Trick or Treat & A Happy Pumpkin

Hello friends! 
Halloween cards in July?  Sure, why not!  I made two cards with this elegant black and orange patterned paper from Stampin' Up!.

I get lots of mileage out of this kitty die from Memory Box (Large Sitting Cat).  I paired this black cat with gold glitter paper, gold sequins, and a trick or treat paper die cut (maker unknown).

There are also some stars - one glittered, one shiny gold.

How cute is this Jolee's Boutique pumpkin sticker?  I placed him on black cardstock, then made a shaker pocket using clear acetate, gold and black sequins, and used my sewing machine to stitch 'round and 'round to seal it all in.

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up!'s All Holidays stamp set.

Thanks for your visit today, and I hope you have a great weekend ahead!  God bless you!

Happy Independence Day!

Hello, and Happy Independence Day to my American friends!  I don't have a single patriotic card in today's mix, but I wish I did.  I'm grateful to live in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.  My thanks to all who serve our country. 

My family and I went in the pool today, as it was 92 degrees outside and very humid.  It was wonderfully relaxing. 😄

I had a chance today to photo-edit some card pictures so I can share them here on my neglected blog. As you may notice, I still photograph my cards the same way as always, in my light-tent with the cards standing upright.  Much as I love to see others photograph their cards flat on a surface, with beautiful accessories that change depending upon the look of the card, I am comfortable continuing to do things my way. If I had a less hectic schedule, maybe I'd be able to play around more with the flat photography and props. I'm lucky if I get time just to take pics of the cards.  LOL

Thanks for taking a peek!  If you have any questions about the supplies I used, please feel free to leave me a comment with a way to get back to you, or email me (see side bar).

I used snippets of things lying on my desk to create this birthday card.

My inspiration:  the stamped sentiment, which I found in a Stampin' Up! scrap bag.
I stamped the Fabulous You (SU) shoe, colored and trimmed, to go with it.

Always in need of more New Homes cards for the shop, I used Papertrey Ink's Boards and Beams sentiment, and Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Home house.  Paper is by Webster's Pages.

See?  Another new home card!  More Webster's Pages patterned paper, a metal key, PTI Keep It Simple: Home sentiment, butterfly from SU Nature Walk.

Papertrey Ink's Think Big Favorites #16 fills in the bottom portion of this thank you card quite well.
The felt flowers and orange flower brad are ollllddd Stampin' Up! accessories.  The gorgeous patterned paper is by SU, too.

Another new home card, and another metal key.  I like the keys. :-) 
More PTI sentiments:  Boards and Beams, and Tiny Tags.

Get your sunglasses on!  This is old Stampin' Up! Pixie Pink cardstock, embossed with Cuttlebug Roses, topped with My Favorite Things Sensational Stitched Flowers -- cut from pink and green glitter paper.

A pink and cocoa sympathy card, using a leaf stamp from Altenew's Build-A-Flower: Rose; sentiment from PTI Tag-Its #5; a snippet of cocoa velvet ribbon; vintage thread bow; pearls, and a Blush Blossom cardstock base.

Bold birthday card! Love the whimsical Stampin' Up! patterned paper, paired with a thin strip of copper metallic cardstock. The 'hello gorgeous' sentiment was a freebie from Altenew.

More Pixie Pink cardstock brightness!  I stamped a lacy border from Inspired By Stamping Delicate Doilies II in pink alongside pink patterned paper (?).  I stamped the Anna Griffin 'thank you' sentiment/scroll, trimmed it and added to the top of the card.  The pale gray stamped flower bouquet in jar vase is from Unity's Countryside Blooms (love!).

It started with the little circular stamped sentiment, found in a scrap bag.  I built out from there, in soft shades of blue and green.  The bear, balloon and butterflies are from PinkFresh Studio's Playful Animals 1 stamp set.  I stamped the bear in Wplus9's Warm Wool ink; what a comforting gray hue. 

And one more new home card for the road!  More Webster's Pages patterned paper...it does the heavy lifting here.  A stamped birdcage from Stampin' Up!'s Nature Walk in pink ties in with the birdcage in the paper.  And favorite Papertrey Ink sentiments of mine appear here, too:  Tiny Tags, and Keep It Simple: Home.

Thank you for hanging through a long and photo-heavy post!

God bless you!

Love, laughter and smooth sailing

Well hello there!
It's been a while since I've been here on my blog.  Life is whirring by.  When I stand back and look at the things that occupy me, it's not much "on paper", but oh how it fills my time!  Mine is a simple life, but a very rich one.  I am indeed blessed. 😄

These cards were made a while back, and it just so happens that they were waiting in draft form in Blogger for me to post.  Makes it easy on this busy morning.  I have to take my cat, Cristabel, to the vet this morning.  She's been throwing up A LOT in the past day.  On Tuesday night, I had given her some new treats from a company called "Get Naked" - Furball Relief Semi-Moist Treats.  I'm not exactly sure this is the cause of all the vomiting, but it's the only different thing in her routine.  The vet asked me to bring the bag of treats with me for the visit.  Poor Cristabel.  She's such a sweet cat, and we hate to see her feeling so poorly.

With the exception of the first card in this post, all the rest have something to do with water.  Speaking of boats and water, part of what has been keeping me so very busy is attending regattas on the weekends for our youngest daughter.  She's a rower on the Crew team at her high school.  When you attend a regatta, it's an all-day deal.  Many times she had an 8:00 am rowing time slot, and the kids have to be there two hours ahead of time.  So we'd get up super early and have her to the boats by 6:00.  Then we (the parents) wait.  The rowers go by so fast, so we don't see them for very long, but oh how exciting it is to watch!  After they row back up to where they started, they've got to de-rig the boat for travel back to our local boathouse.  Then the kids walk to the food tents (where all the spectators/parents are), and maybe catch a couple more teammates' races before heading home.  Yep, full day.  And we've done it in all kinds of weather, mostly the not-good kind.  😏  We've had snow, hail, rain, wind, clouds, FREEZING temps, and occasionally, a nice sunny day (but that's rare this year).  It's like camping every weekend.  And I'm not a camper.  LOL

She's had a tremendous year, and earned three medals!!  We're so proud of her!  She is in great shape, has more discipline than ever before (these kids practice before school from 5-7 a.m.), and has learned a great deal about the power, stamina and endurance she has within her.  💖

I had to take a close up pic to show you the 'waves':  they're made of ripped vellum.  I mounted them on a piece of watercolor paper that had been gently washed with blue paint, then die cut with a Spellbinders Large Deckled Rectangles die.  Also cut the same out of craft foam to layer beneath the panel.  Then I glued a piece of jute rope around the scene, creating a nautical frame.

This last card is super simple, and I made it for a child.  It uses craft foam stickers (sun, waves, palm trees) from a dollar store.

That's it for me for now; time to get Cristabel packed into her carrier, and that's a real job!
Have a blessed day!