Elements of Style

I used Elements of Style for this card, embossing with Elegant Bouquet, using my corner rounder, and accenting with Stickles. I like the finished card - cased from one I saw on Splitcoast! Clean and simple is a great way to go!

Summertime Flowers

Some fun flowers in fun colors for summertime! A bow of Mary Engelbreit ribbon and some bling finish this card off nicely, don't you think?

Upsy Daisy - there's a lot of birthdays coming in July!

Looked at my reminder book and was once again astonished that there are so many birthdays to be celebrated in July! Personally, I think it's a great month for a birthday - such a great month, in fact, that I decided to have mine this month too! So this is the first of many (very many) birthday cards to be sent out to family and friends this month! Upsy Daisy is one of my favorite sets to use and it's perfect for birthday celebrations. I used my markers to color the stamp, used my cuttlebug for embossing, and also for cutting out the beautiful wings butterflies for the circles too. Thanks for looking!

Kick off your shoes -

Kick off your shoes - it's Flip Flop time! How do you like this fun card? It'll be on its way to our daughter soon so don't tell her! Hope she likes it! It was quick and easy to make and lots of fun for the hot Florida summer!

Another Faux Linen Card

Another example of Faux Linen - done at Lee's class. Fun, fast, and fabulous - what more can you ask for?

A Father's Day Card for my Sweetheart

Sorry I'm late posting this Father's Day card but my internet connection wasn't good this past weekend so it was actually seen by Keith before you all got to take a look! He likes blue and it worked well with "his bike" which is really White Diamond. Since he hasn't had a chance to ride much lately, I added the "Hello, baby" sentiment! Crimping the brushed silver paper added a fun touch as well. This motorcycle stamp is such a great value and really fun to use. Keith really liked his card and I hope you do too! 

Faux Linen Card

Faux linen - what a fun technique! This is a card I made recently at my SU demonstrator, Lee's, technique class. Hope the fine detail shows up in a closer view as it really does look like linen! This bow was fun too - we used twine through a button to secure it around the ribbon. There's always something new to learn at Lee's classes! Hope you enjoy this card as much as I enjoyed making it!

Upsy Daisy

This is one of the cards we made at my friend Karen's workshop this week. Homewood Suites was gracious enough to let us use one of their meeting rooms and we had a great time together! For those who weren't able to attend, this is one of the cards that you missed making:

We used the Upsy Daisy set (one of my favorites), colored it with markers, stamped it, layered it on Summer Sun and Really Rust, and then embellished with my favorite butterflies.This set comes with 3 great sayings so it can easily be used for many occasions - so versatile!

Happy Friday!

It's Friday already - where did this week go? Today is a great celebration for us as it is our son's LAST day at FSU! Way to go, Bryan - YOU DID IT! We are SOOOOOO proud of you! I know it hasn't always been easy but you have perservered to the end - what an accomplishment! We were so excited when your sister graduated from UCF and now we get to celebrate your college graduation! Dad and I are so proud of the great adults that you and Alison have become! We couldn't ask for better kids - you both are the BEST!

So for a Happy Friday, here's a Happy Friday card:

Made some fabric flowers, found some great digi stems

(thanks to Stampin Inspirations Word Art ), did a little embellishment and presto - fun card!

Thanks for sharing in our family's celebration!

Hands On Jacksonville projects

Recently I met (by Divine appointment) a lady in Hobby Lobby, who was came around the corner when I announced to my friends with whom I was shopping, "Punches are on sale!". We started talking, introduced ourselves, and found that we had a common interest in stamping and cardmaking. She went on to tell me about her involvement with Hands On Jacksonville and making Cards for Caring. She is a Project Leader for them and recruited me to help. I love a challenge so I jumped aboard and will now be assisting her with this project. This photo shows the five cards that the ladies who attend will be assembling tonight. We will also be making a box to hold the cards and envelopes (thanks to Denise and Karen, who were with me in Hobby Lobby that day and made the envelopes yesterday)! These will be given to those who help at Hubbard House and other centers so that they will be able to write a personal note inside and give a card of caring to someone in need of some love! Great opportunities are everywhere - and I'm thankful to be involved with this one! If you'd care to join us, leave me a comment and I'll let you know the details!

A faithful friend

This is my creation for Operation Write Home's Sketch Challenge this week. Boy, are there some awesome entries! Lots of talented card makers out there, with hearts as big as the world, making cards to help our troops keep in touch with their loved ones at home! Check out the Operation Write Home website at http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/ and join in the fun! What a worthwhile way to support our men and women who are serving to keep our country safe!

It's a beautiful day!

I made this for Stampin 411's Challenge this week. I mounted the Tea Party dp on Whisper White, which I then embossed with the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder. I used more dp to create the horizontal strips, the background for my flower from Watercolor Trio, and the extra butterflies. Some Dazzling Diamonds glitter for the center of the flower and some ribbon to make a perfect bow, using Lee Conrey's bowmaker! The great colors in this dp remind me that, no matter what, it is a beautiful day!

Candy Bar Sliders

These crazy Candy Bar Sliders are so much fun to make! I decided to make this my "Secret Project" for my workshop at Lee's. We used 6 x 12" pieces of Stampin Up's beautiful Designer Series paper. The slider is 6 x 7", and the remaining piece is flipped over and used for the coordination band and greeting. It takes 28" of coordinating ribbon for each one. The candy bar appears when the bow is pulled up! Every one there really seemed to enjoy making them! I can see lots of these in my future - as fun gifts!

Friends are flowers...

Well, I finally made my first easel card! What fun! And then they have their own display as well that's just a little different! This was one I made last week with digis, coloring with watercolor pencils and a blender pen. I flocked the center, added inverted corner rounding, and some bling at each corner. Hope you like it!

Fifth Avenue Floral for Friends!

Love this Fifth Avenue Floral set! The possibilities are almost endless! Stamped the rose only in Melon Mambo and Summer Sun on white c/s, mounted it on Melon Mambo, added a 1/4" strip of Summer Sun above and below it, added a ribbon, Little Leaves, and a Beautiful Wings butterfly, decorated with pearls. Then I used my new Martha Stewart Scoring Board to make an envelope. I stamped another piece of white paper with Fifth Avenue and lined the envelope. My friend, Kathy, does this all the time and I think it's such a great look! Thanks, Kathy! I know the friends that I made this for will appreciate the extra touch too!

Graduation is here!

It's time for graduation for some lucky Seniors! This is the card I made for our special neighbor, Theresa, as she graduates from high school! She was only in middle school when they moved in and it's been fun to watch her grown into a great college-bound girl! I had to throw in some purple as it's one of her school colors but couldn't resist the pink butterfly. She's grown into a beautiful butterfly who will spread her wings and fly into her future with God's Grace under her wings! Congratulations, Theresa!

Gotta love Melon Mambo!

Another card that I helped design for my workshop at Lee's. The vanilla was embossed, as was the Melon Mambo piece, which wraps around the card. Love the Bouqet Bunch set that we used and the matching Melon Mambo ribbon. The coloring was done with the Aqua Painter and Watercolor Crayons. The sentiment was stamped in Garden Green, which matches the mat of the centerpiece. Hope you like this one as much as I like Melon Mambo!

Heading to Colorado

This is a photo of one of the cards that I sent to my niece, Jennie, in Colorado, for a swap that she asked me to join. We swap every other month and it has been a lot of fun. Several of the other stampers are teachers with Jennie and they have some great ideas. This card was made using the Black Magic technique. I added the ribbon which matched the paper and then decided to add the "faux" brads in each corner. Hope they like this one!

From the Heart

This is one of the cards that I helped design for my workshop last week at my friend, Lee's house. She is my Stampin' Up demonstrator in Jacksonville and has become a very good friend. I really like the new Watercolor Trio set in the new mini catalog and wanted to use it for one of the cards that everyone would be making. The Old Olive strip was stamped with the branch in Old Olive, and the center piece was stamped in Certainly Celery and the main image was done with markers on the stamp. The ribbons are tied together and the butterfly completes the image, balancing the sentiment. Thanks for looking!

For Matt and Max

This is the card I made for the husband and almost 2 year old son of our friend who went Home to be with the Lord earlier this week. The sentiment was in the bag of "treasures" that another friend gave me. God is so good as He knew this would be the perfect saying for  this card. I mounted it on a piece of DCWV background paper and then mounted that on a piece of blue cardstock. Please keep Matt and Max in your prayers in the coming days. Shannon will be greatly missed.

For Dear Friends

This is a card that I made for some very dear friends, whose 35 yar old daughter-in-law lost her battle with cancer this week. She was a beautiful wife and mother and fought with grace. She has gone Home to be with our Lord now and we will be celebrating her Homegoing this weekend. Another friend gave me a bag of goodies last weekend and I found this sentiment among the "treasures" so I decided to color the border, put it on a piece of embossed white card stock, and add some beautiful butterflies. To me, they are a sign of Hope and those who believe in our Lord as their personal Savior will always have Hope.