Rockin' Birthday Card

It's so hard to photograph gray and black cards without making them look like a black and white picture, but believe me, this picture is actually in color. It's also difficult to make cards for men don't you think? Girl-y, flower-y, sweet, feminine...no problem, but make a card look masculine...man, that's hard. This is a card I made for my brother's birthday that's coming up soon and I think I achieved the masculine look ok. He's a Rock Star in my book...always has been, always will be. Love ya Rick!

Cards and a Card Holder

Hi again everyone! Hope you're having a good Wednesday. I've been crafting so I'm having a great day! :) I made these cards and card holder again from Splitcoast's weekly inkling. I save the e-mails I get from them so when I have time to craft but don't know what I want to do I just open up an e-mail and follow the directions.

Happy New Year!

Here's a quick little card I made for New Year's (it says "Cheers" on the inside). I don't mean to promote drinking or anything but it does go along with the theme and is exactly why my husband and I don't go out, or out very far, on New' Year's Eve. He has seen too many terrible things in his job as a result of drinking and driving. So we will be staying close to home that night. Boring, I know, but I guess we're getting old. Stay safe everyone! Mary

Lovely Thank You

This is a thank you card I cased from Silke Ludlow's site "My Life" (follow link on sidebar). Hers had a different image and was more intended as a Valentine's Day card, but I was in need for a thank you card so I changed it up a bit. Easy, simple, but really sweet.

One More Christmas Item

I was going through my photos of Christmas and my son's birthday on my camera and came across this picture of a project I made for my kids' bus drivers, so I thought I would go ahead and share it. (Sorry again for the poor photo quality but the bus was coming in about 5 minutes and I had to quickly take the picture and package everything up.) It is a divided box filled with gift tags. I got the idea and design from a splitcoaststampers weekly inkling. I thought it was a very original idea and it wasn't too hard to make. And I suppose you could fill it with tags for other themes besides Christmas. Anyway, it was fun and I think they liked them. You can follow the link on my sidebar to splitcoast and find the directions there. Mary

Looky What I Got!!!

Here's my haul for Christmas, and what a haul it was!!! Santa was very good to me this year. I was squealing like a little kid when I opened my Le Creuset dutch oven. And yes, it's the big mombo jombo one! It would have been the only thing I got due to the spending limit we set for each other, but my husband used money from his own little stash for it. He's so good to me. I guess he figures it will benefit him too because he'll get to eat what comes out of it.
And I really let out a squeal when I opened my Pioneer Woman cookbook. Do you see what's on the inside?! Yes...that's her signature...to me! My husband sent the book to her and asked her to sign it for me, then she sent it back. Isn't that great?! I'll treasure it always.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too. Please excuse me now. I have to go figure out what recipe I'm going to try first.

Oh Ya, and This One

This is a "God Box". My husband's aunt is a recovering alcoholic who visits with other ladies who are struggling with the same thing. She called me after seeing a similar box I had given to her sister, except that one didn't have a lid. She had a box like this when she was going through AA. She said it helped to write down all of her worries and put them into the box to let God take care of them so she didn't feel burdened with them. Neat idea I thought. Anyway, she asked me to make some for her friends. I had to invent the lid which I think came out pretty good. And I added this saying to go on top..."Cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you" very fitting I thought.

What I've Been Up to Lately... Part 2

Here's some more...(sorry for the poor photo quality on some of these. My photo cube was put away... and it was late... and I was lazy.)

What I've Been Up to Lately

Hi there everyone! Have you been making wonderful holiday crafts and treats? It's been a long time since my last post, I know, but I haven't felt like posting anything. But I sure have done quite a few things this past month or so. Here, have a look...

Halloween Treats

Hi there everyone! I know, it's been forever since I've posted hasn't it? I guess I just haven't felt like posting. But I have been up to a few creative things. Firstly, a Halloween card that I think in just so cute. And then there are these little treat boxes that are equally adorable. But most importantly, I've been helping my son with his Indian project for school. At first it sounded like a pain but then became really fun. I think it turned out pretty good, don't you? He is very proud of it as you can see.

I Few Things I've Been Up To

Hi again everyone. It's been so long!! I hope you all are enjoying the change of seasons like I am. Fall is my favorite time of year. Leaves changing colors, cooler weather, the holidays coming up, wrapping up in warm blankets, spice scented candles burning, cookies baking...it's all just so warm and cozy. Here are a few projects I've worked on lately. Have a great fall weekend! Mary

Little Hello

This is another card I cased from the Stampin' Success magazine. I love all of these colors together and the layout is so different. Very fun!

A Beloved Uncle

My dear Uncle Earl lost his battle with cancer just one month ago yesterday. And so to honor and remember him I made this scrapbook page yesterday. He was a very special man...kind, generous, intelligent, loving. Just the best of the best. His immediate family was so very close and my heart aches for their loss. I hope that each day gets a little less painful for them and that they gain comfort in knowing that his suffering is now over. God Bless you Uncle Earl.

Punch Foliage

You all have seen the punch animals I made a while ago...well here are a few punch foliage pieces I made yesterday. I got the idea from the Stampin Success magazine from Stampin' Up! that they send to all demonstrators. I just think they are adorable and the mushrooms go perfectly with the mushroom paper I already had. I love it when things work out that way. :) Have a great Sunday, and......Go Colts!!!

Some Scrapbook Pages

Even though I love scrapbooks I haven't done much of it over the years. But I did make one for my daughter a few years ago and she has really enjoyed looking through it lately. So I was thinking I should start doing more of it. So I bought a big album on sale at Archiver's and thought I would just start by scrapbooking family activities and events that take place this year. The first one, as you can see, is my kids' first day of school. The other page is not one to put in our scrapbook, however. It is one that I actually put in a frame and am giving to a friend of ours. He is an anesthesiologist who I work with, but he's more than that. He has taken care of our daughter during all of her 30 visits to the operating room for her congenital glaucoma. I've told him many times that he's the smartest man I know and we are so grateful for the excellent care he has given our daughter. As you can see he's also a musician and singer! These pictures are from a party that we all went to. I just had to take pictures of him in action! Then when I saw them I thought they would make a great scrapbook page for him to mount in his office or somewhere. I hope he likes it.

Ice Cream Anyone?

Isn't this card yummy looking?! It is a copy of one from this month's Stampin' Success magazine. It was so fun to make and I love how it turned out. Too cute!

Together Forever

This is an anniversary card I made for my parents. They celebrated 51 years of marriage last month!! It's a shaker card and I followed the instructions on Gina K's "Stamp TV" (follow link on my sidebar). It took some time to make since there are quite a few steps, but it was fun anyway. I bought a few different kinds of beads at Michael's to make some more shaker cards, so I'll be busy for a while. Take care, Mary

Bookmark

Hi again everyone! Here's another cute project I made today. I made this for my daughter who is both a reader and a princess. :) She just started second grade the other day and finished reading a book last night that was almost 200 pages! She has several bookmarks that she has gotten free at the library but they're not nearly as special as this one. I hope that she will keep it forever and think of me when she uses it.
Supplies:
CS- SU
Image- Studio G
Markers- SU
Corner Rounder punch, Slot punch, and Oval punches- SU
Ribbon- EK Success
Stickles glitter- Ranger
Scallop Scissors- Provocraft

Notepad

This is such an inexpensive, useful, quick, easy, and cute gift idea! I got the note pad at Staples where I bought 12 pads for $6.00 and I had them cut each of them in half. So it was 25 cents per small pad plus $1.00 to have them cut it. Then the pen was about $1.00 (but you could probably find some cheaper or on sale). There are a few magnets on the back so it can be hung on the refrigerator, and I got a bag of those at Wal Mart for what equals maybe a dime per magnet. So with the cost of the cardstock and everything else I spent around $2.50. Isn't that great?!

All CS, punches, ink and images are from SU.

Light My Path

Well today was my first official day to myself since my kids went back to school this week, and oh how wonderful it was! I did nothing constructive except exercise and get my hair cut, but I don't feel one bit guilty. I just wandered a few stores looking around without feeling any time constraint. It's gong to be a great school year! :)

This is a card I made for a friend of mine to give to her mom. Her mom is having a lot of back trouble and treatment doesn't look hopeful because she has already had 2 surgeries on her back so the doctors don't think another one would help. My friend said it's hard for her to talk with her mom about it because she gets too upset hearing about how her mom is in pain and struggling. So I thought maybe a she could send her a card to express her feelings.

I hope you all enjoy your weekends. Mary

Supplies:

CS- SU

DP- SU

Image and Sentiment- SU

Ink- SU

Photo Corner punch- SU

Brads- Making Memories

Ribbon- Martha Stewart

I'm Pulling for You

Don't you just want to reach in and help this little guy out?! This is a card I made for my niece who will be going off to college soon. She's a little smarty pants and very social so I know she'll do well. The layout for this card was from this week's Splitcoast sketch challenge. So I was able to whip this card out in no time since the layout was all done for me and all I had to do was fill in the pieces.

CS- SU

DP- Adornit

Image and sentiment- My Favorite Things

Ribbon- Offray

Window punch and Oval punch- SU

Circle punches- Nestabilities

Eyelet- SU

Markers- SU

Cuttlebug embossing plate

Back To School Gift Bags

Are these adorable or what?! They are little gift bags made from the Top Note Die Cut from SU. The smaller one, made from the DP, was achieved by cutting the die cut along the perforations. I put a bunch of punch animals attached to large paper clips inside the bags and will give them to my kids' teachers at the school's ice cream social right before school starts. Too cute and really fun to make!

All supplies from SU except the DP. It is Owls All Around by AdornIt.

Baby Giraffe

I love giraffes. I think it's because when I was little I had a book that was about a giraffe, which in itself isn't all that exciting I know. But the great thing about that book was that it was specially ordered by either my mom or a relative, and the giraffe had all these things in common with me. It's address was the same as mine, it's name was the same as mine, it had a dog who's name was the same as my dog, etc. This was very exciting to a 5 year old, as you can imagine. I wonder if my mom still has this book somewhere in her house. I wonder where it was ordered from. I wonder if you can still order something like this today. There's my next google search! Anyway, I think my love of giraffes started with that book. Did you know giraffes don't lay down? Did you know they can go long periods of time without drinking? Apparently drinking at the watering hole can be dangerous because the position they need to get themselves into to take a sip makes them very vulnerable to predators. Did you know they only sleep for about 30 minutes per day and only for about 10 minutes at a time? Also due to the need to watch out for predators. Man, I'm glad I'm not a giraffe. Laying down...sleeping...drinking...some of my favorite things! Although, the sleeping for short periods of time does sound like my life when my kids were newborns.

Anyway, here is a little baby card I made with my good friend, the giraffe. All supplies were from SU except the buttons, they were from an unknown source.

Sketch Challenge Card

This is the card I made for this week's sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers. It's so much easier to make a card when you have the layout all figured out for you, and this one was no exception. It was super easy and the colors are so happy!

All supplies were from SU.

Clothes Pin Recipe Holder

I was cleaning out my junk drawer the other day and came across a few clothes pins. I don't remember putting them in there but I probably found them in my kids' backpacks and thought I could use them for a craft someday. Well that day finally came. Sometimes when I'm baking something I either misplace the recipe in all of my baking supplies on the counter, or it gets dirty from flour, oil, or some other stray baking ingredient. I was thinking that it would be great if the recipe could be stuck up on the cupboard or someplace out of the way but easily seen. So I came up with this. You can clip the recipe in the clothespin which has a magnet on the back so it can be placed on the range hood. Super cute!

CS and Ink- SU

Stamp set- unknown source (I think I got it at Archivers for $1.00)

Ribbon- Offray

Treat Box

This little box is from last week's Weekly Inkling from Splitcoaststampers. It was a little involved to make but the result is worth it. I just need to figure out how to make it on a larger scale, it's pretty tiny so you can't fit many treats into it...when I give someone some treats I want to give them a lot!

All supplies from SU.

Envelope Card

This is a cute and quick card that would be great for gift cards and a little note. It has and envelope that has been folded in half, cut along the fold, and then glued to the inside. So when you open the card you can see the open pockets of the envelope where you can place the gift card. Give it a try, it's really easy!

All supplies from SU.

Fresh Cut Note

Hi everyone! Hope you're enjoying these last few weeks of summer. I can't believe school starts 3 weeks from Wednesday, terrible! We've had a great summer and I don't look forward to the daily grind of homework and keeping track of all the kids' activities, etc. I think I'm more upset about it than the kids are! :)

Anyway, here's a quick little card I made the other day. It's a Fresh Cut Note from SU that I stamped, placed a piece of purple CS behind, and glued and button in the middle. Super quick and great to have around for those Thank Yous or Happy Birthdays that you need at the last minute.

All Supplies from SU.