Greeting From Texas

These are some quick cards I put together for my Aunt Sharlot who moved back down here from Cincinnati. I hope she doesn't look at my blog today. I'm taking them to her this weekend. The Texas stamp I believe is from Deadbeat Designs and the rest is self explanatory. I'm not sure if I prefer the ones with the yellow rose or without. What do you think? Anyway I hope she likes them. Have a great weekend you guys.

Thank You Commentors!

I would like to say a big thank you to all of you that have started leaving comments on my posts. You really know how to make a gal feel good. As I am still learning the ins and outs of all of this blogging stuff and posting stuff I appreciate you taking the time to check back to see my progress. It was a slow start but hopefully I have gotten the main functions learned so that I can continue. Thank you for checking out my site and I hope that you do stop back by periodically to see what I have come up with. You all put a great big smile upon my face. Thank You!

P.S. HiHoRosie....you're the bomb and good luck with the change in eating habits. Wow! I'm totally impressed. Keep up the good work...You can do it!

Amazing Grace!

Finally! I got to put some ink on this Amazing Grace stamp that I bought in January at convention. I stamped Distress Ink in Old Paper and Tea Dye on glossy paper. Then I stamped the rose in the bottom corner. Masked it and stamped the Amazing Grace on top of it in Walnut Stain. I also added Glossy Accents to the rose to make it shiny and stand out....but here's the thing..it removed a lot of the color and lightened it up a bunch. I'm not sure if it is because it was on glossy paper or what. I have not noticed this problem before but it changed the color considerably. So make a note. Anyway, I tore the edges and inked with Walnut Stain and a Chestnut cat eye. The paper I used is double sided so I used the back side and cuttlebugged with swirls. Then I punched holes and threaded the ribbon. It needed something else and so I went around the edges with my Gold Leaf pen. I also heat set it and the organza ribbon to make it curl. Then I mounted everything on the front side of patterned paper and added photo corners that I punched out of burgundy velvet paper. Voila! There you have it. The Amazing Grace Stamp....which I absolutely love and am so glad I bought. Wish the rose hadn't lightened up so much but it still looks ok in real life. Anyway this is my card for the April Card swap and the theme is Words to Live By. Hope you like it!

Size: 5x6 1/2; Paper: Imaginisce - Exotic East; Inks: Tim Holtz's Distress Old Paper, Walnut Stain, Tea Dye, Aged Mahogany; Embellishments: Photo corner punch, Cuttlebug, Gold Leaf pen, InkEssenttials Glossy Accents; Stamps: Rose= Stamp Camp, Amazing Grace = Morning Star

Big Ole Birthday Flower

I borrowed this stamp from one of my friends Theresa H. It is a big ole flower let me tell ya. Anyway I stamped the flower and then cut it out. I stamped the smaller flowers in the background and added a white gel pen in the center of each flower to make them pop. I also stamped the small flower behind the Happy Birthday which you can barely see. The large flower and the center of the large flower are all pop dotted. Hope you like!

Easter Themed Card Swap

Here are the cards I got at this month's card swap. They are all so beautiful. We make six cards each and we take home five. One stays with the store. This time we had sandwiches and stayed and played so it was loads of fun. I hope you guys have something like this where you are. If not....start one up. You get so many different cards and ideas. Plus you get to know many new people and make many new friends. Enjoy!

Hanging Treat Box

Look! It's a matching set. I made this to go with the gift card holder card for Jenn's B-day. You can get the tutorial here at Splitcoast. Another easy project. I filled this with goodies and gave this delicious Welch's sparking grape juice along with the gift card. These hanging treat boxes are great and you can use them with water and fill them with Chrystal lite packages or all sorts of things. It just goes on and on. I know Jenn likes this stuff so I went with the sparkling grape juice. Hope you enjoyed your Birthday Jenn - you almost old lady...(insert snort here) hee hee

Happy Birthday to Jenn!

Happy Happy Birthday.....Almost 40! Can't wait until next year! hee hee hee hee

Here is a super fast card that I put together for my long time friend Jennifer P. I was really surprised at how fast this card came together. You can find the instructions on Scor-Pal's website under their Feb/Mar online magazine. I had the base of the card cut, scored and put together in like 3 minutes. Super easy. Cute way to send a gift card. I colored the balloons with PrismaColors and blended with Gamsol. Inked edges and matted on lime green. Tied the pink ribbon to add some foof. I stamped the balloons on cardstock as well to add more design to the paper. She loved it. In fact we were going shopping and instead of taking the gift card out she took the whole card. She's always been a pro at knowing how to make you feel good though.

What? 100 Cards? Really?

My first big order! Yeah! 100 cards! These cards were made for a wedding magazine owner to send out to her advertisers to let them know when their ad was coming up for renewal and to thank them for their buisness. The inside sentiment of the pink ones are printed on vellum and the red ones are just printed on the actual card. This magazine is very well put together and very very nice. I hope you check it out. Let me remind you that I live in a town of about 76,000 people but this is no small town magazine. It is very classy and professional. I hope you check it out. She is doing a great job.

Meet My Very Own SuperHero

Well here he is folks...My very own Hero Bo aka "the car wheeler and dealer". He is awesome! Ok so actually, this is the only way I could get him to ever look at my blog is if I posted a picture of him on it. Of course now that I posted this picture he will probably never talk to me again. But I'm sure he's probably thinking he is some sort of celebrity now or something. He's probably walking around trying to sell his autograph. I can feel his big ole head growing larger by the minute...ha! He really is awesome but he and I have this sarcastic thing going so I can't really tell him that very often. He and Tanya have been really good to me. You normally only dream about finding people as loyal as they are. I'm the lucky one! 3 cheers for my hero Bo! Hip Hip Horray! Hip Hip Horray! Hip Hip Horray! Now that's it Bo...that's all you get..:)


Ok so here is what he really looks like and this is his beautiful wifey Tanya aka my BFF in the whole wide world. :) Aren't they just so cute?

Let Me Call You Hero

This is a thank you card that I sent to my hero -AKA Bo. The story goes like this. I owned a piece of poo poo Buick Rendevous that was nothing but trouble since I had it. Long story short it was time to get rid of it. So the dreaded car search began. I absolutely hate car shopping and car dealing. It's all a stupid game. Anyway my first choice car was a Honda CR-V but was a little out of my range. So I started looking and Bo (my hero) and Tanya (my BFF) started looking and I test drove cars and looked at just about everything. I kept going back to the Honda - my heart's desire. So finally I asked Bo(my hero) if he thought we could even get close to my range and the negotiations began. On Saturday, Sept 1, 2007 we were at the Honda place wheeling and dealing. Well Bo (my hero) was. I was actually fretting and stewing. So by hour 3 I'm mad, angry, frustrated and tired of playing the game and I'm ready to go. But my calm hero Bo just stuck with them while at the same time had to keep telling me to calm down. I mean they wouldn't even give us an interest rate and then they are wanting us to sign papers. What's up with that? I haven't said I want the car yet. I HATE THE GAME! It's ridiculous. Well we finally make it to the finance guy and we are still over my set limit. AGAIN..I'm ready to walk out and go home and AGAIN my calm hero Bo kept at it and talked them into giving me $500 more for trade in and we got my pmyt in my range. When it was all said and done my car pymt was only $2 more than the Buick. So I go home with my "first choice" car without having to sell my mom and a new hero! Can't beat that. I literally cried all the way home. Way to go BoBo...you're still my hero!!!!!!

Cranky Old Buzzard

I just love these stamps from Deadbeat Designs. They have a lot of Western and Texas stamps. This was a birthday card that I sent to my BFF's husband Bo (my adopted brother). You'll learn more about him later on. The buzzards were stamped in black ink and stamped off twice. The designer paper was torn and curled and the sentiment was adhered with brads. Another very simple minded card. You know I always heard keep it simple stupid so I pretty much do. :)

Thank You

So have you figured out that I am a simple person? I think you can figure this one out just by looking at the picture. No fancy smancy techniques were done on this one. The thank you was stamped in brown ink at the bottom and the center of the flower is a large brad.

Celebrate

This is a card I made for my BFF's birthday! The right edge was highlighted with a SilverLeaf Gold pen. The celebrate is actually a rub-on. The rest is self explanatory.

Mack aka Mack-aroni

Here is Mack saying "hi everyone look at me! I'm pitiful and mistreated! I stay in the house when all of the other dogs go outside. I also get to go on trips when none of the other dogs get to go. My mommy has to pick me up to put me on the bed cuz I'm too old to get up there by myself. In fact I think I threw my daddy's back out from lifting me so much. I have a hard, pitiful life you guys. " This is my buddy Mack who is one of 5 of my friend's dogs. They are all spoiled totally rotten.

OH MY GOSH!

You guys have no stinkin' idea what I have been through to try to figure out how to put my stinkin' slide show over on the side where you could actually see it. OK so by now you guys know that I'm not real computer friendly but can get around enough to manage. So all of this new blog stuff is a real challenge for me. So I figured out how to do the slide show right? Then when I transported it to my blog it was in a post....well...I wanted it on the side but for the life of me could not figure out how to move it over there. Everthing I tried would not work. I have copied and pasted so many addresses it's not even funny. Well finally after 3 days of trying I figured it out....well....then you couldn't see but half of it...so it took me about an hour or more to figure out how to shrink it down to where you could see the whole thing....and then BAM! whoop there it is! All completed and moved over to the side and I didn't even have to call Matt. Now I only have a couple more things I need to figure out and I am well on my way to having my blog look halfway decent. For those of you that are computer whizzes (my tongue is sticking out at you) just kidding...you just have no idea how some of these things can be so difficult if you don't know the language...but hey....I have learned so much since I started this thing at the first of the year. Soo YEEHAW! We have now officially entered the world of blogging! I just may have to go to Chick-fil-A to treat myself to a cookie shake. Happy Weekend you guys!

Card Swap

These are some of the cards that I received at one of our card swaps. Aren't they adorable? We have some very talented ladies in our area. It's fun to get together and glean off of each other. Anyway the theme for this swap was TIME. I apologize to the other 3 people whose cards that I didn't post. I couldn't get them down to shoot a picture. Long story...I'll show you a picture of my scrapbook room someday and it will make sense!
Hope you like these. I thought they might be some good inspiration.

Prismacolor Valentine

This card is so much better in person. This is a Paper Inspirations stamp. If you have never seen these colored, they are absolutely gorgeous. This was a Prismacolor class that we took with Lori Evers. You have got to check out her blog. She has some awesome work done with these stamps. www.iwillseizethedaisy.blogspot.com (bear with my guys I'm still trying to learn how to do the links with just a name instead of an address) I will get there eventually. I could not get a good picture of this to save my life but it is beautiful. We used 20 different colors in this and I would have sworn there was only like 5. That's how good Lori is with blending and shading. I promise you ...you will want to check out her blog.

Happy Birthday To Me

Aren't these so cute? These were two cards that two of my very very good friends gave to me on my birthday this year. Don't they do cute work? Thank you Tanya and Sherrie W. I love my birthday cards!

Wanted

Hope you like this one. It took a little longer than the rest of mine so far because I am not a big fan of coloring but I do like how it turned out. The stamp was stamped in Black Pigment Ink and then colored with Prismacolors. I blended with the lovely Gamsol and chalked around the image with grey chalk. I matted it on weave looking background paper and added the brads. The wanted was stamped in Walnut Distress Ink and then tied the hemp cord onto side. The wood plank paper was bought a very long time ago and I have no idea where I got it. I promise you guys with all of my new cards that I make I will keep up with this stuff better. I'm just trying to post what I have done so far.

Ride 'Em Cowboy

So you guys know I'm from Texas right? Let me tell you about Texas weather real quick. Last Friday it snowed! What? That's right it snowed. Not enough to cover the ground but snowed pretty much for half a day. The ground was too warm to stick. Anyway so that was last Friday. This Friday it is 85 degrees working it's way up. Crazy isn't it. So down here you kinda dress in layers because you never know. Ok so on with the card. The horsey was stamped 3 times with Walnut Distress Ink without re-inking on crackled background paper. Love how the horsed look on this paper. Unfortunately, I have had it so long I don't know where it came from. I matted it on brown cardstock and tied the rope around it. The ride on is a store bought die cut card. ( I guess that what you call them) Hope you enjoy.

Listen Honey!

This is the card that I actually did for the shoebox shuffle. Love these bright colors. I matted the printed papers on pink. Added brads at top left. Tied the ribbon around horizontal piece and adhered. The stamp is Prismacolored and blended with Gamsol. I corner punched the bottom left corner of the yellow matte before I added the stamped image. Then I added the flower brad after the stamped image was in place. It needed something to fill in that blank space. I used pop dots behind the stamped image to give it some dimension.

Stamps: Stampabilities (I think) - Paper: Michaels Slab - Embellishments: Spare Parts, ribbon from HL, pop dots

Let's Do the Shoebox Shuffle!

Have you ever done a shoebox shuffle? This was my first one and it was a blast. We had so much fun. We did this at our local stamp store BStamps & Stuff in Longview, TX. So here's the deal. You make up a card (according to specs given) and then you put all of the stuff that each person will need in order to make your sample in the shoebox. Then everyone works on their own until they have completed each shoebox card. We had a box lunch brought in so that we didn't have to take time out to leave to go eat. Not only do you get to go home with all of these pretty cards but it also forces you to try some techniques that you normally wouldn't try. The little girl one in the back right....she is all watercolor. The middle one in the back...all clear stamps on the right side of the card and I swear it looks like patterned paper. It is so cool. This was a total blast mostly because we had a good group of women that participated. We are all looking forward to doing this again. Fun Fun Fun!

Everything is Better

Yet another quick card. I was trying to use up some pre-stamped cards that I had. I covered the base of the card with Denim paper. I ran the bandanna paper through my crimper. Then I stamped the paisley onto the card and added the brads to give it some life.

Stamps: SU! - Ink: Distress Walnut - Paper: from HL

Kick Up Your Heels

Not a real clear picture but you can get the gist. Sorry guys I'm really working hard on becoming proficient in this new blog world. This is another simple card. Bottom half is printed paper and top half was stamped with paisley and star stamps. The conches are embossed with silver embossing powder and in real life it makes them look like real metal. The strip across the middle is actually tweed looking paper as I couldn't find any ribbon along these lines. I looked everywhere. You know how it goes...when you don't need it you see it everywhere but when you finally need it ..it can't be found? Yep that's true life. Anyway fast and simple card.

Stamps: Deadbeat designs and SU! - Inks: Distress Walnut - Techniques: Embossing - Paper: not sure again

Egg Hunt

Who doesn't still love to hunt Easter eggs? This is probably about as simple as it gets here folks. The eggs are just cut out from designer paper and matted on white to make them stand out. Egg hunt was inked with a marker and stitched around edges to add color with orange marker. That' pretty much sums it up. I love easy!

Stamps: $1 bin Michaels - Paper: Paper Studio, Doodle by Design - Embellishments: brads, pop dots - Markers: Zig

The Old Rugged Cross

OK! I just have to say that I love how this card turned out. I'm not sure if it is the colors or just the fact of the cross and what it means to me personally. I had fun putting this card together and it came together rather easily for a change. You know how sometimes you just work and fret and move and change stuff to get it to come out right? Well this one came together first try. I stamped off the cross once before stamping it on the oval to give it more of a rugged distressed look. Well here are the details. Hope you like!

Stamps: SU Refuge and strength - Paper: Not sure but came from HL - Ink: Designer Ink Fern Green, Distress Ink Walnut - Embellishments: brads Punches: SU ticket punch, Marvy scallop

Easter Chicky

Isn't he such a cute little fella? This was stamped and colored with my Prismacolors and chalked around the outside for shadow. I stamped Mr. Chicky on a Marvy circle scallop and punched holes around the edges. The rikrak is actually foam pieces that I have had for years. Very simple card but very bright and cheery.

Stamps: $1 bin at Michaels - Technique: Prismacolor - Embellishments: Adhesive foam strips

Easter Blessings

Here we go with Easter cards. It is coming early this year. I cased this card from unknown source off of Splitcoast. This is a card that I did for our local Stamper's Nite Out card swap which is actually this Friday. I hope they all like it.

Paper: K1 Memories

Techniques: Embossing, faux stitching

Embellishments: Dew Drops, ribbon, wire

Whew I'm Tired!

OK! Well I got all of my Valentine cards uploaded so tomorrow I will try to get caught up with Easter and then all of the rest of what I have. I really and truly hope that you are enjoying looking at my blog and that you will come back and visit often. I love scrapbooking and card making and I love sharing my thoughts and ideas with others. This is my passion and my release from everyday life. Sometimes you just gotta have some fun. For those of you out there that don't have a hobby I suggest you get one.....it sure makes life a lot more enjoyable. Thanks for stopping by and come back often.

You're A Good Thing Baby

This is another one of my favorites. The colors (again in person) are so pretty. The background paper is from Hobby Lobby and the stamp set is Stampin Up! This was also a sketch challenge on http://splitcoaststampers.com. I outlined the hearts and colored the flowers with Zig markers and added Stickles for sparkle. The sentiment was actually stamped this time on vellum and outlined with my Zig markers. The inside of the card actually says "and you're a good thing baby"!

Thanks for looking!

From the Heart

This was a card that I did for Stamper's Nite Out at our local stamp store BStamps & Stuff. I just love the colors on this card. This took me a while to get it right but it finally came together to meet my satisfaction. The heart stamp is from Stampin Up! The printed paper is from Hobby Lobby. The squares are from a punch and the sentiment is a stamp also from Hobby Lobby. I promise you guys I will do much better at keeping up with the companies and items that I use after I get all caught up with my posting. I'm just so excited to actually finally be posting so let's not push the issue. ha ha

Hearts Galore

This card is so bright and cheery in person. Wish you could see the colors better. Anyway this was stamped and colored with Prismacolors and blended with Gamsol. This is what they call a kickstand card. Hope you like it.

Simple and Easy Heart Card

The background was again Cuttlebugged. I mean afterall, it is my new favorite toy. The hearts were die cut with my Sizzix and there is a rose on the top left of the large heart. Not a real clear picture but you can get the gist of it. Very simple and very easy but very cute in real life. Hope you are liking what you are seeing so far. I have a bunch to go to get caught up but hope you are getting some inspiration from looking at my work.

I Give You My Heart

This card was a lot of fun. The background of the card was Cuttlebugged (my new favorite toy). The stamp was colored with Prismacolors and blended with Gamsol. I matted it on Mulberry paper. The glitter heart is from Hobby Lobby. Sentiment was again done on computer.

You Hold the Key To My Heart

Thought you might be tired of pink so I thought I would throw in this one. I embossed the key and the heart with bronze embossing powder. The heart brads are Spare Parts and the string is embroidery floss. This card is really pretty up close because the colors are so rich and bold. Again printed the sentiment off of the printer, cut, and inked edges. This was also a sketch challenge 28 on http://splitcoaststampers.com/. If you have not ever been to this site you really need to check it out. It is awesome and filled with many ideas and techniques and wonderful galleries.

Let Me Call You Sweetheart

The hearts at the bottom of the card were cut out with my Sizzix. Then I just layered them to fill in the gaps and addes some Stickles. I did case this card from someone but not sure who. This is actually a stamp free card. No stamping was involved. The Sweet Heart was printed off of the computer and punched out with Stampin Up! word punch.

Mad About You

Whew! I have a lot of catching up to do but I'm going to get there. On this card I cut an oval out of the front of the card using my coluzzel and stamped the sentiment and chalked over it. I cut a slit in the left side to run the ribbon through. Very simple and fast card. Just love those kind don't you?

Just Give Me Kisses

Well here I go. I am finally going to get to put some of my cards on here. I am going to start with some Valentines and then go from there. The lips are actually a sticker and I put Diamond Glaze over them to make them really shiny and added some Irredescent Stickles. The rest is self explanatory. Hopefully I will get better at taking pictures too so you can see the colors better. In the meantime, I am having a blast. Please check back often to see what all I have accomplished.

Looky See Looky See

Ok so I am playing around trying to figure out how to post with a picture so that I can get ready to upload my cards. Yeah by golly I think I've got it. This is a picture of my BFF and her ornery husband Bo on her birthday last year. Aren't they just so cute? Well I am well on my way now so let's see what happens. Still don't have a computer at home to download pics to but am almost positive my cool BFF will help me out with that so that I can get some posted very very soon. She's the best! Now with all of that flattery how can she refuse right? Hee hee Be back soon!