Shopping Trip

Hi Everyone!

Some of you (Hi Cindy Montgomery!  Will talk to you soon.) love hearing about my shopping trips so today I want to tell you about Saturday’s.  Janet, Angela, and I left my house around 7:45. (Thank you so much for driving Angela.)  We stopped at Panera for breakfast and then Angela drove us to the CK Scrapbooking Conference in Manchester, NH. Our dear friend MaryBeth met us at the hotel. We didn’t attend any of the classes that were being offered. We went to the conference just to shop and shop we did.

What did I buy?

I bought the only 5 Memento ink pads I didn’t have in the original 24 colors. I bought them to coordinate with the Memento markers I bought a few weeks ago.

I found a Fiskars sailboat squeeze punch that I knew belonged in my collection.

I bought 6 rolls of the Queen and Company’s Washi tape (and had to restrain myself from buying more of it!)

Angela and I both loved (and purchased) some Teresa Collins paper pads.

I also loved some papers from Creative Imaginations

and Jillibean Soup.

I just had to buy 2 sets of The Stamps of Life clear stamps. Best of all I met Stephanie Barnard and her wonderful husband. I told them how much I enjoy their videos and how hard it was to resist buying all of their stamps!

After a yummy lunch in one of the hotel’s restaurants we got back into Angela’s car and went to Art Plus in Concord, NH. Art Plus is a Hero Arts Premier Retail Store and in addition to stamps from other companies carries more Hero Arts stamps than I have ever seen in any other store. We met the owner of the store who was as sweet and helpful as could be. I purchased some stamps and some Hero Arts flowers. When I looked at my photograph I realize I didn’t take a picture of a cute little Hero Arts wooden sun stamp that I also purchased.

After shopping at Art Plus we headed back to Manchester to shop at Hobby Lobby. None of us had been to a Hobby Lobby before because the Manchester one is I think the only one in New England.   We liked their ribbon.

I found some rub ons and buttons that I liked too.

We ate a yummy dinner at the 99 Restaurant in Manchester and had the nicest waitress named Angie.  Then we headed home with our bags of goodies.

It was a wonderful day filled with fun times with great friends.  I cannot wait to "play" with my new toys.

Have a nice night!

Carol

More Mother's Day Cards

Hi Everyone!

I'm back today to share a few more Mother's Day cards with you. 

Have a nice night!

Carol

Baby Cards, Graduation Cards, Mother's Day Card

Hi Everyone!

The card orders I have been receiving from my friends lately truly are a reflection of the circle of life: bridal shower, wedding, new baby boy, new baby girl, first birthday, high school graduation, college graduation, 80^th birthday, and sympathy, I’ve also been creating some gift cards, gift boxes, altered frames, and Mother’s Day cards. The infection in my ear continues to slow me down, but I had a productive day today.

I found some decorative photo corners from K & Company in my stash and decided to use them on some of my cards.

The clothes on the "It's a Boy" card are adhered to the card with foam tape.  The lace (courtesy of Diane) on the "It's a Girl" card is attached to the back of the layering paper.  The panel I attached to the front of the card also helps hold it in place. 

This graduation cap card that I first created about 2 years ago continues to be my most popular graduation card.

I use a template from the Klutz Press Handmade Cards book to create the card which folds into a square.  Here's the inside of the card.

I vary the colors of the caps and tassels so that they reflect the school colors of the graduate's school.  I use rectangular envelopes for 5" x 7" cards for the graduation cards because square envelopes are more expensive to mail. 

Here's one of the Mother's Day cards I made today.

I used a Hero Arts/Sizzix stamp and die cut set to create the flower. 

Have a great night!
Carol

Sympathy Cards

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I have been posting so irregularly lately.  I am still having problems with my right ear and have an appointment with an audiologist tomorrow.  The constant whooshing sound I have been hearing is driving me crazy and the intermittent pain is unbearable.  Hopefully the doctor will have some sort of immediate solution to get rid of both problems.

Meanwhile friends and friends of friends have been ordering all sorts of cards from me.  Graduation, new baby, sympathy, first birthday, shower, wedding,  and 80th birthday are among the requests I have received. 

Yesterday I made a variety of sympathy cards using some clear stamps from Hero Arts.  Most of the cards have some "purple" in them just because I was in the mood to use purple.  I feel that a pretty sympathy card may bring a smile to someone who is feeling sad.  Here are some of the cards I made.

Enjoy the rest of the night!

Carol

Mother's Day Cards

Hi Everyone!

I am feeling the tiniest bit better, but my ear is still clogged and it is driving me CRAZY!  Hopefully the medication the doctor gave me yesterday will work quickly. 

I watched a wonderful video earlier this week on stamping with markers presented by Julie Ebersole for Hero Arts.  I used that technique when I created a few cards this morning.  The Hero Arts newspaper tulip stamp is new to my collection and has already become one of my favorites.

I used the same technique to color the flower on this card.  The flower is from the Sizzix and Hero Arts Floral die and cling stamp set.

Hope you enjoy the rest of this beautiful sunny day!

Carol

Mother's Day Card

Hi Everyone!

When I was a little girl I had many ear infections.  I remember our doctor made house calls and we were put in our parent's bedroom when he came to call.  He prescribed medicine for whatever ailed us and gave us a handful of gumdrops to help us feel better. 

Until recently I hadn't experienced an ear infection for many years.  I forgot how painful they are and how they zap every ounce of energy out of me.  In the past week I have only made 3 cards.  I shared 2 of them with you yesterday and I'm going to share the 3rd one with you today. 

I used a Sizzix die to cut the flowers.  I cut each color twice and put some foam dots between each layer.  I used a Hero Arts clear stamp to stamp the message.

That's it for today.  Hopefully, my energy and desire to create will return soon.

Have a nice night. 
Carol

Denami Design's Ravishing Ribbons Blog Hop

Good Morning Everyone!

Welcome to Denami Design’s Ravishing Ribbons Blog Hop.

Here are the details for this hop.

When: The blog hop starts on April 15 at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until April 16, 2012, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible for a prize).

Why: To be inspired by fun DeNami Design creations and also the chance to win mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Design website!

Prizes: We are giving away THREE $20 gift certificates to our website! We'll be giving away one gift certificate to a random participant (DT members not eligible) and then we'll also be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment along the hop

If you started at the beginning of the hop you have arrived here from Kristy Smith's fun blog at

http://kbsmith34.blogspot.com/

If you get lost along the way you can always start at the beginning of the hop at http://www.denami.blogspot.com/

You have hopped onto Carol Hartery's blog.  

A few days ago Kimber McGray posted a tutorial on how to make ribbon rosettes on the

Scrapbooks and Cards Today blog. Her directions were so clear and easy to follow that I stopped what I was doing and created a ribbon rosette...and another...and another.

I made a flowerpot card using a pattern I created over a year ago from a card that my friend Susan sent me.

I cut a gift tag from white tag and stamped Denami Design’s “hey chickie” message stamp and Denami Design’s “Chickie with a flower” stamp onto it.

The flowers pull out of this interactive card and you could stamp one of Denami Design’s many message stamps onto that part of the card. You could also use the flowerpot as a gift card holder.

I created a second card for this hop and used the Denami Design birthday circle stamp and the Denami Design chickie with balloon stamp on it.

Before you hop along to Andrea Matthews creative blog at
http://workinprogress-am.blogspot.com/ , please leave a comment on this blog and consider becoming a follower. 

Have a wonderful day.
Carol

Happy Easter

Hope you have an EGGSeptionally wonderful Easter!
Carol

Spring Garden

Good Morning!

I thought I'd share a couple of the other cards I made using Claudine Hellmuth's "Spring Garden" clear stamp set.  I am so glad that I purchased this set.  It has already become my go-to-set for all occasion cards. 

I paper pieced the stamped images.   The sun was created with a die and the grass with a paper punch.  Instead of using the stamped images of water drops I used some jewels from my stash.  Don't you just love that watering can!

These stamped images were also paper pieced.  The flower in the center took a little extra time to fussy cut, but the flowerpots, the tulip and most of the leaves are easy. 

Enjoy this sunny day!
Carol

Marie's Birthday

Hi Everyone!

I'm beat.  We just celebrated Marie's 25th birthday.  In our family you get to choose the meal we'll have when it's your birthday.  Marie requested a turkey dinner and I was crazy enough to say I'd make one.  A turkey dinner isn't an ideal meal to prepare during the week, but I pulled it off.  We had turkey with gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash casserole, peas and cranberry sauce. 

I know I've mentioned Marie's love of daisies so I created a daisy fruit basket for her as the centerpiece.  The fruit was awesome and Marie loved the arrangement.  She started to eat it before we had photographed it, but it still looks pretty good. 

I had planned to make polka dot cupcakes, but instead I made some Boston Cream Pie ones and sprinkled daisy sprinkles on them.  I made some cupcake wrappers that looked like flower petals out of some patterne paper that is polka dotted on one side and striped on the other side.

Yesterday Aly Dosdall posted an awesome tutorial on how to create a paper flower embellishment on the Scrapbook and Cards Today blog.  Click here for the link to her post.  Here's one of the flowers I made.

I made 3 of them and adhered them to one of the gift bags I made for Marie.  I love the tone on tone look of it.  I also love how the simple act of inking each petal makes each of them stand out.

Okay, that's it for today.  I am hitting my pillow early tonight!

Have a great night.
Carol

Happy Birthday Marie

Hi Everyone!

Today is my daughter Marie's birthday, but we are actually having her family party tomorrow.  She has an exam tomorrow and is studying tonight, but we did spend part of the day together.  We went out for lunch and did some shopping and then she headed back to my sister's to study and spend the night because it's a shorter commute for her.

Marie loves daisies so I decided to make her a birthday card with some daisies on it. 

As you can see I used my Fiskars grass punch again and some of the paper that I sponge painted a few days ago for the background paper.  I stamped images from Claudine Hellmuth's "Spring Garden" clear stamp set onto some papers from Lawn Fawn's "Bright Side" collection and fussy cut those images.  Instead of cutting out the daisies from the clear stamp set, I paper punched some.  I added brads to their centers and pulled the petals upward to give the flowers dimension.  

Happy birthday, Marie!

Have a nice night.
Carol

Spring Garden

Hi Everyone!

When I was at Absolutely Everything last week I spotted a clear stamp set called "Spring Garden" by Claudine Hellmuth for Ranger.  It was the rubber boots stamps that caught my idea.  Loved those boots...had to own that set!

So I've been making cards with those stamps and for today I will share just one of those cards, but I promise to share some of the others soon. 

I sponge painted my background paper and used my Fiskars grass punch to cut the grass.  I used papers from Lawn Fawn's "Bright Side" collection to paper piece the boots and tulip plant.  LOVE that paper collection!  LOVE it!!!   I cut some scraps with a die to create the sun. 

I deliberately didn't put a message on this card.  I'll have it handy and when the time comes I'll stamp a message on it. 

Have a great day!
Carol