Father's Day is coming up!

Father's Day is coming soon, on June 19th this year in the U.S. 

I just delivered a batch of cards for dads to Arts Plus Gallery this afternoon, including the two you see here.

For dads who love to make yummy breakfasts, a cute card using Lawn Fawn's Love 'n Breakfast. How sweet is that frying pan??

This next card is much more distressed in style, and aimed at guys who enjoy fishing and / or boating.

The anchor is a relatively new purchase, from Amazon. There is no name on the wood block. I love the engraving style of the illustration. The fish image is one of my oldest stamps, from a company called Bizarro. The harlequin pattern in the background is from Inkadinkado, and the sentiment is from Inspired By Stamping. A bit of heavy-duty garden twine and a snippet of cream twill give texture to this card.

I've got at least one more card for Father's Day to share with you soon.  Until then, have a beautiful day!

Chevron Love

Hey!  Are you still there?  Because I"m still here! 

It's been a while since I posted, obviously. So much has been going in our little corner of the world. Some days, it's hard to keep up! I just go with the flow of it.

Our oldest daughter got her driver's license today! And we recently leased a 2016 Toyota Corolla for her (shout out to Holman Toyota - great job, guys!), to get her safely to and from college as a commuter this fall. 

She is SERIOUSLY excited. :-D

And now, we enter a new phase of life, with a child who drives. 

I already had the worries creep into me this afternoon, as both of my girls went together alone to the mall for dinner, the eldest one testing out that brand new license. I keep reminding myself that we are not to worry in this life, and instead give it all to the One who watches over our every move. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out....

P.S. - Supplies for today's card include an Altenew sentiment, heart die from MFT, paper by Stampin' Up!, sequins from Pretty Pink Posh, and a frame from Papertrey Ink.

Precious Babies

Hi there! Just popping in with a couple of baby cards that are destined for the shop soon.

Each one uses goodies that I found in a scrap bag which I bought from my Stampin' Up! demonstrator. Love that onesie diecut! Even the little beads, spelling out 'precious', came in the scrap bag.

We haven't seen much sun in these parts in a while (briefly on Sunday, but before that, well, I can't recall!). It's beginning to feel like Seattle must feel, or perhaps the English countryside! Soon enough, we'll have blazing summer sun, and I'll be missing the more temperate, cloudy days we have now. :-)

Ivy Wreath for Mom

I've had a thing for ivy wreaths for years, so it was fun to create one on paper with a Close To My Heart 'Remarkable Wreath' stamp set. 

I cut a tag with a My Favorite Things tag die, then punched a circle to add to the top. I added a bow, using vintage linen twine. I plucked this spool from the curbside of a nearby house (the resident was moving, and threw out things that I consider little gems -- 'one man's trash is another man's treasure'! -- like this twine.)

I used two colors of green to stamp the leaves, over top a twig-brown wreath base. The golden bow is a snippet from a Memory Box die that features two wedding rings, dangling from this bow. I used golden-mirror cardstock, then just cut off the rings. Love when you can get more use out of your supplies! 

I also added tiny dots of white Liquid Pearl 'berries' around the wreath.  Can you see them?

The tag was offset to the left of the cardbase, and seemed to need a little something extra on the bottom right side of the card. I tucked in bits of a white paper doily for subtlety.  The sentiment is from an older Flourishes stamp set.

I really appreciate you joining me here for a little while.  Have a terrific day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello, and Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there! Hope you're having a swell day with those you love. :-)

I'm enjoying mine, and have spent many hours in my craft studio. Aaah!  We went to church in the morning, and because my youngest is in the Confirmation class this year, it was her class's responsibility to host the annual Mother's Day Pancake Breakfast. My daughter mixed the pancake batter, and my husband was cooking them. Other kids cut up fresh fruit, and set tables, and serve our 'patrons'. My heart swells with pride for my own family, knowing that they helped many families have a delicious morning. :-)

And now, a few cards to share. The one above showcases a large, beautiful K & Co. lilac bouquet diecut. I added a sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Tiny Tags, a scattering of sequins, a twine bow, and even droplets of 'water' (Glossy Accents glue).

I love the soft shades of blue on the next card. Again, I used some K & Co. beauties (the flowers). I tucked some Sizzix diecut leaves behind the larger cluster. The sentiment is from Verve, and wow, what a powerful proverb for a special mother! 

This last card is obviously not a Mother's Day card, but it is one of the creations that recently left my craft desk to go to the shop. The dogwood branch and sentiment are both from Hero Arts. I used soft tones of warm gray for the card base, and the ink.

As always, please feel free to drop me a line if you have a question about any of the products I've used. I just don't have as much time as I used to, to include supply lists for my cards. Thanks for understanding!

Have a beautiful, blessed day!

Floral Wreath for Mom

Hello! 

Mother's Day is just around the corner, and I've got a clean and simple card to share today.

I embossed the card base with the Starry Night embossing folder by Sizzix, and topped it with a little 'wreath'. With a Hydrangea punch (Martha Stewart), I gathered an assortment of blossoms (some colored with Copic markers) around a stamped doily frame (Papertrey Ink's Tag-Its #5).

The sentiment is also from PTI, Tiny Tags. I get so much mileage out of that set!

Stamps: frame - Tag-Its #5, sentiment - Tiny Tags - Papertrey Ink Paper: white - Papertrey Ink; Pink Pirhouette - Stampin' Up! Ink: Basic Gray - Stampin' Up!; Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko Accessories & Tools: Hydrangea punch - Martha Stewart; Copic markers; circle die - Spellbinders; Starry Night embossing folder - Sizzix; White Opal Liquid Pearls - Ranger

December 25th

Yes, I've got a Christmas card to share today.  :-)

Forgive me:  most of my blog post drafts are Christmas-related. I need time to photo-edit more of the cards I've made over the last 6 months! Seems I'm only sitting at my home computer on the weekend, and then only for a short bit of time before I'm off and running with other things (yawn....some of them are boring things...laundry, cleaning the house, restocking groceries, etc. - but they are necessary!).  

You get it, right?  The "25" on this card?

It's all about December 25th, Christmas Day! 

This little stamped circle was in one of those ah-mazing $1 or $2 scrap bags I get from my Stampin' Up! demonstrator. That was the nugget that inspired the rest of this card.

I layered a gold-embossed Filigree Star (DRS Designs) behind it, added sequins, a mod looking Christmas tree (Hero Arts), and assorted other little touches.

Last weekend, I planted a blueberry bush in our yard. I'm excited for an eventual harvest of delicious berries! I've got to watch out for birds...I think they like 'em too. Never planted berries before, and am hoping it is well worth it. I've been a flower gardener all my life, but I'm beginning to put food in the yard, too. Natural disasters in parts of the world that supply food to us all have me thinking hard about the matter.

Hey, thanks to EACH and every one of you who visit here, read through my posts, or take time to leave a comment. You warm my heart, and I am grateful!

Stamps: Filigree Star - DRS Designs; Merry Christmas Trees - Hero Arts; O Christmas Tree - JustRite Papercrafts; French Script background, "25" - unknown set - Stampin' Up! Accessories & Tools: gold embossing powder - Stampin' UP!; gold sequins - Pretty Pink Posh; scalloped-top tag - Stampin' Up! 

Minty Birthday Wishes

Hello!  I hope you're in the midst of enjoying your weekend.  Here in NJ, we're actually having some beautiful Spring days.  Monday it's supposed to reach 80 degrees, which is a mite bit too warm, too fast for me.  I'm not a fan of sweating too early in the season!  

Last weekend, my family and I helped pack over 46,000 meals at a Feed My Starving Children Mobile Pack event near us.  It's my second year doing this, along with my eldest daughter.  This year, we brought along hubby and our other daughter, as well.  It's a lot of fun!  In two hours' time, we packed enough meals to feed 78 under-nourished children for a year.  That's pretty terrific!

I wish I'd done things like this earlier in my kids' lives, to get them accustomed to serving others. Now, as teens, their brains are more interested in scrolling through social media sites.  -_- 

My card today uses a little bit of this, a little bit of that, alongside some cute papers from American Crafts and a sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Daily Designs Sentiments.  I hope you like it!

I'm still making cards every weekend (focus right now: Mother's Day), but am spending far less time on the computer at home.  My job requires that I am on a computer for 8 full hours a day, and by the time I get home, I don't want to see another one. :-D

And, I'm about to make a quilt for our niece/nephew who will be born in the next couple of months. A new baby!  Squeal!  Haven't seen one in a loooong time.  We are excited for the new-parents-to-be.  They don't live close to us, but we look forward to seeing pictures and FaceTiming (is that a verb?) to meet that precious little bundle when he/she arrives.

Textural Grays

Hello there!  I've missed you!  I'd like to share a story about a project I recently worked on, and at the same time show you a card. Hang in 'til the end of this post for info on the card, plus a recipe for Jewish Apple Cake. 

Life has been very busy, to say the least. :-D 

What little time I've had for crafting has been spent not on cards, but on a birthday gift for my husband.  For the last two weeks, I've been sneakily putting together a scrapbook for him, but there aren't too many photos in it.  

Instead, I took a cue from my clever sister-in-law and did the following: 

I asked friends and family -- including old neighbors -- to share memories/anecdotes of my husband, or to give advice on turning a "big number", or to just say what comes to mind when they hear my hubby's name.  I received the loveliest assortment of endearing and sometimes funny words from many folks.  

Then I copied-and-pasted these memories into a Word document, changed up the font for each submission, printed on heavier-weight cardstock, trimmed and placed on sheets of 8x8 patterned paper.

A few folks did send me photos, so I included those, as well.  My husband was very touched by this special scrapbook. :-D

A few words about today's card:  I love gray.  I managed to squeeze in quite a few shades of it on this project. The patterned damask paper has two tones of gray, and the focal point cluster offers a few more. The velvet rectangle, complete with stitching, is from a sweater of mine. Looks great on a card, doesn't feel so good against the bare skin of my neck. It itched me. I like it better here. :-) 

The fabric rose is another bit from a sweater, but this one is from my daughter's.  The edge of her {brand new} sweater sleeve ripped off one day (sigh), so I cut the other sleeve to match, called it a "new look", and decided to make a rose from the cast-off piece. It's pretty uncomplicated; I just rolled it and rolled it until it looked like something. ;-)  And -- one more touch of gray -- under the "for you" sentiment circle, there's a small rectangle piece of mirrored cardstock.  Hard to capture it in a photo!

Paulette asked for the Jewish Apple Cake recipe my husband made for my birthday.  Happy to share!

Jewish Apple Cake

• 3 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4 large apples, preferably Granny Smith, pared and diced (add sugar and cinnamon to taste)

Put eggs, oil, orange juice and vanilla in large bowl and beat.  Add flour, baking powder, salt and sugar -- beat slowly.

Grease tube pan - put half batter in pan, then lay most of apples on batter.  Add remaining batter and top with remaining apple mixture. 

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 1/2 hours - 1 hour 45 minutes. Use cake tester in center of cake to make sure it comes out clean.

Note:  my husband used one of the four apples to decorate the top of the cake.  Instead of dicing that fourth apple, he sliced it, and arranged the slices on the top of the cake.

 

As I said before, this is my FAVORITE birthday cake!

Thanks for coming by! 

Stamps: Tiny Tags - Papertrey Ink Paper: Basic Gray, Very Vanilla - Stampin' Up!; gray damask - Recollections; silver mirror cardstock - WorldWin Fibers: green felt - JoAnn; velvet tag from a sweater; light gray sweater material (rose) Accessories & Tools: Sparkling Clear sequins - Pretty Pink Posh; circle punch - Stampin' Up!; velvet tag from sweater; Modern Leaves die - Avery Elle

Wee little sailboat

Hello everyone!  Thank you so much for saying hello after last week's post here on my blog.  It's nice to hear from you! :-)

I had a big birthday last week, and it was a day that made me happy. I did have to work, but what a lovely surprise to go in to the office and see my cubicle decorated with shamrocks and "over the hill" signs.

After work, my hubby took the kids and me to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and, yes, the waitress did sing happy birthday to me. :-) Back at home, we shared a Jewish Apple Cake, homemade by hubby and my eldest daughter. It was delicious! That's my favorite type of birthday cake, ever. Ages ago, when I was young in years, my stepmom made one of those for my birthday, and I've been hooked ever since!

I also received some beautiful cards from crafty friends.  Take a look:

Leslie Miller

LeAnne Pugliese

Bonnie Klass

Aren't they beautiful?

I am blessed, indeed. :-D

The card I'm sharing today was made with a little baby boy in mind, but there are some feminine touches on here, so maybe it could be for a girl?

Hope you have a terrific week!

Stamps: sentiment, stars - Owl Be Thinking of You; sailboat, waves - It's A Shore Thing - The Craft's Meow Accessories & Tools: Sparkling Clear, Marshmallow sequins - Pretty Pink Posh; circle die - Spellbinders; Copic markers; sewing machine

Carte Postale

Hello my friends!  Happy Sunday to you. :-) 

Just wanted to pop in and let you know I'm still alive. ;-)

Last weekend, we got new carpeting in a couple of our rooms, and on the stairs, too.  The living room carpet is a frisee/frieze (I found two different spellings for it on the 'net), also known as a twist fiber.  I believe it's the more conservative relative of the shag carpet.  Anyway, we had the frisee made into an area rug, by having the carpet store bind the edges.  Before we laid it down in the living room, we had to first remove the old area rug, and then clean the hardwood floor.  WOW. The floor was FILTHY, and we consider ourselves decent housecleaners! (guess not)

We mopped the hardwood with, first, Murphy's Oil Soap -- five times.  The rinse water wasn't so bad at that point.  Then we used a Bona product for hardwood floors, plus their special applicator mop. It put a really nice shine on the wood!  I do recommend it, if your wood floors need a boost. 

You didn't come here to listen to me talk about floors, did you?  Of course not! 

The card I'm sharing today uses Carte Postale by Stampin' Up!, along with a text-y background stamp from Hero Arts called Old French Script.  I stamped it near the bottom and the top of the card, over top of the green patterned paper.  Not sure if you can see it, but there are some tiny pearls and a little sequin at the bottom, too.

By all means, if you have any questions about the supplies I used on any of the cards I've made, just leave a comment (and a way to get back to you), or email me (see the Contact Me tab near the top of the blog).

Time to run.  Still have a lot left on my to-do list today, and with the loss of one hour from setting our clocks ahead, I'm feeling behind!  Thanks for coming by today!

Little Boy Blue

Hello there!  I hope you've had a good week since we last got together here. :-)

This last week at work was very, very busy for me. Business seems to have picked up, and that's a good thing!  I had NO energy left by the time I'd get home.  Instead of heading up to my craft studio, I succumbed to the lure of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune on TV. It was my feeble attempt to have a little fun.  Ha!

I'm working on getting my Etsy shop open, little by little. I've already got a shop -- https://www.etsy.com/shop/CDietrichDesigns -- but there are no listings in it yet. 

There are many things to consider, with 'branding', packaging, shipping, etc. I need a shop banner, too, and it's taking a little while to create. My darling 14 year old daughter helped me with it last weekend, using GIMP (a free editing tool, very similar to Adobe Photoshop). It needs a bit of tweaking, but wow, what a great help she was to me!

The card I'm sharing today really has my heart. Yes, it's intended for a little baby boy, with all that blue, but it is rather frilly. In my opinion, baby cards are really meant to appeal to mom and dad, anyway, so I'm sure this would be appreciated by a special couple who are blessed with a new little boy. :-)

If you have any questions on the materials I've used, please feel free to email me (look for the "Contact Me" tab at the top of the blog) or leave a comment and a way to reach you.

Thanks so much for taking a peek today, and hope you have a great day!