STAMPS FOR SALE!

I am working on putting my stamp room together and have decided to sell some of my stamp sets as I just have so many! These stamps are priced from $2 - $10 and would be great for someone just starting out in this very addicting hobby! Please let me know if you are interested in any of them. Many of them are brand new and never used.  Please see the list of them on the right side of my blog towards the bottom. I will try to keep my listing updated as I sell and add more.

COPIC CERTIFIED!

Earlier in the month I had the pleasure of meeting both Marianne Walker (all the way from Copic Marker in Oregon), and Cindy Lawrence. Marianne is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to Copics. If you had a question about Copics, she had the answer! Cindy helped with the training as she is going to be the new Copic trainer for New England (congratulations Cindy!) I took the Copic certification class to learn more about the product, along with blending, shading, air brushing, and to become Copic certified. Who would've thought you could do so much with a marker....but they really are amazing!


                      Cindy, Clara, and Marianne

Check out the newest Copic certification graphic on the right side of my blog.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Today is Father's Day. How strange it feels knowing I won't be able  to visit dad today as I do every Father's Day. Dad passed away at the age of 88, just before the holidays, after several years of dialysis and PAD. I still have a difficult time believing he's gone, but I will always hold him close in my heart so he'll always be with me. Happy Father's Day, Dad!

  ~THE DRAGONFLY~

Once, in a pond under the lily pads, there lived a water beetle in a community of water beetles. They lived a simple life with few disturbances. Once in awhile, sadness would come to the community when one of their fellow beetles would climb the stem of the lily pad and would not be seen again. They knew when this happened; their friend was gone forever. Then one day, one little beetle felt an irresistible urge to climb up that stem. However, he was determined he would not leave forever. He would come back and tell his friends what he found at the top.

When he reached the top and climbed out of the water onto the surface of the lily pad, he was so tired, and the sun was so warm, he decided he must take a nap. As he slept, his body changed and when he woke up, he had turned into a beautiful blue-tailed dragonfly with broad winds and a slender body designed for flying. So, fly he did! And as he soared he saw the beauty of a whole new world and a far superior way of life to what he had ever known existed.

Then he remembered his beetle friends and how they must have thought he was gone forever. He wanted to go back and tell them that he was now more alive than he had been before he left. His life had not ended, but had changed. But, his new body would not go down into the water. He could not get back to tell his friends the good news. Then he understood that their time would come, when they too would know what he now knew. So he raised his wings and flew off into his joyous new life!

I'M BACK...............

I've been away from my blogging and card making for sooo long! When checking my blog, I found it's been about a year and a half since I posted anything on it which makes sense if you had any idea what the past year has been like..... Knowing at some point I wanted to start back with my hobby, I decided not to delete the blog. This is my first attempt at getting back into blogging! Postings will be somewhat slow for a bit longer as I try to put together my new stamp room, (just even making a place to sit in there! lol) but I plan on getting back into the swing of things. My blog will be a combination of tid bits that are going on in my life and sharing my cards and hobby.
I'm so glad to be back!!

CHRISTMAS THANK YOU

I've been missing from bloggers land for several weeks... we went on a wonderful Mediterranean vacation to Italy, Greece, Cypress, Turkey and Egypt. We visited the beautiful Greek island of Santorini and even rode camels in the Sakkara Desert of Egypt. We had a wonderful time! But no sooner did we get home when my little granddaughter had to have surgery,  then we headed right into the holiday madness. I'm glad it's all behind us now, and I've  been able to get back into my stamp room and stamping mode!

This weeks bloggers challenge theme is reuse/recycle. What better time to be able to make a card using a piece of recycled Christmas wrapping paper! My green checked country wrapping paper was chosen as my background paper for my thank you card.  The cute image is called "Toasty Treats" by Impression Obsession and the greeting is from a set called "Curly Cute" by Stampin' UP.  Real Red, Chocolate Chip, and More Mustard were my chosen card stock colors along with Copics R24, R37, YR12, E000, E00, E35, E57, G17, YG17 for coloring my image. Circle Nesties were used along with the Bigz XL Die called Tasteful Trim.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and I wish you all a safe, healthy, happy new year!!

HALLOWEEN 2010

Halloween, it's my favorite holiday! Perhaps it's because I have such wonderful memories of how much fun it was going trick-or-treating with my brothers and sisters when we were kids on those dark cold nights. And now, I love having my little granddaughters all dressed up coming to my house to trick-or-treat on Halloween night!

It's always a lot of fun blog hopping around this time of year so I can see what everyone makes for their Halloween cards. I just love seeing all of the different images!

There are so many challenges this week for Halloween cards! My card is being used for the following challenges this week:

Craftycreationschallenges - Thewildflowerpatch

Lilredwagon - BloggersChallenge

Paperplaytime - ellephantasticchallenges 

Cowgirlssundaystampenchallenge - Crazy4challenges

Corrosivechallengesbyjanet - Acraftylittleplace

I decided to use a wonderful set by Stampin' UP called Tableau of Terror for this years card. I just love this image and even though it has a lot of coloring on it, it was much easier to do using my Copics R24, YG93, V95, YR12, YR20, W3, E00,E33, E50, E55. The retired "Canvas" background stamp was used along with Pumpkin Pie ink. Basic Black, Very Vanilla, and Pumpkin Pie card stock was used. I dug out my rarely used Magic Mesh, along with my color duster brush and some Creamy Caramel ink to brush over the vanilla paper, giving the color a more uneven look.

I hope you all have lots of little ghosts and goblins trick-or-treating at your house this year.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

DECORATED CHRISTMAS TIN

Well, some people may think it's rushing the season to think about Christmas right now, but anyone who makes handmade items for the holidays knows it's NEVER to early to start! LOL This week for #174 Bloggers Challenge was to reuse/recycle something.

I've had this little tin for quite some time. It was given to me with a small gift inside and I kept it to decorate and recycle it. Being completely silver colored with writing on the top and bottom of the tin, I decided to cover the top with some heavy weight Christmas DP(Ornaments/Pine) from BasicGrey and cover the bottom of the tin in the same matching paper that was used to make the band that wraps around the middle of the tin. Red ribbon was used as an accent to wrap around the center of the band and also around the sides of the entire tin. I tried to turn the tin so that you can see the ribbon. I found a great little silver colored tree charm by Making Memories that worked perfectly as a center piece for the band. My newly decorated tin is to hold the gift certificate that I am giving Steven for Christmas this year. Ho...Ho...Ho...

TRICK OR TREAT

I love black and white cards with just a splash of one other color added. This weeks challenge at Bloggers Challenge was just that! The added color was to be orange, which just so happens to be my favorite color, and nearing Halloween which happens to be my favorite holiday. It made it fun and easy for me this week. :)

I used the little bat stamp from Halloween Backgrounds to create my background, and the greeting is from Holiday Best, both from Stampin' UP!

If you'd like to see what the other members of Bloggers Challenge have come up with this week, just click on the Bloggers Challenge button on the right side of my blog to check it out.

JUST FOR YOU

I was able to participate in not only Bloggers Challenge #172 this week with a sketch challenge, but also using a freebie digi image that was offered by Faith over at Designed2Delight.

I was terribly disappointed with how the colors of this card photographed. The apples and paper are actually red, not the pink color that it looks like here.

Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, and DP from a retired series called Summer Picnic are all by Stampin' UP. Antique Linen distress ink by Tim Holtz was used to soften the bright white paper using a color duster brush.

Along with this cute seasonal digi image, I used the Aida Background stamp and the little greeting is from Stampin Up's Teeny Tiny Wishes set. Copics W3, R22, R24, R29, E25, E27, E31 and YG45 were used for coloring the images. Stop by and see what everyone else in Bloggers Challenge came up with for this weeks sketch challenge. Just click on the button on the right side of my blog.

LIFE'S MOMENTS

I rarely make anniversary cards but the challenge this week was to make one for Bloggers Challenge #171.

Pretty in Pink and Always Artichoke were used along with some DP from the retired Bella Rose collection by Stampin' UP. Whenever I use Copics, I use Neenah Solar White card stock along with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

This beautiful floral image, along with the sentiment, is from the Elements of Style set, also from Stampin' UP! This image was really easy and fun to color using YR31, G21, G82, R81,R83 and R85 Copics. As my card has a really soft look to it, I decided to finish it off with 3 little pearls. Easily, this card could be a birthday, Mother's Day, sympathy or wedding card just by adding the appropriate wording inside. :)