Kiss Me!

So, how is the first quarter of your year going!?!

Spring is here.... 3 months into 2016, what is new with you?

I have a lot on my mind, but it's all good stuff!  Once again I'm saying there is so much to create, and not enough time.  There are so many things I want to do, but I'm doing what I should do... and then adding bits and pieces.... here and there!  And I'm good with that.

Last holiday..... St. Patrick's Day.  Was it Lucky for you?

Here are the cards I sent to my kids. Now they'll know that everyone gets the same thing...yet each once is filled with love to them!!  Every day is a holiday.... of some sort.  But with cards..... I can add a gift card in it and let them know how proud I am of them, that I miss them, that I think of them often.... just as simple as that.

I'm lucky to be able to #createeveryday

Good Luck

You might know that I was fortunate enough to have two very special friends who purchased gifts of Card of the Month from me.  I send out 5 specialty creative greeting cards every month.  You've heard of fruit of the month club, or wine of the month.... this is card of the month or COTM.  I take some special time to create cards that reflect the season, or holiday for the next month.  This week I mailed out the cards for March and they have a St. Patricks' Day theme.

People often say, I don't send out cards for St. Paddy's day, or Halloween or even Valentine's day.... and to that I say phooey!!!!!!  If you have special people in your life, there is never a bad time or a Hallmark holiday that doesn't give you a chance to connect or re-connect and let someone know you are thinking of them, they are special, you hope they are having a good day, or a good week.  We all know that we'd rather get FuN MaiL.....  than another bill or junk mail!!!

The card really doesn't say anything about St. Patrick's Day.... it's green, it has a few 4 leaf clovers and it says Good Luck on the inside..... but you really could send it for any reason.  All cards were doodled and then colored in with water color pencils.  Computer generated sentiment.

And as part of the unique COTM, each 'member' gets a special something else.  I've been having a blast making tags and they get two each.  Tags like this are almost a card themself.... or the would look great on a gift box, tied to the neck of a bottle of wine, or even tied around a candy bar with curly ribbon!! Good Luck can be wished upon, anytime of the year!

The day you decide to do it is your lucky day - Japanese Proverb

Figuring the Code

- Next Holiday
- Blast from the Past

I'm learning how to scan both documents and photos and send them to the lap top to edit. A bit of a challenge as you will see below. I'm also taking an online class with Heidi Swapp and Jessica Sprague (talented woman in the scrapping world) and learning Photo Shop. My mind is just swelling with being technologically savvy. So, I think I need to take a break and go back to actual hands on creating with paper, and punches, and glitter and brads and doodles etc.... Wow! This has been an interesting week of creating! Next holiday....toss up... Mardi Gras... or the luck of the Irish, St. Paddy's day! Send FuN MaiL!!!!!! (subliminal message)


Look it snowed!! Yes in Wisconsin, yes in February... yes in 2000. This picture was taken in my parents back yard about 6 weeks before we moved back to Wisconsin having lived in Tennessee for 5 years. The kids hadn't see this much snow in a very long time. My 'little' pipsqueeks at 4-1/2 years and 6-1/2 years....awwwww

You get half a Huggy here. Still trying to figure out why the document wouldn't center and scan properly. My cards evolved again... and went from the Huggy doodle....on the back of the card to the computer generated cards... this is circa 1999. I used the bar code on the back and I put the date on, like a scanner number i.e. 02 25 20 11..... (I thought I was clever, but you don't know how long it took to design a bar code from trying to line up the lines) I also said who or what the card was for. Each card then was made for someone/thing specific... not for fun to go in my 'stash'.

Good Luck

Here's a little lucky guy that I was inspired to make. I'm thinking here that St. Patricks's day really isn't THAT big of a holiday, but there have to be a few better images out there of little leprechauns, or clovers or something? I practiced with my shading here on this card. That is so fun give a flat piece of paper some dimension and with a little shadow, the image pops up off the page. (well a tiny bit) I did try to do some stitching on this card, but the bobbin wasn't really liking going through the card stock, so... I didn't get the smoothest look I wanted, but it's still kind of 'edge-y'.


We're off to Indianapolis today for a volleyball tournament. We're going to stop and have lunch at Arnie's in Lafayette IN, a favorite place we ate at every time we went 'home' to visit DH's parents. We're going to meet up with his mom today!! Then off for a weekend of volleyball.

This should be good... last year I drove in 6" of blinding snow/blizzard conditions and I was the team chaperone, first time ever doing that... and sheesh... some of the other parents... needed to take a chill pill, yikes!!! But this time, I've got my hubby with me, I'm NOT chaperoning, and we now know we can actually leave the 14 year olds behind and not have to worry. Cross our fingers for a fun weekend and some winning!!!

Shamrock Hello Tree

So I was blurffing... is that the term for surfing on blogs? I think so... and saw this cute image and was inspired to change it from the valentine card, to a st. paddy's day card. Original colors were the pink and red and hearts on the tree, to the greens with the shamrock(ish) ornaments. I just loved the results.


This is similar to something from way long ago, I believe it was Stamps By Judith, where she had a tree branch stamp, and then all the seasons. So, next month you can make an Easter Egg tree.... pumpkins, ornaments, stars (4th of July), bones (for a dog), fish (for a cat) flower heads, oak leaf... you get the idea. Too, too cute!!!

Used my nestabilities to get the circle scallop, then used all my SU! punches for the circles. DP is scraps still left from a SU! purchase.

The Sun is shinning, the sky is a brilliant blue, we got a dusting of snow last night and it's 9 degrees outside. Have a great day!

Patti-bella

Don't know if that's her actual name, or if someone turned a 'party' bella in to a St. Patrick's day girl, but here is my inspired piece. You can say you don't celebrate the Hallmark Holidays, but wouldn't it be great to have on hand, a card you can send out to tell someone your thinking of them?

I'm off today @@, so I think I'm going to try and clean my craft room a bit. I have some fresh blender pens somewhere that I can't find!! Blender pens, ha ha... if you don't know what those are, you'd think, cardmaking and a blender, how does that work? Add a little juice and just whip it up! Actually, what the blender pens do, is have a bit of moisture in them, so you can blend the water color pencils together and smooth out the image you just colored in. Added a touch of stickles to the top of her fun hat and the cupcake! Tried to make the bacground paper... the shamrocks are a bit shaking! Fun card.