Thank You Cards

These are cards I made for this month's stamp camp card swap. I used the Basic Grey Out of Print paper line, Close To My Heart card stock, a random strip of corrigated cardboard, and Micheal's/Studio G thank you stamp and floral paper clip embellishments. The larger close up photo shows the embossing of the stamp pretty well.

Where is the Sock Monkey?

Here is the sock monkey card that I made for my friend's son's 2nd birthday. It matched his gift, which I found at Big Lots--a cute game of Where is the Sock Monkey? I thought they would have fun hiding the little monkey around the house to play hide'n'seek. I printed out the sock monkey image off the internet, then I layered it onto some paper, added google eyes, and buttons. Voila! Simple. Adorable. Done! So fun to be apart of the party today as the official photographer. I got some great shots that I will post later.

Create-A-Critter Cricut Gift Bags & Cards

It's been awhile since I posted a new project. Here are the gift bags and matching birthday cards that I made for Jeff's niece and nephew. I used my Create-A-Critter Cricut Cartridge and the characters come out adorable. A little stamping, googly eyes and stickles bring them to life.

March Stamp Camp Card Exchange

I played with some new Stampin' Up products on these cards for the March Exchange. I used the Springtime Floral paper, and the flowers and seam binding ribbon are Stampin' Up too. The collage images are from Lisa's Altered Art. I always have fun making a set of cards to share every month, especially knowing I'll come home with a new set of cards from some great artists who I'm sure to get some ideas from every time!

March Stamp Camp Projects

It's about time that I update my blog! I've been posting a photo a day on Facebook as part of a year long Project 365. Alot of the photos I post there are of my art. But it's time to catch up here, and what better way to get back in the game than to share a few projects I've been involved in. The photo above is of the projects we worked on as part of a monthly Stampin' Up Stamp Camp. My Stampin' Up Demonstrator is tremendously generous, as well as awesomely creative so I know that every month I'm in store for something fun. This month was triple the fun because we made a card, decorated a ball jar, and created pins out of soda cans! The idea for the pins came from a YouTube Clip posted on Maura's blog, another member of the stamp group. You should check it out and give it a try!

CTMH Card Workshop @ Wisteria Lane

My first card workshop at Wisteria Lane (1525 State Highway 29, Galway, NY) will be on Saturday July 31 from 1-3 p.m. Cost per person is $18 for all the materials to make 6 cards with envelopes and a surprise goody bag. I'm psyched. Space is limited to 10 people so I might have a follow up workshop the Friday after if I get enough response! Participants also will get 10% of any Wisteria Lane purchases on the day of the workshop. Call Wisteria Lane at (518) 495-5931 to sign up.

More June Birthdays

This is for my boyfriend's sister's boyfriend Matt. I used my Cricut to cut out the Happy Birthday sentiment, but I hand cut and inked the bowling pins and turned a large black brad into a bowling ball to dot the "i" in birthday.

This card is working double-duty as my dad's birthday card and Father's day card because I'm sending him an I.O.U for when I get to visit him and my mom and Elise in July. I used a page out of a book about game trivia as background paper and brayered on inks that coordinated with the word fetti and metal stickers.

Cricut Critter Creations

"Bee Yourself" LFB Page Front & Back

"Smile Squirrel" Card for Aly

Well, I have a very generous friend who came to acquire a Cricut machine that she did not need and passed on to me. I won three cartridges on Ebay, and we decided we would share our collection between the two of us...and two of the cartridges that I ordered came in the mail today so I pulled it out to play. I figured it out pretty quickly and made a pile of cut-outs for future use, and put a few to work on the card and little fat book page above. The trees, branch, and clouds are from the "Serenade" cartridge, and the Smile sentiment and animals are from the "Create A Critter" cartridge. The Bee Yourself stamp and bee and hive are a CTMH Petite Perks incentive stamp set.

I NEVER thought I'd own a Cricut because I never wanted (or really could afford) to foot the expense. I'm so lucky to have someone to share my passion with, and someone who knows I will put to good use and appreciate "hand-me-down" items. I feel very blessed. I've enjoyed exploring some of the creative options of the machine today.

Cards for Co-workers

Birthday card for Josh Duell, former Siena Saints Basketball player, and current CVS co-worker. It's amazing the pictures you can find of someone when you google their name on the internet!

Graduation card for Michelle Anderson, CVS co-worker. Instead of her school's colors, I used the colors and style that matched her prom dress. The background was embossed with my new Cuttlebug "Textile" embossing folder that I ordered from www.hobbylobby.com.

Stamp Camp Card Exchange #2

I made 14 cards to exchange next week at stamp camp. I used my new Stampin' Up "Peddling Past" stamp set along with a Hero Arts sentiment set I won from Maura & Sheila. I also used CTMH papers, K & Co paper lace ribbon, Avery shipping tags, and some buttons. I hope the ladies will like them!

Summer Birthday Cards!

Summery birthday card for Jeff's best friend's sister, Kim, using Basic Grey patterned paper, pom pom trim from Walmart, EK Success punch, G Studio Sweet Stamp.

Birthday card for Jeff's niece, Jenna, using Cuttlebug die and embossing folder, foam sticker, googly eyes, CTMH birthday stamp, and my new Smooch shimmer spritz.

Birthday card for Jeff's nephew, Justin, using cuttlebug embossing folder, CTMH birthday stamp, foam sticker, and Colorbok wheel brads.

My First Craft Show!

It feels like I've spent every spare waking minute in the last week preparing for this day...and while, I tried not to get my hopes up, the weather and the turn out for my first craft show in Galway today left much to be desired. Ginger, and a few other friends turned out to support me, but even my supporters were fewer in numbers than I'd hoped. It's Mother's day weekend and alot of other events around neighboring communities probably effected the lack of people arriving, as well as all the chilly rain. I guess at least now I won't have as much work to catch myself up in replenishing inventory for May 22nd's Festival of Windmills Craft Fair in Amsterdam with Ginger! Here are some photos of how my table looked all set up!

More Greeting Cards for tomorrow's craft fair!

I've been at it all day...and here are some more cards for my craft fair tomorrow. I sold all but two of my Mother's Day cards on Tuesday night so I focused on those for the most part...this time around using all different brands of stamps, papers, and supplies.

Vendor Fair Cards Round 3

Cards made from Grace paper pack
Cards made from Life Delights paper pack

Cards made from Perfect Day paper pack

I have been a busy bee again...another day of cardmaking puts me at a total of 60 cards, and 30 scrap pack card kits to sell at my vendor fair Tuesday night! Whew!

Vendor Fair Cards Round 2

Cards made from Veranda paper pack
Cards make from Notebook paper pack

Cards made from Free Spirit paper pack

These are the next round of cards I've created for Tuesday night's vendor fair in Burnt Hills, NY. I've once again used exclusively Close to My Heart papers, inks, stamps, and this time the only exception are some of the embellishments. I created the flowers for the Notebook set from my Cuttlebug with Tim Holtz die and vintage papers, and used CTMH ink and brads to give them color and dimension and to add centers. The flowers on the Veranda set are similar to ones Close To My Heart sells, but I ran out of CTMH and used Prima instead.

Round 1 of Vendor Fair Cards

Serendipity Promo Paper
More To Adore Paper

Floral Tapestry Paper

Emporium Paper

Other than my new Cuttlebug Embossing folders that I used to add texture to each background paper in the cards, I used exclusively CTMH paper, inks, stamps, and embellishments to create these cards that I will have up for sale and my first vendor fair May 4th. I still have alot of work ahead of me but I think these came out great. Two sittings over two nights, about 7 hours of work. Whew! Now let's hope I can sell them! Click photos to enlarge and see details.

Happy Birthday Ginger!

Here are the handmade items that I created for Ginger's birthday on Monday to go with her gift full of bought goodies and trinkets for crafting. I can post this because we already celebrated on Thursday with a shopping trip and lunch at Panera Bread. We've been friends for years, since we met at Memory Lane before it closed and sat together for every bus trip to scrapbook stores and Expos. It's been fun getting to know such a talented and creative person and I hope she has the best birthday ever!

More Greeting Cards

Making Memories paper, alpha stickers, and jewels
Close To My Heart stamps & pattern paper

Close To My Heart Stamps and patterned paper

I took advantage of a rare and brief few hours of free time before class this afternoon to create another half dozen cards (I made 2 of each design). I had so much fun with my itunes playing this season's American Idol downloads and replicating designs from my current Paper Crafts magazine with my twist and my supplies.

Stamp Camp Card Exchange #1

I was invited to attend a monthly Stamp Camp/class this past Thursday and I went in spite of being sick. It's easier to do something you want to do when you feel icky than it is to sit at home and be miserable. Tissues, Sudafed, and tool bag in hand, and armed with my GPS, I went to someone's house I didn't even know, to hang out with people I had never even met before. I have to say, I had a blast, and it always amazes me how welcoming, generous, and wonderful crafters truly are. Where else can you walk into a room of strangers and feel like you've made instant friends?! These ladies are so talented and friendly, and we made two greeting cards using Stampin' Up supplies. They do a monthly Greeting Card swap which I was unprepared to participate in, but they were kind enough to let me take a few home with me anyhow and they were all lovely! I came home inspired and refreshed (though still very sick), and I finally got to sit down last night after finishing my paper to make some cards for next month's exchange.

I created fourteen Owl Thank You's using CTMH paper, ink, and liquid glass, a Studio G owl stamp, K & Co. diecuts, yellow ric-rac, and Offray ribbon flowers. I hope the girls will enjoy them, and it will feel good to contribute to their creative circle! I can't wait to visit with them again!