Blog Break -only for the next 12 days or so!

Hello everyone~
I am taking a short break from posting... as we are having some family things to sort out. I will be back soon. :)

Before and Afters Seem to Have a Strong Pull...

One of my favorite things to blog about and/or view other blogs are Before and Afters.... along with tutorials in case I someday have the time to try it out myself! Yes, lots of dreaming. :) I just found Better After. This blog has over 3,000 Followers, so you may have already found it! HOWEVER, it is absolutely worth mentioning... I have even signed up to receive emails of new posts... Am I obsessed? A Welcome quote from the Blogger, Lindsey: "This site is inspired by you! This is a showcase of my favorite part of any design project or makeover: The before and afters! It's always better after!"

This just posted the other day. A lucky grand daughter is enjoying a new kitchen, with a fabulous view!


There are actually Zebras in the window view to match the curtains - ha!

To see this specific post at Better After, go HERE. Love it!

UPDATE: Creator of the kitchen, Denise Adams, now has the tutorial set up on her new blog! Go HERE to visit her blog, Stitches and Nails.

Welcome Spring!

The first day of spring is here, and I am ready for it!! Flowers, come out, come out wherever you are! Here's an inspirational picture from the Beauty Finalists over at the photography section of the Pioneer Woman's Blog.

Happy Spring everyone!

Happy Saint Patricks Day!

It's the greenest day of the year again, and I've made up a card to celebrate! I am sure I have a bit of Irish in my background somewhere. :)
I kept a cream background so as not to overwhelm with green. Headed over to the Graphic Fairy for this wonderful image.



All the usual tools!



Stamp from Stamping up.









Some of the images I printed out were too big at first. By big, I mean that you have to make your own envelope, as they do not make a standard size to fit my card! What!?! I have to play with more paper? Well, that doesn't seem too bad.... Here's a much simpler version, and it happens to be one of the "big" cards. :)


Enjoy your "green" day, wear some green and don't get pinched!

Linking to:
Free For All Friday
The Answer is Chocolate
Naturally Me Creations

Hats Are Fabulous! It's a Bookmark & Favorite Saying~

The saying and hat lady stamps are inked in 2 different colors, although it looks like the same color... hmmmm.... The front/back are glued together with Stamin' Up's 2-way glue pen, it works really well for this step. I rounded the corners to discourage them from peeling apart, distressed the edges and inked them with Rangers Spiced Marmalade. To add the ribbon at the bottom, I used the Xyron mini sticker machine. I have not yet found a glue that does not show through on ribbons.



This is a close up of the back where I used VersaMark ink to stamp my hat wearing lady in an all-over pattern. The ink shows up just slightlty darker than the paper, if you look closely, you can see her. I then ran the paper through an embossing folder, and applied ink directly from the stamp to the raised areas before adhering it to the front. Lastly, blinging it up a bit with Stickles glitter glue. I just had to add some sparkle to this spunky gal!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Isn't she cute and sassy?

Materials:
Front cardstock: Berry Sorbet, Papertrey Inc.
Saying inked with Momento: Desert Sand
Hat Lady and raised embossing inked with Fresh Ink: Fig
Back cardstock: Scarlet Jewel, Papertrey Inc.
Stamp Saying: River City Rubber Works
Hat Lady Stamp: Etsy.com; TerBearCo
Embossing folder: Cuttlebug's Victorian pattern
Stickles Glitter Glue: Yellow
Ribbon: Random selection from Michael's Crafts

Linking to:
Naturally Me Creations
Debbiedoos Blogging and Blabbing

Sign Up To "Bee" In The Blog Guide Book!

Have you heard? Your blog can be listed for FREE in the blog directory? The Blog Guidebook is an excellent resource for bloggers. A favorite section of mine - "Blogging Tips, Tricks, Hacks, and How-To's." Well, guess what? They have a section where you can list your blog. As Katherine said it, "Buzz on over and add your blog to the list today!"

A Hawaiian Thank You

We were so fortunate to spend last week's school break in Maui!! We stayed in the Kaanapali area and enjoyed a really wonderful trip for our family. Our stay was made possible with the help of Gigi, and I was inspired by the islands to create this card for her.

I started out with solid colored card stock and printed out a palm tree image from The Graphics Fairy directly onto the linen color. Next I painted on Twinkling H2O in Solar Gold to the image and a dark brown "Twink" to the green cardstock base. (The green paper just happened to be handy, you can use any color, as I painted over it.)





These 2 layers were adhered with sticky tape which I added to the front of my white cardstock base. You can see where the green shows through the Twink paint, but it doesn't matter, as it will be covered up.




On the left is the base card colored with Stamping Up's Close to Cocoa. I just applied the stamp pad directly to the card to color it. Again I used sticky tape to adhere the image to the base.




Some close ups of my Gratitude stamp (Hero Arts clear stamp), ribbon, alphabet stamp (Stampin' Up Broadsheet Alphabet), and sea star from Marth Stewarts sand dollar punch.




For the inside I used a flourish Thank You sentiment & corner flower flourish(clear stamps from Inadinkado)~



Because I colored the images on the inside.... the ink showed through on the back!! Ugh! I enhanced (covered up!) the back by using a piece of cream colored cardstock, coloring it with Momento desert sand ink, applying the pad directly to the paper. Then I added the "outside" of the sand dollar punch to the top, to off-set the made-for-you-by stamp placed at the bottom. I tried to keep the ink lighter at the bottom, where I stamped the image in the same color ink, for a subtle effect.


Now you know more that you ever needed to about how I made this card! If you are a beginner or a very enthusiastic card maker, you would really enjoy all of the details, right? :)

Linking to:
The Graphics Fairy
Naturally Me Creations
Lovely Crafty Home
Hodgepodge Life
Saturday Mornings
Patches of Pink