Thank You

Good afternoon...and we're hoping for a little rain in our area. It was sprinkling just a bit as I went to the mailbox to send off this card. Looks like the sprinkling has already stopped. So here's the card I made today for a quick thank you to my blogging friend, Candee.( http://cardcornerbycandee.blogspot.com/) She sent some goodies last week, which was so kind of her. Here's the card scoop:

Florals - embossing - Snippets

Hey and Happy Sunday afternoon. Here's a card for today, using that very versatile Penny Black Aspire stamp. Card base is cream cardstock, embossed with Paper Studio A2 Doodle Border. Since I used lightweight C/S, I embossed 2 pieces at once, so that the embossing is not done so deeply that it nearly cuts the paper. Saved the 2nd piece (a snippet!) for this card. I had boo-boo'd when embossing the oval image (also a snippet) when I was experimenting with the new Tim Holtz colors, and got an edge where I didn't want it to be.(I heat embossed with white over a versamark stamping, then sponged with the new colors). Decided to cut a smaller oval shape in the cream cardstock - surprisingly it didn't flatten out the previous Doodle Border emboss too much. Adhered the stamped image to the back of the oval window on the embossed card stock. Used a Spellbinder scalloped oval in a size that fit where I needed - with - yes, another snippet left on the desk where I saw it! Cut this oval as a teal frame, adhered to the window...it hides the boo-boo. So one card ready for a sentiment and quick insert when I need it. (Makes me feel organized when I can get a card made ahead, and not scurry at the last minute to get one ready! :-)
I'll try to go over to The Playground, see if anybody is available today if I bring my snippets card along! http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.com/2012/05/pixies-crafty-snippets-challenge-22.html

Miscellaneous

Bernie's Craft Closet Blogaversary Candy

Bernie's Craft Closet (http://berniescraftcloset.blogspot.com/)is celebrating her first blog anniversary today. Please visit to win a chance at the lovely blog candy-- (available until June 15)-- pictured here, and wish Bernie a Happy one year Blogaversary.  She's done a great job at building a blog, posting some gorgeous & unique card creations. She's been a big encourager to me, in all my learning curve to develop a blog. So BIG HAPPY BLOGAVERSARY to you, Bernie! Hoping for many more anniversaries for you!!! Hugs.

Sympathy

Afternoon bloggers, and thanks for coming to see me. It's been a beautiful Saturday so far (weatherwise), and looks to be off to a good start for a relaxing Memorial Day weekend. I have a card to share - unfortunately another sad occasion. Here's the card specs: White card stock embossed with Sizzix Powdered Sugar EF, navy blue twill tape from Hobby Lobby (on sale some time ago), Spellbinders Fancy Tags Two, trimmed with different sizes of Recollection pearls. The sentiment was from a clear set of sentiments - I think it was a Hero Arts set, but don't remember. It was out on the desk and I used it. I just found out yesterday afternoon about the need to send this card, so I was working rapidly. I made two cards, then decided which I'd send. This one was inspired by something I had seen on Pinterest using this folder (although it was not used for a sympathy occasion). I thought it was elegant, yet still subdued enough to fit my need on this card. I'll hunt up the repinned card, to credit the person who posted on Pinterest. Have a lovely afternoon.

Edit: Here's the link to the blog originating my inspiration, not sure who made the first pin: http://ourlittleinspirations.blogspot.com/2012/05/perfect-sentiments-blog-hop-cards.html

Memorial Day card

Gosh, it's afternoon awready, and this day is half over. I have managed to accomplish a few things - house chores - ugh! Now time to do a little blogging post, and see what fun I can get into this afternoon. (Once I start some laundry...another ugh). Here is the most delightful card we received last evening from Candee (http://cardcornerbycandee.blogspot.com/. The cardbase is on Kraft, the gingham DP is shaped into a BBQ apron with a raised pocket of checks trimmed with stripes.(the blue at the top of the scan is background, not paper. I couldn't crop the image, or the ribbon tie would have gotten lost).  All the cute little utensils were cut out, inserted into the apron. Such detail. There is a ribbon on each side to tie (my scan didn't get one of them), holes punched with a tied ribbon at the top, with more stripe trim. Looks like a 'real apron'!  Then the sentiment with the tiny red embellishments, which I think were done with a teeny-tiny hole punch (?), adhered to the tag. Thought it was pearls, until I felt them.  We were thrilled to have this arrive and what a thoughtful idea to send Memorial Day cards. If you haven't checked Candee's blog, do so. She has some really pretty cards, clever ideas with punches & designs, and terrific organizational tips. Thanks for joining me, and have a great afternoon. 

BIrthday

Here it is Monday..doesn't the time just seem to rush so fast? We had a lovely reunion, enjoyed seeing all the relatives and had a safe, uneventful trip home. Tired, but glad that we were able to see the family. Here's a card to share. Stamp is by Penny Black - Play Date. It was borrowed from a friend at our Thursday stamp group - and I expended some time hunting for it, before I remembered the stamp was not mine (trying to find the name of it!). Isn't it just the most lively stamp...these little critters are having a grand time. The image was colored with copics, onto Copic Xpress paper. Neenah is a great paper for Copic coloring, but Xpress works best for me, especially if I'm working with red. The red doesn't bleed as much for me, as I tend to be 'heavy handed'. The die was Spellbinder Lattic Rectangle, threaded with a narrow yellow ribbon that I found in my sewing supplies. The card is mounted on some Bazzill, in an olive color. I think the name of the color is Camoflage, but I'm not certain. I got a real good buy on some discontinued colors at Scrapbook Creations some time ago. I'm not organized :-) , so the paper was not labeled when I put it away. Hope you enjoy the card, & I hope the person who will receive it as a birthday card gets a smile from the happy little creatures' antics. 

Road Trip

Good evening Blog Friends. I'm on the road, in Salisbury, NC...for a family reunion tomorrow. Stopped enroute at one of my favorite places, Scrapbook Creations, in Spartanburg SC, to pick up an order that had come in. A bunch of my stamping buddies were having a Cottage Weekend, and having great fun. Would have loved to join them, but ....family obligations come first. When we arrived at our destination, we hunted up a new stamp store (Oh Joy!!! Bet you all know what I'm talking about!). It's called Peanut Doodles, on E. Innes St. in Salisbury. It's housed in one of the charming old buildings in the city, and even though it's not a really large space, was it ever packed.(It is not a 'small' space either). Lots of variety too. Hubby waited outside in the car. Bet you know what that's like too! So of course I was trying to hurry, see everything as fast as I could - and of course I didn't see 'everything'. But enough! The owners were so pleasant, greeted me when I walked in, made me feel welcome. After asking if there was something specific I wanted - when I said "Just wanted to look around", they were gracious enough to allow me to do JUST that, without hovering at my elbow. When I had questions, the young man behind the counter came over and was very helpful. They stocked all the new Penny Black, Inky Antics, LaLa Land, Impression Obsessions, and gracious, I can't even remember all the other manufacturers. Suffice it to say, lots of others. A great supply of papers, which I didn't check out other than to recognize Graphic 45. Loads of embellishments, punches, dies, Sizzix products, glitters, Copics, you name it, I think they had it. So if you're in the vicinity, I highly recommend a leisurely visit. Maybe I can talk my stamp buddies into a road trip, leaving the Hubbys at home! Have a great evening.

Birthday

This evening I discovered iPiccy.com, and have tried experimenting with creating a watermark. This little test started about 10pm, as I was outside, basically in the dusk, planting 2 tomato plants and 4 herb plants. (Remember when I said my summer planting was done???).

Miscellaneous

This card has a Cornish Heritage Farms Lace backgrounder inked with Momento LuLu Lavendar. Background was made to go with the focal image which is an Inkadinkadoo Medallion;  first stamped with Versamark, then embossed with Ranger Roman Gold. Corners were edged with the MS Deco Fan corner punch. Edges of the purple cardstock were sponged with Tsukineko's Delicata Gold, then adhered to a goil foil paper, then to the lace background. Not sure yet what occasion sentiment will get stamped on the card. This card was an easy one. I LIKE easy. Thanks for coming by.

Get Well

Today's card has a Pink Bazzill card base. Focal image is Penny Black Aspire, stamped on cream cardstock using versamark, embossed with Ranger Seafoam white. Used Judikins dusters to ink on Momento inks - Angel Pink (center), New Sprout (2nd), Summer Sky (3rd). I seem to be able to control the dusters better than the sponge applicator tool if I am going beyond just the outer edge. I get 'blotches' with the sponge more than I like. The Judikins dusters look like a minature man's shaving brush (from the olden days!). I did hit the corners with the sponge tool using Distress Peacock Feathers to get better shading. I wiped off the embossed area with a paper towel after the ink application. Border is a Memory Box die, Fauntleroy Crest in teal paper, which was also used to mat the focal image. Tiny butterflies were from a Martha Stewart punch, which has 3 sizes. Yellow flowers were made with a tiny EK Success floral punch which came 2 to a pack, and were shaped with the McGill flower tools. Viva Decor Gold made the centers, as well as the pearls on the butterflies. Sentiment was Penny Black, stamped on cream c/s, cut into a "V" shape, then edged with Peacock Feathers. Enjoy your day, and thanks for checking in.

Birthday Rose

After a few dreary drizzly days, we have a morning with no rain...no sunshine just yet either. Here's a card with a beautiful Impression Obesession stamp - Romantic Rose by Alessa Baker. Found this stamp at Scrapbook Creations

and have been waiting for time to use it. I saw a card similar to this one on Pinterest, thought "I have that stamp", so....Inked the stamp with Versamark, stamped and embossed with Stampendous Winter Wonderland. I have been looking for a nice plain white emboss powder, but this one had some silver sparklies in it. Was not exactly the look I was going for, but I liked it. I have several Ranger 'whites', but none is just a plain 'white'. After seeing the sparkle in the emboss, I decided to try to use Pebbles pastel chalks - not something I am adept with using. After attempting some shading, I sprayed with a Blick Matte fixitive to keep the chalk from rubbing off. Made the background with an Impression Obsession Cover A Card  stamp(CAC Thick n Thin), inked with versamark, then used the same Stampendous EP. (Well, it was right there ready to sprinkle!). The sentiment is a SU Birthday stamp from the Sale-a-bration set Elementary Elegance, used Momento Rose Bud ink to stamp...stamping off once to get a lighter effect, trying not to overpower the pink chalks on the rose. Then inked the edges with the same color, but no stamping off. Finished off with 2 rhinestones; so one of my June birthday cards is nearly ready. June is a big month in my family for birthdays. I'm trying to get a head start, to avoid my usual bad habit of last moment flurry. Thanks for coming by. Have a great day.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers everywhere. I would like to share 2 cards and the inserts today. One from my lovely daughter, who is in another state, and sorely missed. The card is beautiful, but didn't photograph very well. The inside sentiment made me cry just a bit. But it was beautifully expressed. Wish my cards could have such wonderful sentiments! The second card is from my sweet hubby, who always picks such pretty cards; the sentiment on his card was just as emotional for me as was the daughter's card. As I look at the pictures, it occurs me that I should have done some cropping. Oh well, I'm learning as I go. Have a wonderful day and thanks for sharing my cards with me.

Fathers Day

Hi, and hope you're having a fun Saturday, a relaxing Saturday or just whatever makes you happy today. We have had a rather overcast & much cooler morning. Surprising for this time of the year in our Upstate area. I found some cards I had done last year while cleaning out DH's dresser drawer. Since I don't have something current to share, thought I'd scan some of my cards that he has saved (Bless his little heart!), and post here. This one was made with some snippets that were on the desk, and the little froggie was a clear Michael's find - perhaps in the dollar bin. (DH likes frogs - I only like cute ones). The embossing folder was a C/Bug Divine swirls - one of my first C/Bug folders. The punches are MS...froggie was colored with Copics, diecut with S/binder circles. Did you happen to see the crafting shows on HSN earlier in the week? I didn't stay up that late, but I recorded them, watched a few last night. Anna Griffin has some really pretty things out...and No, I didn't weaken & buy anything from HSN! Thanks for visiting and have a great afternoon.

Thinking of you Tulips

Thanks for stopping to visit this afternoon. Our area has a beautiful sunny Carolina Blue sky kind of day, with low humidity, nice bit of breeze. Great way to start our weekend. We have a good friend who is scheduled for some scary surgery next week, and wanted her to know we are praying for a speedy recovery, so that she can get back to doing the fun things we all enjoy. Here's the card scoop:

Thank You

There's a Thank You card for this evening. I had to pull a card together rather quickly, and fortunately I had some images of the Magenta 3F154-J that I  had colored with copic markers, and die cut with a Spellbinder Large Label #4 die. I used a purple mat from a small piece leftover from another project.Then matted with a piece of Bazzill textured olive color c/stock, diecut with the largest S/Binder Large Label die, #5. The cardbase is from lightweight cream cardstock, which was run through the Electric Big Shot using SU Textured Impressions Square Lattice embossing folder. This looked too 'white' (even though it was cream colored) against the image, so I used a sponge that had 'brown' on it from previous uses. There was just enough ink left on this sponge without reinking it, to give me exactly the color I wanted. Cut a small strip of the olive Bazzill, scored on the edges using the Score Buddy. The Thank You was some rub-ons, and it was a little difficult to apply this, as it did not want to go down properly. This card will be in the mail tomorrow to a dear friend who has sent us a magazine subscription. Until the third time we received it, and happened to notice on the mailing label the notice "Gift from .....", we thought we were just getting the 'promo copies' that are sent to old subscribers. So we need to make some very humble apologies for taking so long to say our thank you's. Think I'll see if I can go to Pixie's Playground with this one...
http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.com/2012/05/pixies-crafty-snippets-challenge-19.html

Thinking of you

Good evening...and here's a card to share. The card base is an olive textured Bazzill, with some lightweight purple as a mat for the focal point. That was a K&Company Tim Coffee small tag, which I liked because of the flower background. The vase is a Punch Bunch (large) punched from some blue paper I made experimenting with some gold spray. Once again, used the Memory Box Dancing Tulip die, along with some MS leafy branch punches. The small butterfly(Martha Stuart trio) is also punched from the same dark blue paper as the vase, with some Viva Decor Pearl Pen in light blue dots to trim. The sentiment is from SU Teeny Tiny Wishes, with a tiny green button from a pack, and some twine for a bow. The long green trim piece was cut from a 6x6 Authentique Loyal bundle, and has the most gorgeous plaid on the opposite side. I first intended to use the plaid, but thought the plain was a bit more appropriate. That plaid was wild though, and I may just make another one like this, and use that plaid. Thanks for stopping by Carolina Cards. I think I'll go over to the Playground at http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.com/search/label/pixie%27s%20crafty%20snippets%20challenge and see if there's anyone playing.

Road Trip

It's Saturday night, and I've had a lovely afternoon, with 2 friends, going to a new-to-me store up in Saluda, NC. Both my friends do Altered Book crafts, which I don't. The store we visited was Random Arts, and had the neatest 'found' items. It was lots of fun to see the vintage 'schtuff', and my friends got several items they had been looking for, to use on projects. I did manage to find some paint types of media, that can be used on cardboard, plastic, paper for making 'rust' or 'patina' looks. Also some transfer paper to use with photos, etc. The town was such a quaint little place, lovely to walk around, see all the old buildings. Many of which had interesting shops to browse. Then we headed back to our area, via a different route. Passed by  a scrapbook store in Inman, SC. http://scrappintimesc.com/We did a U-turn, hurried back, just as the door was being locked. However, the nice folks were kind enough to let us come in, along with another customer who arrived just as we did. We managed to find all kinds of wonderful things! So I hope the staff were as happy they let us inside, as we were to have been there!!! A fun afternoon...always good to discover new places with friends.

Birthday

Finally Friday...the weekend is here!!! I have a card tonight which is for a friend's Mother-in-law - who will soon celebrate her 100th birthday. Had some bubble gum pink cardstock, which was quite bright, so I covered it with vellum which had been embossed with a Sizzix emb. folder. The adhesive was still visible at the edge of the card, so used the MS Lace punch on some pink plaid paper to cover that. Used a Spellbinder Oval to diecut the sentiment, embossed the sentiment with Ranger's Queen's Gold. In my opinion, this is the prettiest of the golds to emboss. This piece looked a bit 'blah', so put the diecut back in the die, used some Distress Ink Spun Sugar to sponge around the edge of the die. Liked the look better. This is a fairly simple card, and I have to find an appropriate sentiment for the inside, get it mailed in time for this lady's birthday. Thanks for checking in. Have a great weekend.

Anniversary

Good Morning ....and it's a beautifully sunny, but already very warm day here in Upstate SC. The a/c had to go on last evening...just too hot and no air stirring. Both loads of river rock have been placed where needed; all but one of the plants bought last week has been potted. My outside chores for the summer have been completed (I hope). Here's a card that I worked on last night. I've been changing settings on the scanner trying to show the colors better. This is about the best I can get. Here goes with the supplies:
Textured Bazzill white for the base, some Recollection red to make the Stampin Up Ribbon Lace (love that punch!). The checked design paper was some purchased years ago. This was diecut with a Spellbinder Label 15, #7 die. The Memory Box LaRue Flourish was centered with a pearl for some trim. These Memory Box dies are cutting so smoothly...think they are my favorite of all the dies so far. The sentiment was cut with a S/binder Ribbon Tag Trio Two, using a corner curve punch to make it fit the space. It's tucked under one of the flourishes. A Paper Studio gold peel off sticker was applied to that. Now I just need to find an appropriate sentiment for the inside, and it's ready to mail. Thanks for surfing in.