretty in Pink on Whisper White cardstock which I then punched out with my 3/4" square punch (unfortunately no longer available with SU). I love stampin' dimensionals and they are placed under the scallop square and the 3/4" square to add depth and interest to the cards.

Don't forget to leave a comment and have your name entered into a draw for July!

Too Long...

Well, it's been far too long since I last posted. Nothing has been unusual in my life to take me away from my blog, but life is simply ... busy. I deeply apologize for my absence and hope to post more regularly. However, I need a bit of encouragement. There are very few people who comment on my posts. A big thank you to those who have. I would love to hear more from all of you and know if you like what you see or if I should pack up and go home! LOL!

So, here's the deal. In the next three months I am going to do my best to post at least once per week. For every comment you make, your name will be put into a jar on my computer desk. You will only be counted once per posts. So even if you comment more than once (and bless you if you do), your name will be entered only once into my jar. So, please be sure to give me your name and an email (or check back on the draw date). On July 15th, I will draw a name and it might be yours to win ... A BRAND NEW CAR!!!

just kidding

Seriously, the winner will be sent a wonderful package of Stampin' Up! and non-Stampin' Up! crafting goodies for your comments.

Thank you for participating. And I will try to hold up my end of the bargain and keep on postin'.

"do, or do not. there is no try" - Master Yoda

Brayered Sunrise

This is a card I made using some of Michelle Zindorf's tutorial techniques. The brayer makes some beautiful backgrounds.

The base of the card is in Cool Caribbean (retired SU cardstock). I can't remember all of the colours I used to brayer (Apricot Appeal, More Mustard, Cool Caribbean, Really Rust, and Basic Black, I think). The moon was made by first brayering on some Apricot Appeal, then I punched out a circle with my 1-3/8" circle punch from a sticky note and used it as a mask where I wanted the moon to be while I continued to brayer the other colours. The leaves are from on of my favorite SU stamp sets, "Wonderful You", and the sentiment is from the "Heard from the Heart" stamp set.

The edges of the cardstock were sponged with Basic Black ink and I used my Mat Pack to paper pierce the left and top edges of the main image. I then used my white gel pen to connect the dots and make it appear stitched.

It's a fairly quick technique, using the brayer for the background, but it's very effective and creates a great WOW! factor on a card.

Have a look at Michelles tutorials and give them a try for yourself. If you don't have a brayer, you can achieve a similar look using sponges (although, it is more time consuming)

Back in July

Back in July I made this little gift for my Secret Sister. The swap that I was involved in was a 6 month commitment. Now that it's done and I have a new SS in a new swap, I can share some of the projects that I made for her without revealing my secret identity!! hehe.

The card layout is a favorite of mine. Simple and clean.

I made this card and a box for her as it was her anniversary that month. I knew she liked wine, so I made some little wine charms for her to use for guests to be able to identify their individual glasses of wine.


The charms were fun to make, but took quite a bit of time as I was unfamiliar with techniques used to make jewelry and I fussed a lot with my presentation. They could make fun earrings, too, if you don't mind mismatched ones!


This last photo turned sideways on me for some reason, but you can see how the charm rests around the stem of the glass. I would love to make more of these for myself...I just don't seem to have time.

If you have any questions about these projects, feel free to leave a comment.

Altered Coffee Break Tin

I covered this tin with some paper given to me at a Crazy Croppers event in Lake Country a couple of years ago. I always liked the paper, but ended up hoarding it instead of using it. It turned out beautifully on this tin.

The underside of the lid was stamped and decorated with SU products. Some of the stamps are long since retired, but I just found them on Ebay recently and was soooo excited!! I had my eye on them from about 3 years ago when the stamps were a level 3 hostess set (completely unattainable to me at the time).

I sent this full of little gifts to my Secret Sister in Calgary. Unfortunately, the post office delivered it, but it somehow did not end up in her hands. So annoying. I hope whoever did receive it enjoyed it as much as I think my SS would have!



These tins are really nice to cover as the front buckle and the handle are removable. No fancy moves required to fit your paper around them!

If you'd like to know more about this project, feel free to leave a comment/question.