With Sympathy***

I had to create a sympathy card last night for friends whose father has passed on. I used my Nestabilities, dew drops, an image from Artfully Asian by Stampin Up and a sentiment from MSE.

Have a wonderful day everyone***

Giving is the Greatest Gift***

This is another new American Art Stamp designed by Karen Stolper. I stamped it in black versafine ink on cream cardstock, colored with watercolor pencils and distressed with Fire Brick distress ink around the edges.

I cut a piece of black linen with rectangle scallop nestabilities and added a tag done with a Spellbinders tag die.

The sentiment is also from American Art Stamp.

I added a piece of pink ribbon with a rhinestone brad and a few dew drops as well.

Enjoy everyone! and don't forget to check out the American Art Stamp blog HERE for further inspiration.

Have a great day!!!

SSNOTIME41***10 MINUTE FRIDAY

Hi everyone! It's time for Sharon's Stamp Simply Friday! Sharon has a segment on her blog every Tuesday call "10 Minute Tuesday" where she shows you how to make a card quickly an simply.

She asked us to design a card that could be made in 10 minutes or so.

I think a BIG flower is always good for a quick card.

This flower image comes from an Inkadinkado clear set. I inked it up with two different colors of purple Versamagic ink, stamped it on cream cardstock and layered to light purple and dark purple.. I distressed the edge of the dark purple cardstock just for texture.

The tag is cut out of a Spellbinders die and the sentiment is Papertrey Ink.. I added a snippet of purple satin ribbon and held it all together with a purple rhinestone brad.

Very simple and very quick !!

Check out Sharon's site HERE for all the samples made by the great ladies on this team.

Have a great weekend everyone and thank you soooooooo much for stopping by...***

This One's for You ***

I taught my last Monday night class and my last Wednesday afternoon class this week. I will be taking a break from teaching for the summer and will start up again in September. The ladies that have been coming to my classes, FAITHFULLY, for so long are absolutely wonderful. We have such a good time and have come to know one another well.

Although I need a creative break, these ladies always inspire me to learn new things***

So for Krystine, Carolyn, Bonnie, Geurdah, Patti, Karen, Sandy, Donna, and Gwen***

and for Caitlin, Danielle, Sarah, Joan, Gloria, Lynne, Kathy and Theresa....

This card is made for you *** Have a great summer ladies ***

One Martini, Two Martini, Three Martini, Floor***

Hi everyone!! I just received my new batch of American Art Stamps.. This is designed by Emerson Quillin... All the stamps designed by Emerson are hysterical. Check out their site HERE and don't forget to check out the American Art Stamp blog HERE!! The samples are just beautiful..

I stamped the image with Majestic Blue Versafine ink on white cardstock.. So simple. I layered onto blue cardstock and used this beautiful designer paper that I got at my local stamp store...

Primas were on my desk so I used a few of those with Royal blue brads and some way gorgeous blue satin ribbon.

Have a fabulous evening and I will see you tomorrow ***

So Fun Summer Fun***

Hi everyone!! I am back from my babysitting week... I am pooped!! I just got home from work, made this card to post and am now going to bed.

Have a great evening!!!

Summer Celebration ***

I found this summer celebration kit by Stampendous at a stamp store in St. Catherines.

I stamped the BBQ image in black ink and colored it with Copics. I also stamped this image on the red cardstock with Versa Mark ink to leave a watermark. I stamped the mustard, ketchup and hot dog in black ink. All those images I cut out and added Stamper's Floss for the stream of mustard and ketchup.

I stamped the sentiment on white cardstock and added a yellow and red dew drop.

Since summer is here it is time to celebrate.

Have a great day!!! And thanks for stopping in and taking a peak.!!!

I am still here!!!

Hi everyone!! I am babysitting my little niece this weekend in Toronto and I am having a little difficulty with my brother's computer... I don't want to do anything to it that I may regret so I will post comments on everyone's blog early next week... Thank goodness for pre posting of cards !!
Have a great weekend and thanks so much for stopping by.***

SSNOTIME40 - SOME LIKE IT HOT ***

It's Friday and time for Sharon's Stamp Simply Challenge. All the ladies on this team received the new Coffee and Friends set by Flourishes.. Check it out HERE.

I used the swirls embossing folder on a piece of blue cardstock... I thought they represented the swirls of hot steam coming from a hot cup of coffee.

I stamped the large cup in blue versafine, colored with my copics and added a swirl from the set on the cup which I embossed with white E.P.

I layered both the image and the sentiment with an ivory white and blue cardstock and added some blue dew drops in the corners.

Thank you to Sharon from "No Time to Stamp" for this beautiful stamp set. Check out here site for all the other fabulous Friday samples!!!

Have a great day and thank you so much for stopping in ***

Sunshine and Flowers***

This card is done with a Hero Arts clear set. I stamped the sun image on white cardstock with yellow adirondack ink and the vine with archival black. I used my tombow markers to quickly color in the leaves and flowers.

The sentiment is stamped with black ink and the plastic flower adhered with a brad.

I used a little antique linen distress ink to take a bit of the starkness out of the white cardstock.

Enjoy your day and I hope it's full of sunshine and flowers too !!!***

Coneflower on Acetate ***

I stamped this beautiful coneflower by Paper Inspirations on acetate with black Staz-on ink. On the back of it I sponged and dabbed Acrylic paint dabbers in yellow, citrus and light blue.

I attached this piece with brads to a piece of white cardstock and added foam tape to the back.

The designer paper is Wild Asparagus and the Aqua mist ribbon is from Papertrey Ink as well as the sentiment. All of this is added to a piece of sky blue cardstock.

This is a fun technique to add color to your piece ***

Enjoy !!!

My Organized Chaos ***

This is where I park myself almost every day to create, think, write letters stitch, devise menus and anything else that I want ***

I love my space.. It will always need organizing and cleaning but I have everything I need at my fingertips.

Just thought I would post a few pics of my little piece of heaven *** Really I do know where everything is !!! Enjoy !!

RAK from Krystine ***

I am winding down my card classes for the summer and this is a card that one of the lovely ladies in my class made me. Needless to say when no-one is looking I am going to figure out how she made it!!! ***

Thanks Krystine!!!

This is the inside of the card with it's pop up!!! SOOOOOOOOO cute!!

Happy Mail ***

I received these cards in the mail on Friday from my SBS5 sister, Sue Daly...

Check out her site HERE ***

She sent me some wonderful card bits so I will get a card or two made and sent back to her.

I have been away all weekend so have many e-mails to catch up on.

Have a great day everyone... and thanks so much for stopping by ***

Birthday flowers***

Good morning everyone!!!

This card was brayered with a combination of Adirondack Earthtone inks, in Lettuce, Citrus, Pool and Cloudy Blue. I stamped the Penny Black flowers in Lettuce and Raspberry inks. After distressing the edges, I added a strip of Daisty Bucket paper ribbon and attached the sentiment from Papertrey Ink. I used my rectangle nestabilities for the sentiment.

A few Dew drops of course just for good measure.

Have a great day!!!

SSNOTIME39 *** GO BOLD ***

Well I think I went bold!! Sharon's Friday Stamp Simply challenge was to go bold with your stamp, your paper, whatever would bring a bold statement to your card.

I have to admit I had trouble with this one so I picked out colors that I wouldn't normally put together and tried to keep it simple.

Squares and circles in all different colors is as simple as it gets I think***.

I added a flower image to some of the circles and added a tag with the "just for you" sentiment.

This was certainly WAY out of the box for me but was fun to do.

Be sure to check out Sharon's site to see what all the other Stamp Simply ladies have come up with.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous weekend.***

For my friend Chris***

My most wonderful friend Chris has added me to her daily look sees... We had dinner together last night and always have a wonderful time.

So Chris this card is for you!!!

I used one of the new stamps just out from Inkadinkado.

Stamp Art just got them in so if you are in the area, check them out!!

I stamped the birds in Black Brilliance and colored the image with Copic markers.

I used my plain and scalloped oval Nestabilities to create the layers and the Designer Paper is Wild Asparagus.

I added a little shock of red satin ribbon and we are good to go.

Have a great day everyone!! Thanks so much for stopping by!!! ***

A Hug***

I did this card in one of my classes and I just loved how it turned out!

I started with a dark yellow card base and then added a layer of dark pink.. I stamped the flowers from Penny Black with Black archival ink,on watercolor paper and watercolored them with Tombow markers.

The tag pocket is made from vellum and I stamped the flowers on there too and colored with markers.

The tag pocket was made just by measuring around the tag and adhered with double sided tape.

The tag sentiment is from Penny Black as well.

The ribbon is from May Arts ( I think)

I used deckle edged scissors around the watercolor piece to give it some texture.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous evening!!!

Round Gate Fold Card***

Debbie Olsen had a tutorial a few days ago on this Round Gate Fold card and this is my take on it.

I used the largest scallop circle nestability that I have and added some designer paper from Inque Boutique cut with a smaller circle nestability.

I added some ribbon and some gemstones and a lovely prima flower that my buddy Julie sent me.

This is a congratulations card for my niece who just graduated from college.

She loves pink and polka dots and hopefully will like this card.

Have a great day everyone and thank you sooooooooooooooooo much for stopping by!!

A Gift for a friend***

I was inspired by Mel's tag on her blog to make this tag. I used a piece of white cardstock cut into a tag shape. I then stamped the watering can with Versamark and embossed with silver tinsel E.P. and colored it with a grey Copic.

The flowers are from the Arfully Asian set from Stampin Up, stamped with versamark and embossed with copper E.P. and colored with Copics as well. I stamped, embossed and cut a few extras out to give it a bit of dimension.

The water is a flourish stamp from Stampin Up as well, stamped with Versamark, and embossed with Silver Mist E.P. I added some gemstones from Hero Arts and a silver cord.

This was a gift for a friend whose house we went to last night for dinner.

Have a great Saturday everyone!! It is HOT HOT HOT here!!!

Recipes from Teachers Night ***

Last night all the teachers from our card workshop were here*** We had a fabulous evening!!
Lots of laughter, good food and oh yeah!!! great cards!!
The desserts were particularly indulgent especially for Karen *** !!!***

The ladies wanted the recipes for a couple of the appetizers that I had so here they are!

Fiesta Chicken Dip

2 packages cream cheese - room temperature
1 lime
2 garlic cloves - minced
2 cups shredded Tex Mex cheese
1 1/2 cups salsa
2 cups cooked chopped chicken
1/2 cup sliced black olives - pitted
4 T. fresh cilantro - chopped

Mix cream cheese and garlic together. Add the zest of the lime and the juice of 1/2 of the lime.(or the whole lime if they are small) and combine.
Spread in the bottom of an ovenwear dish. Cover cream cheese mixture with salsa, then the chicken. Top with the shredded cheese, olives.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.
Serve with Lime Tostitos.


Red Pepper Tartlets

2 cups old cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup hot red pepper jelly

Using an electric mixer, beat cheese, butter and cayenne until combined.
Stir in flour just until the mixture becomes a dough.

Shape into balls about 1 inch and press into mini muffin tins to form the shell.
Top with red pepper jelly and back at 400 degrees for 10 minutes..


ENJOY !!!

SSNOTIME38***SILHOUETTES

HEY***Everyone it's time for Sharon's Stamp Simply Challenge... We were to use a solid stamp,not necessarily stamped in black ink..

Soooo I stamped in different shades of pumpkin and orange with a solid floral stamp from Hero Arts. I used black cardstock to pump up the whole piece.

I stamped a few extra and popped them up with dimensionals. I added a grosgrain ribbon that matched and added a sentiment from Technique Tuesday***

Make sure you check out Sharon's blog HERE and see what the rest of this talented team has come up with ***

Have a fabulous weekend. ***

It is TIME for BLOG CANDY *** Make sure you check back to see what is up... And there might be a few recipes too ***

Beautiful Birthday Wish***

This beautiful card was given to me by my sister-in-law Brenda.... along with a gorgeous platter and bowl...

I am one lucky lady!!!

Have a great evening everyone***

SWEET ***

Hello everyone!! This card was made with scraps on my desk... The image is from Impression Obsession, a new clear kit... The sentiment is from the same kit.

I stamped the cupcake stand with Black Brilliance ink on white cardstock and colored it with Copic markers.

I layered to a piece of frosted kiwi cardstock and then onto a brown card base that I also half covered with a hot pink cardstock scrap. I also had the piece of brown and white polka dot ribbon lying around so used it as well as a few dew drops.

I LOVE when I can use up scraps.!!

Have a great evening everyone!!!

Thinking of You ***

This is a card that was done in my class this evening. I loved the colors and the technique.

A stamp by Tim Holtz was stamped on acetate with Black Staz on ink. Acrylic paint dabbers in Copper and Butterscotch were dabbed onto white cardstock and then the acetate piece was placed on top and tacked into place with copper brads.

I attached a piece of brown grosgrain ribbon and a sentiment from Hero Arts.

Have a great evening everyone!!!

Recipe Box ***

I was away this weekend with two very dear friends.. All of us share birthdays within three days of each other in the same year.

We all cook one night and I made these recipe boxes for the girls to put at their place setting.

I will put up the instructions or at least where I got them tomorrow.

Right now I have to uppack, do laundry and go for a long walk!!

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. ***

Hi there!! Check out this link from Sharon's blog HERE for directions for the recipe box...

The tabs are just round circles stamped with Stampin Up's Recipe set.. The word RECIPES is using an alphabet set from Hero Arts. Black satin ribbon from Michaels, and the Designer paper is from my stash...