Big Note Baby Card

I started out trying to do a CAS baby card stealing an idea from the DD's Christmas card. First cut out a SU Big Note die from a piece of copy paper, lay the copy paper on top of an A-2, then sponge around the edges inside of the cut out. Stamp a sentiment in the white part of the center, and call it done!

Thing is, when you have a big edge around that cut out, it's kinda hard to see if you are centered on the A-2 or not. Ooops. So I cut the card apart and layered the white trimmed down portion on Sweet Blush (I used Sweet Blush and a wee bit of Hibiscus Burst to sponge with), then tied on some Sweet Blush twill and some of Papertrey's white with silver- then dangled some baby booties charms from that.

I love the verse, it's from Verses Rubber Stamps.

And just in case you are wondering, the closing went very smoothly (apparently it helps when you pay cash, lol!!). In town it was 0 degrees F by the evening, but we were toasty in our little cabin with the wood fire going! We took 2 camp chairs and a blow up air mattress, a coffee pot for the morning and lots of blankets! In the morning I sat and watched the old man skin off into the distance, then just watched the snow blow across the lake, lol! Life really can't get much better than that, at least for us!

Off to the closing!

No, we never closed after the last post, I think I did jinx myself. On the other hand, Fannie Mae isn't really a person, and they were just a bit tought to deal with.

So it is 6 am, and we are ready to head into the car and off into the rain, sleet and snow for the 2 hour drive to Conway NH for the closing. We will 'camp' overnight in the winterized cabin (no running water!), but since we heat with wood here and will heat with wood there, being cold will not be an issue!

Over the river and through the woods....

Jennifer Holmes SPICE

Did you see Jennifer Holmes' Baby Christmas card a while back? It was just perfect!! See it here- There just isn't any way to make it better, so I didn't, lol!

Since I just wanted a baby card, and not a Christmas baby card, I left off part of the sentiment, and cut down the stocking to make baby socks. My Sweet Blush punched out scallop square layer has little white dots on the scallop edges. Since it isn't a stocking, I left the duckie out. But... I may go back and put the duckie in, lol, it is so sweet on Jennifer's. I think she did her oval with the bigger Papertrey text background, mine is with the smaller.

Don't you just say 'aahhh' when you see these cards? Thanks to Jennifer!

Button Bits for Baby

I haven't used Papertrey's Button Bits in a long time, so whipped up a card after seeing the DD's Christmas card- I just used her Christmas layout, lol...

Papertrey's Sweet Blush and Hibiscus Burst sponged onto white 'through' a negative cut out from SU's One Note die. Layered on Sweet Blush and a Spring Moss card. The stems and leaves are stamped in Spring Moss. Sweet Blush buttons and a couple of Savvy Stamps teeny tiny flowers that match Hibiscus Burst. Hibiscus Burst Swiss Dots Satin and a silver charm tied to a piece of Sweet Blush twill... and don't you think that sentiment is perfect for a baby card???

Christmas Ornaments

I promise you I'll get some baby card photos off of the camera soon, lol! Downloading and editing is my least favorite part of blogging; so often I get done and they are not good enough, and I have to start the whole process again, sigh.

Here are two stamped ornaments I made a couple of years ago using alcohol inks- actually, I think the red might be a Copic refill. The little snowflake is from Papertrey. The acetate has to be heat resistent is you want to emboss on it. Ribbons are from Papertrey.

Christmas Wishes

Phew! What a Papertrey release last night! I am glad I waited up, since some stamp sets are sold out already!

I made this while waiting for the party to begin~ it's last years Papertrey Christmas papers-Vintage Holiday 2008 (I think that's the name!); Ripe Avocado and Pure Poppy.

But! The card base is actually SU's Real Red in textured; it matches close enough, and I liked the texture for the base. The ink on the SU EF is also Real Red, but the layer under the embossed pointsettias is Papertrey Pure Poppy, so is the satin ribbon! They really are close enough in color to use together!

The pointsettia is from a Prima tin, I just put little dots of liquid pearl on the center. The same dots are in the centers of the flowers on the embossed layer. I punched leaves from Ripe Avocado, and textured them a bit after I sponged Ripe Avocado on the edges. The fern punch is a Martha Stewart one, the ferns are made using Spring Moss.

The ribbon slider was cut with a Nestability die, then stamped with a sentiment from one of Claire's sets- the one with the Gingerbread men all made. Now that I think of it, Claire doesn't have names of the sets on her packaging- I'll have to point that out to her. HEY CLAIRE! You there??

A couple little glittery things on some more ferns, and it's all ready to mail! If I'm lucky, I'll get some cards in the mail on Wednesday- a whole week early, lol!

Blue Baby Girl Card!

Still waiting for the camera to come back from it's trip next door for Holiday portraits, lol, but I found this little guy~seems like I never uploaded him here!

Amuse stamps, Copic marker. Papertrey Sweet Blush Bitty Dots, SU's Barely Banana. SU and Papertrey ribbons.

Believe Pillow Case

If you've been around my blog a while, you will recognise this pillowcase; I made it for a Blog Hop in the fall of 2008. Was cleaning out some photos, and thought some of you might like to see it.

Claire, the quilt under the pillowcase in the second photo is one I made...

The fabric for the pillow case was just one of those happy accidents. I had it in the stash, and it matched Believe perfectly! If I was to do the stamping again, I'd ground the tree and Santa, lol... The images are colored with Prisma markers. I think I bought my first Prisma's just for this project!

HERE IT IS!!

Do I jinx myself by posting this??!? Actually, I feel a little like Nichole Heady when she posted her ten acre plot, lol! We don't close until Decmeber 14, but as far as we can see, there is no reason that won't happpen. Maybe a foot or two of snow, but not much else!

Looking for a cabin in the White Mountains has taken a bit of time over the past 4 months, but here is our decision! It's a cute little barn, with knotty pine inside, just like a cabin should be. 1.12 acres. one property away from a lake- Conway Lake- and close to Storyland, and shopping, and oh yes, the Mountains to hike in. I keep forgetting that is the point, lol!

You have to visualize a screened in porch off of the sliders; that will be the first project- well, after a well, anyway... turns out the cabin shared a well with another cabin, and that cabin owner doesn't want to share any more. Lol, that's understandable, but when we were there this week we realized the electricity pumping his water comes from our cabin!! lol, guess that is the first project!!

Pretty small inside, a thought for a kitchen, but a real bathroom with a tub. Carpeted, which I am not happy about, but the DIMBND man (that's Do It Myself But Never Does) says he will take up the carpet and put down a floor. We'll see. Otherwise I will keep watching the dump for a carpet sweeper thing. That hole in the floor goes down to the crawl space, it was just open so we could go down.

Upstairs are two bedrooms, we'll put as many beds as we can fit up there, I am hopeing to sleep 8 at least.

Wish us luck! After we close on December 14, we are going to go sleep in it overnight- forgot to say it has a woodstove for heat. That's my version of winter camping, lol- in front of a stove )not a campfire), under a roof (not a tent), with foam pads (on carpeting)!!! And an electric coffeemaker in the morning- how perfect is that?!?

Blog Hop- December

Here it comes, the Christmas season! I always want to make tags and wrap, or just embellishments to put on the tops of the presents; and that was the challenge from Papertrey this month! Alas, I have no such thing to show you- so I am bending the rules a little.

Evey year I give the daughter's a list book, and a wee bit of cash to spend. You can last years 'book' here . This year I saw these cute little journals at the dollar spot in Michael's...knew I'd be short on time... and look how cute they became with just an hour or so of playing!!

Papertrey Pure Poppy and New Leaf matched the colors perfectly. The rub-ons are from SU, the snowflakes are rub-ons, too. Obviously there are quite a few ribbons, lol, but Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy and New Leaf are there! Can you see the Christmas Tree pen stuck in the binding coils? I was lucky it fits in there just perfectly- and you should feel jealous because when you go to write with the pen, well, golly, the tree lights up!!! lol lol lol

I couldn't fit all the photos on one post, so scroll down to the post below-

Uh oh, this one looks fuzzy, darn it!

To the DD's, this is the most important page, lol! Did I say this book would be quick to embellish? Well, that green embellishment took a few extra shifts of work, lol lol lol!!!

Here's the front of the second book. I think there may hae been 3 types of these dollar journals, so have fun!!

Many, but not all, of the inside pages have stickers. I forgot to show you that the back of each tabbed page is one of Papertrey's 4 inch envelopes, also decorated with stickers or bling. That way, lists or receipts can be saved.

I give these out somewhere between midnight and 4 am on Friday. Oh what fun it is to watch them shopping for their children!!

Tiny Little Hands- What a Failure!

Have you ever started doing something, and when you get into it know it isn't gong to work, but continue anyway? How's that for a long-winded sentence??

So really, these (there were two) were quite the mishap. That cute hand printed paper is vellum, and I used Versafine Onyx Black, knowing that maybe it wouldn't dry well. But, being me, and under pressure, I packaged them up in a cello bag and headed off to the hospital right after the photo was taken. When I got to the office, I went to hand them over and yup'per...smeared all over, dang nab it!

Luckily, I had mounted the vellum on white with brads, so was able to salvage the layers under it. Home I went, and re-did both of them. First thing I did when I got home was to cut the hands and feet off of the stamp-I never really liked them there anyway. Stamped the sentiment in brown on white card, then mounted on the vellum with dimensional. Much better!

The Baby Shower

If you have followed the blog, you will know that the DD's 'nursery theme' is little forest animals. Isn't this cake just the best?? I wish I could tell you I made it, but I didn't. My niece Jessie came up with it- it was just beautiful IRL! Those are Jolee's stickers around the edges, the rocks are chocolate rocks (shouts of 'can I have more rocks?' were heard all over the room, lol!!), the leaves and nest are not edible, but that big chocolate bird sure was!!

More little bitty animals on the favors. I made them from purchased favor bags that have little baby feet on them. Inside are pastel mint chocolates, green big round mints, and yellow lemon drop. They all had different ribbons, thanks to Martha Stewart. I just happened to grab two with the same colors when I took the photo. The tags also were different colors, with animals from Papertrey's Deer Friends and SU's Forest Friends. A little bit of Papertrey's Chai helped set off the tags; both sentiments are from Papertrey (Mixed Messages and Bitty Baby Blessings).

Today I have searched all of the Papertrey DT sites for posts I have missed over the past 2 months, and I have some pieces cut out for 2 baby cards, lol. It'd been a quiet day, just me and the computer and stamps.

MIA coming to a close!

I know I have been MIA lately, but guess what!?!
The baby shower is today, I am putting the final binding on a teensy weensy quilt as I type, lol. I've made one sweater, one quilt, one blanket, one sweater and one hat to make his little head match his hedgehog outfit. I'll take lots of photos at the shower, and post them Sunday.

We've put our final bid on a cabin in the White Mountains- I don't want to jinx us, so I won't post photos until we hear back from Fannie Mae, the seller of the cabin. Man oh man, they have asked us some funny questions, lol! Our real estate agent has never worked with Fannie Mae, and is surprised at how slllloooow this has been. Actually, I guess this is just our Federal Tax Dollars at work, lol! Even if it is our bid they accept, it is not a done deal- there are probable title problems, and there is no well at present. So, the sale will be predicated on getting water into the cabin. Rustic, yes- no shower?? No way!

We got the DD a wheel chair, and she is slowly becoming more independent. I haven't done a load of laundry over there in over a week, lol. Unbeknown to her, the new baby's dresser is at the shop, and we can pick it up this week. Hopefully, by Thanksgiving Day, we will have the dresser in it's spot, baby things put away, and lots to be Thankful for.

My goodness, I hope to be back posting and in a regular routine again starting tomorrow!!

Baby Blue Elephant

Yes, I have been working hard at getting it all done, lol!! What are the words to the song? '...new jobs a hassle and the kids got the flu...' Well, no one has the flu, knock on wood, but the DD's broken leg has taken a little of my energies, lol!!!

I think the shower is close enough I can start showing some things for that soon!!

Here's a fun stamp from Amuse- I colored the elephant is Copics, then paper pieced the baby bag from Papertrey's Sweet Blush Bitty Dots paper. That's some of the Sweet Blush Swiss Dots satin ribbon, so lovely to tie into bows! The yellow is Barely Banana from SU, as is the 1/4 inch grosgrain.

It's definitely a girl card, but I may do it again as a boy this evening!

A Baby Stocking!

I love participating in Papertrey's Blog Hop; it really gets me to thinking about things! The challenge this month was to create a Christmas project. I have been thinking about the new baby, since he will be born about 2 weeks after Christmas, I think he needs a stocking! I can't knit it yet, since he doesn't have a name, and the name comes first... so here's an idea I had!!

I bought a stocking, and just decorated it with 'BABY' 'BABY' 'BABY' all over it! The other children will not mistake who this stocking is for! I've got to learn to do these things way ahead of time and get them done, then photograph in daylight- but life has been way crazy lately!

The little stockings are Stocking Prints stamped on Bitty Dots Spring Moss and Pure Poppy. The background piece is a dot image from Vintage Labels stamped on Ripe Avocado, then cut out with the coordinating Nestability. There are tiny bells on the tops of the stockings, but they seem to have flipped around in the photos, so are hard to see. The little tags are held on with tiny diaper pins- I had to color the tops with a #4 Prisma marker to match Pure Poppy! Lastly, different twills were knotted on the pins. I only did 6 tags, but may make some more and to some more with different ribbons to finish this project off!

Now you may know the DD broke her ankle (badly) 2 weeks ago coming off of her horse. See the little horsie at the top? Our new little boy will be getting lots of horsie things at his shower, lol!!

Stitches!

Not sure if you can see this ok, since the show folks took the photo and emailed it to me. I hope you can see the sweaters Mom and I made this year. When I get home, I'll take a close-up photo!

Sailing Bear!

I am at the DD's house, she had surgery on Tuesday for the broken ankle. Pain has been an issue since she is pregnant, and not all pain meds are an option. We discovered yesterday, sadly, that the pain med of choice gives her nausea and vomiting. Darn. So now she is just going to tough it out with Tylenol! Sheesh!!

I found this card on my hard drive, and didn't see it on my blog. If you've seen it before, I apologise. The blue cs and ribbon are Papertrey's Enchanted Evening. Little sailor sentiment is from Bitty Baby Blessings. I don't know who the textured printed paper is from, nor can I remember where the stamp came from. Oops! It was colored with SU & Neocolor watercolor crayons. Light blue organdy from the dollar ribbons at Joann's.

Thanks for all of the well wishes, and thanks for checking in every now and then. Honestly, it will be November 1 before I am back at home and in card making mode again!

Alex Stay Away!!!

Now Alex, you need to just go somewhere else!

So, the DD has chosen a nursery 'theme' of little forest animals. Of course, nowadays new babies are supposed to sleep in the room with their parents for a year, so there won't be a bedroom for this one for a while.

There will be a lamp on the changing table in their bedroom- here's a shot compliments of Carter's:

I wanted to replicate the look; here's what I came up with!



That's Papertrey's Enchanted Evening as a base and the scalloped circle. Enchanted Evening also made a sweet little bow. The Forest Animal paper is Twitterpated, as is the fox stamp. SU's Baha Breeze and Certainly Celery are the solid colors. The solid colors are stamped with backgrounds from Papertrey's Retro Backgrounds. The velum is also Papertrey; the little Chocolate Chip bunny is from SU's Deer Friends. The invite part is also a SU set, Welcome Little one comes from the same set.

I forgot to photo the back, but there is a 'holder' for the directions to the shower, and the Babies R Us card with her registry info.

Lots of fun to make! Not 'cute', but I think I did pretty well staying with the theme. Now if I can just figure out how to get little animals on the cake, lol, I'll be all set!!

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride!

Yes, I've been out gallivanting, with the animals, lol!! Over the past week I have spent free time with the DD~ she's sitting in a recliner, 26 weeks pregnant, with a broken ankle. That happened last Sunday dismounting from a horse on the sandy beach. Surgery has been delayed until this coming Tuesday to allow swelling to go down. Then they'll put some hardware in and she should be all fixed! Sweet thing that she is, she won't take anything stronger then Tylenol because she doesn't want pain medication to the baby...

Thursday I started a new job. Same place, same team, but no routine nights so that is a good thing. A job was created- all education- so a job description was written, but this job is brand new and I know I will fumble through for a while. I can't say it has been stressful this week, just a wee bit confusing. Framework and parameters will be needed, lol...

The baby shower invitations are out, I ended up doing about 20, way moire than I thought I would need. They aren't the cutest, but I couldn't share with my cohort- the DD- since they are for her baby shower! Since she is stuck in a recliner, lol, I guess I can put it up later today! Good thought!!

This coming Thursday is the sweater festival in Hartford, CT. The sweater isn't done. Oh dear.

I was so lucky to have done some trades with Terri in Colorado, Sandy in PA, and Angy in Italy for baby cards, and have gotten through this rough week not needing to make any myself. Phew!!

So, enough complaining. I have seen every sunrise and sunset this week, and that's a good thing! Hey! Just getting out of bed in the morning is a good thing!!

Thanks for listening-

Stampin' Up In Colors

Karen B Barber on SCS posted this card in July~ she was sad about losing the 2008 In Colors, so she used Pale Plum, Perfect Plum and Mellow Moss. This one is to show her the same card is just as beautiful in Raspberry Fizz, Melon Mambo and Old Olive.

No stamps here, just dies, both from SU. Little Pearls from a big crafts store. Punched holes around the edge using a hole guide from SU.

I'm so glad you are staying with me- the shower invites are done and mailed, the sweater is almost done. Just front ribbing with buttons holes to do, plus buy the buttons and sew them on. Shopping for a cabin is ongoing. New job starts next week! While there will be some night shifts in the new role, certainly not as many!

What a fall this is turning out to be!

So Precious

Lol, this time I was punching out little hearts from the Amuse paper; I managed to get them lined up pretty well, and lol, hated to waste that edge... so here it is!

The image is from Outlines- I love their images and other peoples cards, but have never been very successful layering them myself. SU's Pretty In Pink matches the Amuse gingham checks very well, as does the 1/4 inch Pretty In Pink grosgrain. The So Precious sentiment is from the Hampton Art Oh Baby set. Either it didn't perform too well or I didn't. The smear wasn't bad enough to throw the base layer away, and I am not sure I can even see it in the photo.

So precious!

Another Amuse~

I'm having a lot of fun with my new Amuse stamps. This paper is paired with SU's Barely Banana. Cut with the labels 1 die. Colored with Prisma markers- that's it! done!!!

Blog Hop!!

Nichole's challenge this month was to use a 'cast-off' from inside of a Papertrey package, and make a project with it! Oh, I had lots of ideas, some of which may still come to fruition~ but for a person who works only part-time, and really has very few responsibilities, my days are full of committments, and I had not one single moement to make anything! Well, I did have a few moments, but when we came upstairs, my 3 yo Grandson grabbed the good scissors and went for the Orange Zest ribbon on the table...so we went back downstairs. Yes, I have my priorities straight!

Couldn't get anything done today, so thought I'd show this for the Blog Hop. That's a Papertrey Thank You card under there, of course!! Aqua Mist and Sweet Blush. Baby in Moon stamp by Inkadinkado; sentiment by Penny Black. The baby gown is colored with AM ink using a blender pen. Not sure if you can do that with the reformulation. Edged the Thank You card in a silver Pilot pen, then put a bit of silver sparkle on the star. I did this a while ago, if I do it again I will use some floss on the buttons, lol!!

Now headed off to work, have fun you guys!!

Clean and simple

Sometimes the best things are just plain and simple. The base card is Amuse cardstock, the green is Spring Moss, the bunny print is from Bitty Baby Blessings (paper, not the stamps). Sentiment from Impression Obsession. It's embossed with white powder. Buttons are Lemon Tart and Spring Rain, yellow and green flowers are from Savvy stamps.

Sewing and Knitting!

What goes around comes around, and sometimes in the best of ways~ yes? Last week I offered to send copies of Holiday Cards to a couple of my friends at Papertrey, in exchange for some baby cards.

So far, two packages of baby cards have come, and it was so great! An absolute baby card vacation, lol! But then, I forgot to post to the blog, dang nab it! sorry!

Do you recognize the image here? It's a thank you card from Amuse, I did a wee order with them a while back. I think it's printed, but the bird colors matched Papertrey colors perfectly- so it was just needing to become a baby card!

PTI paper is Lemon Tart and Spring Moss. Lemon Tart put through the Cuttlebug with the Dotted Swiss EF. Layered in Spring Moss with a teensy narrow ribbon... I love instant cards!!

With my baby card vacation, I have been knitting and sewing. I am about a week or two away from a finished sweater and I will show you that soon, but weeelll... the other thing I am doing is sewing for a new baby grandchild, so I can't show you any of that until much later!

Alcohol Inks

Thought you might be getting tired of seeing baby cards, and I was finally able to take a break between making and delivering to take some photos!! I love working with alcohol inks, and have been stockpiling blues and greens. I had a little pile of purples, so here's what happened!


The greens come from Adirondack colors, and the deep purple did as well. The purple was made by taking the little oval sponge tip on a handle that Adirondack sells, dipping it in ink, and mushing it down one at a time in a semi-circle to form flower petals. You can take the gold pilot pen with a tiny tip and create flower centers, too. Slice up the paper close to the petals to give an 'inchie' feel, edge with the gold pilot pen, and layer away.

This card got a gold lame bow (Papertrey gold ribbon) after I saw the photo and decided it was a bit drab. Also, that is a gold Happy birthday sticker. I am always hesitant to stamp sentiments on alcohol if I don't have another piece to work with if I smear the ink. For that reason stickers work well!

These are Pinata inks, they are brighter than Adirondack. The ferns are punched out from regular paper, with just a few punched from the blue/green mix of the alcohol inked paper. The pink and lavender flowers are a mix of Adirondack, Pinata, and Copic refills. Yes, that's right! Since Copic ink is alcohol based, you can use the refills just like any other alcohol ink! Doesn't that open up a treasure trove of color! Speaking of opening up, be advised that the Copic refills are not always easy to open, and will squirt all over if you are not paying attention to what you are doing!!

The flowers are punched with a Carl punch, and have a bit of spica pen dazzled around for some glitter, and little gold dots from one of the sticker pages. That's a gold sticker Dragonfly, too, with very glittery wings!

The base card is Bazzil bling, turned inside out~ The bling side didn't match the greens, but the backside did, lol- then I had to cover that bling side with PTI's Vintage Cream, lol...

Next came one with pearls- different flower punch, different leaf punch, but essentially the same card~

Hope you have enjoyed today's cards!!

Papertrey September Guest Star Stamper entry

Had a great idea, after seeing all of the tags from the Papertrey Design Team members. Went and bought what I needed at Michael's (this would cost you less than $15.00 to make), then collected acorns out side.

Made the tags (Cricut George and Basic Shapes)... the 8 yo GS cut the leaves with the Cricut and Doodlecharms (I had to pay him, but it helped him stay focused!)... set it up, tied the ribbons... lit the candles...looked at the clock and it was time to leave for work!!!

So, took some quick but bad photos, lol- you should see this in real life, it's so pretty! I lost the inked leaves from First Fruits in the bad lighting, and it should have been in the light tent to do away with the glass glare.

Do you forgive me?

Papertrey In Bloom

Yes, indeed, fall is here. It's almost time to start up the wood stove. Indeed, I am headed over to the DD's house to get the chimney brushes back from them. Sweeping the chimney really means heating the house is close! Funny thing is, just back from camping, where it was pretty chilly, makes me think if I just bundle up a little more and wrap up in a sleeping bag, lol, we can avoid the wood stove thing for another week. This morning I told the DH to go start a campfire in the driveway, lol, and I would just warm up there!

I love the Autumn Abundance paper, and I know I am going to love Orange Zest when it comes next week! I am holding off making Halloween cards just for that reason! I may need to go out later in the weekend and see if I can find some grapey purple paper.

Anyway, I used the In Bloom biggest flower, and colored it with Prisma markers. The leaves were stamped in Ripe Avocado with Ripe Avocado, then colored a bit with more Prisma's. I smeared clear Stickles all over the bloom, and up the leaf lines so both would glitter. If you make the closeup bigger, I think you will see the sparkle it has.

The sentiment is from Birthday Basics, cut out with a ribbon slider from Spellbinders. The green ribbon is Ripe Avocado grosgrain, but the yellow/orange is Offray from AC Moore. The tiny little green knot is Ripe Avocado twill.

Hope you like it!

Girl Denami Card

Here's another card using the same layout, background and main image as a boy card I showed last week- well, maybe that was 2 weeks ago- how time flies! This time it's a card for a baby girl, so I used Pretty In Pink as the central color. Also, instead of using the Technique Tuesday circular border, I used one from SU from a few years ago, Sweet Celebrations. The background dots are Papertrey's Polka Dot Basics I, the background baby images were stamped opver the dots then colored with Prisma markers. Not sure if you can see it, but the bottom scalloped circle is covered with Glitter Glue.

Away!

One more trip away, then I will be home for the entire month of September! At the moment I am in Houlton Maine, after a wonderful long holiday weekend camping in Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island in Maine. You can see some of the DD's photos here. We were about a mile from the house when I realized I did not have my camera...but being late leaving as usual... I went without it.

Check back on Thursday, I made a bunch of cards but never got them upoaded~ I promise I will do it Thursday!

Baby Boy Mobile

Man, what a whirlwind week it was! Started last Monday with a trip to the Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialists; see the Ultrasound of Grand baby # 6 here ! We watched him drink and suck and move his arms and legs- with the Ok that he looked well, we went shopping!

Next I was offered, and took, a new job. It is a newly created position, and I took it with some trepidation, but if I am a bit skilled and very lucky, it will be the perfect job!

Then the search for a cabin, lol... which I think we have given up at this point. I spent hours on line looking at cabins and writing things down- so much so that He got a wee bit grumpy. So, until He is ready to really fulfill what was his idea in the first place, I'm done. lol, it was fun while it lasted... Do you have men in your lives that get an idea, and we run with it, and they look at it like it was all our idea and a bad one at that? Sheesh!

Ahh... then the cards. No lie, we were out of baby cards again at the hospital! So I had a 24 plus hour marathon of cards! Even slipped in a few birthday cards there, too! I love it when I am worn out, but with a stack so high I have to put them in multiple bags!!

I love the Savvy Stamps baby images- I use them a lot! I am still on a CAS kick, and am getting quite used to making my own backgrounds. The blue of the background is SU's Bashful blue again (PI hasn't released an updated Spring Rain yet), stamped with Papertrey's Polka dot Basics II, the tiniest dots. I was a bit off in the lineup, but I don't think it matters.

The blue layer is SU's Bashful Blue- it really is about the same as Papertrey's Spring Rain, and I won't buy any more Bashful blue when this is finished, but I want to use it up! I used SU's markers to color the stamp, the yellow is Apricot Appeal. See the little eyelet? With the Spellbinder square still in place after I cut, I used a Copic fine line black marker to try and draw a square... yeah, well, works better if your hands are stable, lol... but the inadvertent squiggles worked ok here, lol

Bashful Blue striped ribbon and a bit of white marker and see how cute!

Color comparison

Not sure how successful I was in the evening under white light-

Left is Night of Navy, middle is Enchanted Evening, right is Not Quite Navy. Not Quite Navy has more of a green tint, EE has a bit of a teal tint, NON is 'bluer'. In the hand, Enchanted Evening is closer to Night of Navy than Not Quite Navy.

Hope that helps!

Blue Onsie

Wow, something happened in the air yesterday...it's definitely fall out there! The big yellow taxi comes tomorrow, lol, and only the adults are happy today. This has got to have been the shortest summer on record; I bet we had all of 2 total weeks of warm sunny days.

I hope I didn't show you this one already, lol. When I come off of a streak of nights, I can't remember much! I saw this card while on our Shop Hop, it was at Absolutely Everything in Topsfield, MA. There are three sets used here, the onsie and the background stamps are from Denami Design, the round circle sentiment is from Technique Tuesday. Sadly, the Technique Tuesday image is poorly poured, and will need the be modified with a scalpel before I will use it again. The blue patterned papers are Bashful Blue DSP, and the ribbon is a SU Bashful Blue stripe. Little bit of glitter, little bit of white gel, and we are good to go!

My search for a cabin in the mountains with a babbling brook is going nowhere- the two I came up with went under contract within a week of being listed. Hmm, since I live in the woods near the beach, I wonder if this is just a silly exercise. Still, the DH wants to go out the door and into the mountains, so I will continue to search!

Cupcakes!

I did it. I bought some cupcakes. I have not been so fond of all of the cupcakes, but these spoke to me~ of course, it was the first stop on our Shop Hop, after the flat tire, and before dinner. Maybe I was hungry!

The cupcakes are by Impression Obsession, and they just scream glitter and sparkle, don't you think? The pink layer is SU's Pretty In Pink embossed with the CB Swirls EF. I then went around the raised edges with a glitter pen.

I punched out a green print from Nana's Nursery (from a small pack, 4 x 6) with a Fiskars edge punch. The card base is a print from the stash, it has little sparkles in the middle of the flowers. White daisies are from Jolees, and the ribbon is from Papertrey.

I think if you make the picture larger you will be able to see that the cupcake liners are paper pieced using a SU print paper. The cupcakes were colored with Prisma markers, then each of them has some sort of glitter or sparkle added as well.

One of the friends who gets my cards thinks I need to add more glitter, lol- this one is for her!

I forgot to take a picture of the inside, but at Absolutely Everything in Topsfield, MA, I found a stamp by Stampendous that says 'Everyone knows...birthday calories don't count!!!' Actually, Absolutely Everything had the cupcake stamp, too!

Edna's Butterfly~

Sadly, my Mom's very good friend Edna passed away last week. Not a surprise, but still sad. We've suffered our share of losses this past year, but it doesn't make any of them easier. This was a card for Edna, but I didn't get it in the mail in time. She would have loved it, she loved all of my cards.

The background is Papertrey's Flourishes done in Papertrey's Dark Chocolate. Next layer up is a yellow/orange gradated paper. It's a very thin scrapbook paper, and it's thinness made it a bit difficult to work with. I am so spoiled with thick card stock!

The butterfly stamp is by The Artful Stamper. I paid $16.75 for it, so I really need to find lots of uses for it, lol! I stamped it once is Versamark and embossed with a gold embossing powder, then did just the butterfly in the same gold embossing powder on the gradated paper. It was when I cut out the butterfly that I realized how thin the paper is, but the wings curled just a bit, so that is ok!

On a cheerier note, we spent 4 days in Jackson, NH, in a small cabin borrowed from a friend. All of the grandchildren were there, and we spent 2 days at Storyland, did some hiking in the woods, and the DH went on 2 10 hour walks, right from the front door. At the end of the time, we agreed we should look into buying a cabin of our own in the White Mountains if we can. Not sure where this adventure will take us; now don't laugh, since I live in a cabin in the Maine woods... but not in the White Mountains National Forrest!

August Papertrey Guest Star Stamper Submissions

Before I talk about the Shop Hop, Sandy, lol, thought I'd show this month's Guest Star Stamper entries over at Papertrey. This month we were to use buttons in some way. Papertrey buttons come in all sizes and shapes, as well as colors. Each bag matches one color, but within each bag is a cacophony of buttons in a full range of tints that match.

My Birthday entry used buttons from the Vintage Cream and White collection, I wish you could see the buttons in real life! The middle one is especially fun! I colored a printed paper from the Black and White collection with the Limepeel Prisma marker. The flowers are Hibiscus Burst and Raspberry Fizz, cut out with a Sizzix die. Little Savvy Stamps flowers were threaded through the button holes and glued on. Sentiment is from Birthday Basics, of course, with cream twill and a few more buttons to finish it off!

On our Shop Hop we saw lots of Amuse stamps and cards, and I fell in love with how simple they are. My Christmas Button entry used Rustic Branches on Stamper's Select, stamped in Spring Moss and Ripe Avocado. I double stamped the Spring Moss solid leaves, so that when I stamped the single line leaves, there was a bit of a shadow of leaf to one side. Next came the weensiest red buttons you have ever seen, bought at Stamping Memories in Belmont, NH (also on our hop). At 14 buttons, lol, I might win the prize for the most on a card! Actually, that center is only about 2.5 x 3 inches, so I must win for the most buttons in the smallest surface area! The printed paper is Vintage Holiday, used with Pure Poppy of course- the entire card is just about 3.5 x 4.5. It 's not an exact size, it's a leftover piece I just folded over.

I do cookies the weekend before Christmas, and often put cards on the ribbons without envelopes. Bigger than a tag but smaller than an A2 card, this will work well if I just punch a hole on the inside, and thread some curling ribbon through.

lol, here is my entry in the Big Black Button contest. I took the biggest black button, the one that wouldn't even fit in the jar, and covered it in black flocking. Strips of black cs with points at the ends became the legs; a couple of googlies brought him to life! I oopsed and gave him 6 legs before I flocked him. Later that day I watched a spider crawl by me downstairs (don't gasp, they catch the skeetos, just don't let them bite you, lol! Ok, come out of your faint, now!) and realized they have 8 legs, silly. That's how the 'BOO' tag was born.

The web is glitter through a brass stencil, held on with the Essential Glue pad tapped through the stencil. Polka Dot Basics 2 has the tiny dots; stamped on Summer Sunrise it sure makes for a wonderful Halloween background! I wrapped a bit of the darker twine around the corners of the web just for effect-

Hope you enjoyed my cards, and that they give you some inspiration!