Happy New Year!

New blog! New me!! hee hee.... just have the time right now during the Holiday Break to play around with my blog. You might see changes again, since it is a work in progress. Click on the cyber animals and they will do tricks for you too!!

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Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

The Hefer Project

I think that's what it's called. A co-worker asked for two cards for her daughter to give to inform the gift recipient that a donation was made in their name to this organization that buys farm animals for people in third world countries, to help them have a good start in being productive.... or something like that. I thought these cute stacked animals would make a great 'for you' card!

be merry

A simple colorful card with a cute little elf, wishing you to 'be merry'. Cased the design from some other cool artist... pp from SU.... added a geometic paper clip and a real red ribbon! got holiday, be merry!

Fluffy snowman

A simple snowman image 'cased' wearing a fluffy hat and scarf, cuttlebuged the patterned paper with the snowflake embossing folder, added a little fiber and a 'fun'ky fluffy snowman greeting.

Teacher gifts

Here's a little packet I put together for the teacher's I work with and for:
1 pak 10 embossed gift tages
1 4 pak of smartly labeled chocolate nuggets
1 special unsigned holiday greeting card they can give to someone special
Seems to have been a hit! A small token of thanks and happy holidays!
Yay me!

Something other than a card

Found some notebooks and decided to alter them. So, here are the before and after pictures. I really like how they turned out. I'm using Wild Asparagus paper from a multi pack from HL... then added matching embellishments, brads, fibers, book plate. Then I also made a matching card (not pictured) but thought it would make a wonderful gift for the journal enthusiast.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to my blog peeps!!! Cooper wishes your season to be merry and bright!!

Rudy & Bird

Did I post this one already? Mmmm, don't remember, it's been another busy week. This is a cute case from the the Elyzabell stamp. Just copied and drawn by me! yay me! I used stickles for his red nose.

Did an open house last night. Exposure, not much in sales. I guess I like all my personal clients that have me make special cards for them. Not sure if I'd look too far in the future to do craft fairs. I need to rope them in, giving them FREE cards first.... then when they run out of my cute whimsy on a card... they HAVE to buy more... their friends and family expect it!!!!

Ho Ho Ho

Home from school today, due to an ice storm. So, I'm doing a little bit of this and that..... here's a card I made over the weekend. This is a stamped image I received from a SS (secret sister swap). I just colored it in a bit and 'slapped' it on!

Snow dudes

Okay, yes once again, I've not posted in a bit, but I have been making cards, wrapping gifts, going shopping, cleaning the house, making treats, creating cards.... whew, just like everybody else, how do the holidays sneak up so quickly. This post is a few more snowmen, my favorite kind of guy in the winter time. All cards are hand drawn by me, but all images are cased from much more talented artists who create unique characters that are fun and challenge for me to draw. I suppose I could do my own, but it's so fun to copy! Ssssshhh!!! Don't tell my kids that! Thanks for looking. I'll be posting more holiday/winter cards again!

Rudolph

No snowman today. This image is 'cased' from the Elyzabell (?) stamps. Which means I totally copied their image but drew it myself... a little reinder and birdie watch a snow flake fall. Nothing special about the card other than the cute image, basic image on background paper with a little embellishment on card stock. Rudy's nose is colored with red stickles!

Pooches Gracias!!

Got a request from Charlie's 'mom' for some more cards. Check out the slide show to see 5 thank you cards, truly original. Charlie is a terrier with shaggy hair.... so this image is mine... no casing, no copying. She had seen the text 'pooches gracias!!' and we talked about a sombrero..... and the result.... ta da!~

Thanks for looking.

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Stamp Camp Card

Here's a card I made last night at stamp camp! I look forward to going each month. Last night I was pooped, but here's one of my creations. I like the idea of using a hole punch to create the ornaments and the pompom on the snowman's hat.

Happy Birthday, Alyssa

The Elyzabells are so adorable! Here's my take (which if you don't know by now, means I drew my own version of her, very, very similar) This little one looks like a little friend of mine, so I thought she would be perfect on the front of November birthday card. Hope you are having a happy day!

Snowman III

Don't get too tired of viewing all my snowmen cards! I think he's going to be the one on this year's cards! Simple and whimsical.... just like me. HA HA! This card is just playing around with scraps of paper. No new techniques or tips... just my usual... image on white cards stock (hand drawn by me) colored in with water color pencils, slight outline and shadow with markers, plasterd on some sort of patterned paper or Embossed cuttlebug image... a little bling (ribbon, brad or buttons) and wa-LA, ta-da! A finished card.... ala prdesigns! Happy Day

Stitchin snowman

The layout of this card is similar to one on the front cover of the November issue of PaperCraft Mag. Last year I was in a holiday card swap that we got all the supplies and just needed to pull the cards together. Let me tell you, that was real 'sweet' to find in my card rotation (yeah right!) bin. I had totally forgotten about the swap... I have about 12 different cards I can make, so this was one of them. Check out my blog again real soon! Like I said before, I love makin' snowmen, the paper ones!!!

*** ps Kim!!! thanks for all your wonderful comments!!! to all my friends and family and lurkers too..... you can leave a comment, that you stopped by ****

Silly snowman

Okay, so is it untraditional or unconventional holiday colors? Is that the word I'm looking for? I don't know who makes this whimsy snowman.... of course I cased him from someone... which means I drew him.... but copied from some other talented artist. It looks like a plump egg! The weather around northern Illinois is rumored to have snow on Thanksgiving Day.... 'tis the season!

I got a new to me.... Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder... which does an adorable background. And I bought the Crystal colored Stickles to gussy up my falling snow drops!! It makes them shiny and glittery to those who can't see the 'real' texture of the card from the digital photo.

Start of the holiday card season

From now on, just holiday cards? I like this recipe for a card it's one I've used many times before... can you find it in any old posts?? Old SU image and new SU background paper.... I like all the red and green... but you will see some surprises soon. Love my snowmen!!! Stay tuned!

And then their's Charley

Oh, I don't know if that's how you spell her name.... a neighbor doggie! Her mom wanted some cards with her on them. So, I created this shaggy terrier dog... it sort of looks like her! And there are four different kinds all with different sentiments, hello, thanks, birthday and I'm relieved... hope you're feeling better!! Hope she likes them... the human mom!!!

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Male-ish cards

Had a request for masculine cards, so I added a few more to my blog. I love the old classic car, that one is a TAC stamp. Also popular....for men, the light house! This charachter design of Groucho Marx is something I remembered copying during high school time.

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Comfy

Card upon request!

A special friend asked me to create a thank you card.... she stayed at a great friend's house, and had company with her two dogs and she slept really well... so the inside reads:

To: All my pals
I enjoyed my stay in your home,
It was marvelous sitting for dinner,
and,
I rolled-over and had the best night's sleep!

MIA

Sorry, although I have been working on cards, I've just not taken any pictures in a while, so I'm missing in action here on my creative blog! Also too, since I started my job.... going from 0 hours a week to over 30 hours a week has really knocked me out of whack!! And then the time change.... I could go on.... but I'll be posting again, snowmen cards are my favs!!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Altered mini photo albums

I actually found these little albums in one of the moving boxes and decided they would be a great item to alter. So, I just kept adding different matching patterned paper pieces, and layering... a cool little gift for someone??? I printed the word photo off the computer.

My parents grandkids

We were together this weekend for J's confirmation. My kids, bubba and sissy on the left, and my brother's kids M & J on the right. M will be 18 next month (senior), J will be 15 next month(freshman), my bubba is 14 (freshman) and sissy is 12 (7th grader).

First birthday

A friend made a request for a first birthday card, and here's what I came up with. I printed a few varieties of "1st" in pink through the computer, then cuttlebugged the Happy Birthday embossing folder. The image is mine, tried to come up with a little girl who looked ONE! Put a few crystal stickle dots on the confettie and wa-la..... a cute pink girlie card.

Annual Family Fall Pictures

Last weekend we made a point to go take a few photos to contribute to my albums of "Fall Pictures". Compare a film photo taken 9 years ago (I took a digital picture of the picture) Compare Tennessee to Illinois, Compare little pumpkin and munchie ..... to teenagers!!

Fall cart

Filled with flowers. Nothing too magical about this card. I actually got the sewing machine out and have been stitching some papers together. The image is a stamp from TAC, colored in with water color pencil, and then I copied the shape of the flowers to make the background paper. I have also been leaving cards blank (since I haven't sold so many) and this one, I can add the sentiment later if I find I need some other type of greeting.

Think Pink

A friend was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. My gift to her, special pink thank you cards, return address labels with the pink ribbon and her name, and breast cancer postage stamps. It's the 'least' I can do from across the miles.

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Great Day for football

This was one of Bubba's last football games.... it was even hot out there for October freshman football. This game was played on the practice field, so you can get up close and personal. Bubba had just gotten done playing his 'shift' and so I snapped a few pictures, until he realized I was right behind him.

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Boo! Spooky

A fun card I cased. Oh man, I've got to get better at 'copying' the blogsites that I case from. But just so you know, it's pretty much just casing their recipe/layout... for all the cards, I don't have the same paper, or stamps for the sentiments, in some cases I will have the $1 stamp from Michaels.... as in this card the witches boots!

Deepest Sympathy

I really like this recipe. The words are stamped, the side bar is cuttlebugged and the image is computer generated and then cut out. Also, too, not my favorite card to make, but life and death do go in spurts.... so I try to have a variety on hand, and although the same people would never get the cards I make, I create new ones with different colors and backgrounds. Pretty much never the same card twice. But there are a few recipes I follow for sympathy cards. I tend to stick in the mossy green color and the eggplant or purple color families.

You are the light

Well, these are never 'fun' cards, but I thought I would add a few sympathy cards to my blog, because I do make them. The light house image is off the computer (PrintMaster program) and what I did is print out the image twice and then cut one out and use pop dots to have it 'pop' out a bit to give the card dimension. I often find sentiments and quotes on the computer, then print them, add a similar background and I have a very nice sympathy card.

Bequirky

Here's a fun scarecrow!!! I took scrap paper and cut out the circle for his head, and then proceeded to cut all the pieces to make his neck, hat, flower and nose. Inked the edges. I really like cute and whimsical cards. My adhesive of choice, 3M gluesticks to hold down most of my layers. If I'm having difficulty or using a thicker cards stock, I also like to use double sided tape. Both of these adhesives I buy in bulk from Sam's club.

Sissy & Cooper

Someone was playing with the digital camera this weekend!!! I've told Cooper time and time again to keep those furry paws off the 'shoot' button.... but he just wont listen!!

Fall Finery

Okay, don't think I made these cards today... I've been working in cycles.... reading blogs, checking out galleries, making cards, cleaning, taking pictures of cards, spacing them out and posting them to my blog. There are some days when I work on cards only, but that's about to change. Details later!!

The multiple pumpkins are a very cool $1 stamp from Michael's. Other images are SU! I think one of the first sets I bought eons ago.... oh I like that word eon!!!
I love the earth tone colors for fall (even though today is seems like the middle of summer) orange, cranberry, rust, brown, tan.