{ the workshop in march }

This stamp set is Sip by Sip. I love it....it's probably my favorite! I am a coffee lover! And if you haven't heard, I gave up my Starbucks for Lent. Now, this may not be a big deal for most people, but I was having Starbucks everyday. It is like an addiction (I assume)! Well, I am proud to announce that I have been Starbucks sober for five whole weeks! Go me! But I digress...our monthly workshops are held in the loft above Beans 'n Cream in Columbus. Shout out! In the spirit of environment, I thought a coffee card would be appropriate. The quote on the card reads, "Enjoy life sip by sip, not gulp by gulp." I thought that was pretty profound. The colors are from the Earth Elements family (and one of the In Colors) - Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, and Whisper White.

{ the workshop in february }

I have a monthly workshop with a group of creative ladies in Columbus. Every month, we make two projects. This card was one of the projects. I like to call it "Sweet Flowerpots." Stupid...I know! The stamp set it Sweet Stems. I used Certainly Celery and Barely Banana cardstock. The pots are made using the round tab punch on Really Rust cardstock. This is a cute spring-like card. I think the ladies like it! The other project was the candy box. I posted those a while back!

{ the birthday }

Today is my very good friend's birthday! So, of course, I made her a card. This was her birthday card. I found this layout on a website I frequent. It is soooooooooooo simple to do! The only thing that is stamped is the bow at the top. I used one of my favorite stamp sets...Pick-a-Petal. Just to jazz the card up a bit, I added a little irredescent glitter glue. I just love glitter glue! It adds a POP to a card! I think I am joining Glitter Glue's Fan Club!

{ the ribbon }

Now, the stamp is not Stampin' Up! But the card stock, ribbon, and ink colors are. I love the softness of these cards. And I love how the ribbon color changes the look of the card, yet they are equally appealing.

I can't choose the one I like best.

{ the butterfly pop-up }

This was a card I did for a make-and-take at the January workshop I had in Columbus. It is a bit time-consuming, but the outcome is beautiful.

On the front of the card, I used Designer Series Paper in Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, and Chocolate Chip...three of my favorite colors that I ALWAYS use. And when you open the card, the butterflies look to be in flight. I love the stamp set (Flight of the Butterfly) because you can mix and match the design of the butterflies. The spiral part is just a circle that I cut.

On the difficulty scale, I give this card a 2.3 out of 5. It is rather simple to do, just tedious. You have to cut out all of the butterflies...ugh! But once it is finished, you are like....OOOOHHH!!!! AHHHH!

{ the valentines }

I love this card! The brown background is the envelope. The red scalloped cardstock is the card. On the back it says, "Happy Valentine's Day!" So cute, so simple.

This layout was borrowed from one of my Stamp-a-Stack Christmas cards. I find it to be a universal layout.

{ the swaps }

Not everyone knows what a swap card is. Let me explain.

Swaps - cards that you make x-amount of the same one. You keep one for yourself, and swap them with other people that have made x-amount of theirs. It is a way to get ideas.

And I am all about getting more ideas. I am consistently interested in doing swaps. Not only do I love getting ideas, but I also love sharing my ideas.

I always make 5-10 more than are needed for the swap, so I can send them to friends. These are just a few of the swap cards I have done with my stamping group in Columbus.

Pick-a-Petal stamp set, Kraft and Cameo Coral card stock, Chocolate Chip ink, Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon.

Garden Whimsy stamp set; Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Soft Sky, and River Rock card stock; Chocolate Chip ink; Corner punch; Bronze eyelets with Crop-a-dile; Cocoa linen thread

Enjoy Every Moment, Hi and Hello, and Daisy Field stamp set; Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore, YoYo Yellow card stock; Green Galore, Pink Passion, Pumpkin Pie, Brilliant Blue ink;
Paper crimper; White 1/4" grosgrain ribbon; file fastener.

{ the toast }

We are still in the month of January...so I think 2009 is still in the "new" stage. I hope the remaining 11 months are filled with wonderfully blessed events for you and your family. Cheers to you!

This was one of my New Year's cards. I have always thought martinis were fun to look at. Looking at this card, I think I am right.

I used the stamp set "Cheers to You." It is awesome. It has the words on this card, a martini, a beer, a hurricane drink, champagne glasses, and a margarita. So, so, so cute. This can be used to make cards for any social gathering, a congratulations, girls' night, etc.

Let me know your occasion...I would love to make something with this set for you.

{ the bleach }

I learned the bleaching technique from MY Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Dane (she is my Upline)! This was fun to do...I think I made 12 of these in several different colors. Stampin' Up!'s cardstock bleaches very nicely.

For this card, I stamped my image in Versa-Mark, which is a watermark pad. Then, I embossed the flower using clear embossing powder and a heat gun. The embossing gives a good outline for bleaching. I used a watercolor brush (the cheap one for children's watercoloring) with plain bleach. I think I repeated the bleaching one time to make it really white.

I used the Pick-A-Petal stamp set for this one. It is by far my most-used set! The cardstock color is Ruby Red. Another commonly used item. It is one of my favorite colors.

{ the window }

I love putting stamps and Designer Series Paper on black cardstock. The black just makes everything else "POP!" This was a card I demo-ed at one of my September workshop. I used the stamp set Window Dressing and Bella Rose Designer Series Paper. With this stamp set, you can put anything in the window. There is a little girl, a snowman, a cat....why don't I just post a picture of the set! There is so many different types of cards you can make with this one.

Do you see all of the cute things you can put in that window? Oh, I just love this set. Let me know if you have an idea for a card. I will make it just for you!!!

{ happy thanksgiving }

These were the cards I made for Thanksgiving 2008! My apologies if you did not receive one. I only made 6 tree cards and 6 pumpkin cards. Five of each to give away...one of each for me to keep. The cute little turkey card was in my Stampin' Success magazine. I made it for two teacher-friends that wanted them as their own Thanksgiving cards. Of course, I made one for myself! I thought they all turned out cute!

{ the birthday invitations }

These are two birthday invitations I had made during the summer. The clown card was for Laura's 6th birthday, and the bowling pins were for my sister's birthday.

The clown card was a lot of fun to make. Stamps were used just to make the collar (purple, green, pink, and blue). And the stamp was from a flower set called Pick A Petal. The rest of the clown was made using punches.

I love doing paper crafts with punches. There is so much you can make with them. I made several different Christmas gift tags with penguins, snowmen, Rudolph, and Santa using only paper, punches, and glue. If I can find them, I will post those, too.

Invitations are fun...each occasion is different, so I get to be creative. If you ever want me to design invitations for you, let me know.

Price: 20 cards with envelopes - $40

Email me for more information.

{ the wedding invitation }

I just smile everytime I look at this one. This is the invitation for a very good friend's wedding. And yes, it is handmade...sorta! The leaves were drawn by another good friend of mine...Mrs. Jamie Baker! I did the writing. They were printed at a local print shop. Then the bride and I did the watercoloring on the leaves.

First of all, I love to include watercoloring on my cards. It gives them such a nice look. In fact, my Christmas card for 2008 was watercolored. But I digress. These were fun to make. Each one turned out differently...I mean, seriously, no one can copy watercoloring exactly. Whatever.....they all turned out to be gorgeous, just like the wedding!

{ christmas stamp-a-stack }

So, first things first....I didn't make all four of these cards. My dear, kind, wonderful friend Stephanie made the one in the top right corner (the one with the snowman).

The other three are some of the cards that we did at my Christmas Stamp-a-Stack! I just loved these designs. I have extras of some of these, so maybe I will send those out this year. And once again, I know Christmas has passed, but I wanted to share these with you! I hope you enjoy them.

{ merry christmas }

Now, before you start.....I am aware Christmas was three weeks ago. But I was so busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas that I only had enough time to make about 10 Christmas cards. With that said, here is the card I wish I had been able to send to each of you. Please accept my apology for not giving it to you before Christmas passed.

{ the finished products }

I finally finished the "sleeping bag" invitations. I only had to make 15 of them, but this was televisions's premiere week. And supposedly, the shows were going to be the best ones of the season...quite frankly, I feel ripped off, and I want my money back! Okay, I didn't have to pay anything extra to watch these shows, but I did spend hours of my life (that I will bever get back, mind you) only to be left with this empty feeling. Ugh! I hate being disappointed!

Let me get off of my soapbox and get back to the reason for this post. I finished the invites....and I absolutely LOVE them. I think I am going to make some "Thinking of You" cards with this layout for myself.

I love making cards, but I do not like to make the same exact card over and over and over and over....it is repetitive and redundant (repetitive and redundant, ha ha!). That line, by the way, is part of one of my most favorite quotes from Gilmore Girls. Anyway, if someone wants 15 of the same card, I always try to make at least one of the cards slightly different.

So....here it is....the collage of all of the different colors I used on the cards. And yes, I made 16 cards. I always make an extra one that I keep. It goes in a portfolio for my customers to see. Send me an email if you ever want to take a look....

{ the sleeping bag }

So, a teacher-friend asked me if I could/would make the birthday invitations for her daughter's birthday. She told me that it was going to be a spend-the-night party, and she thought an invitation that looked like a sleeping bag would be neat. And I thought, "Oh, that would be so cute...I know exactly what I am going to do!" I do love a challenge! So naturally, I accepted the offer. The following pics are just a couple of what I came up with. I did an assortment of colors...and maybe when I have a little more time, I will post those as well. Everything used is Stampin' Up! product!