Last Holiday Card of 2007!

Well, I'm off to Costa Rica for 10 days Monday morning. I have to get up at 2:30 a.m. YIKES! Carzy I know. But it should be an awesome trip. I'm going to miss my puppy girls big time, but am comforted by knowing Brian will be with them until he joins us for the last 4 days. He works from home, so the girls get spoiled big time by him. And, then my pet sitter and her boyfriend will be with them the whole time after that. She lives not too far from me at home with her parents, so she looks forward to the get away at my house. And, during the summer she and her sisters like to stay cause then they can have fun in the pool. I know; my baby girls are seriously spoiled. But they are my children and to me they are the safest at home. Anyway, this is the card I made for Brian. I used a stamp I'd had since last year from Michael's. I didn't know what to make for him as it's a struggle to come up with masculine things. But I think he can be a big kid at times and perhaps the Santa will make him smile and think about when he was a young boy and believed in Santa.

Anyway, if I can, I'll try to post from Costa Rica.

Happy Snow People!

This stamp came from the monthly rubber stamp club I joined, DRS Designs. I like them a lot. My colors could have been better, and the snow girl in pink could have a better mouth, but I'm a bit pushed for time now. And, I had a crick so bad in my neck today it actually went into my back and chest. Very weird. But oh well, that sort of stuff just happens I guess. But I've got to get this card mailed out tomorrow. Can't say who it's for, but I'm sure she'll see it here before she gets it. Oh, well! Oh, and did I say before, I am sure I did, but I've got to say it again, the SU Zig Painty Marker is a must have!!

Deer Ming!

I love this card! And, I'm so jonesing for the deer stamp she used. I think I could probably borrow it. This is the Holiday Card that Ming made and gave to me. Her sister lives in Seattle and bought the stamp from the local store there. I think it's fabulous. And, I think the color combination is great.

A Card in the Making-Completed!

Well, I finished it, but I've gotta say it doesn't speak much to me. Although, I do have to say the Stampin Up Zig Painty Marker is the snazz! Without a doubt the best paint marker I've ever used. That's what I used on the sentiment where you see silver color. And, it's the SU Season of Joy Stamp set. Everything else is from Michael's except the SU Real Red and Whisper White CS. Oh, and the brads; those came from Queen and Company online. Also, as you can compare, I decided not to use the SU Circle Scallop I'd punched out last night.

Baby Bella!

What canI say, my baby Bella is just so precious as she sits on her ottoman looking out the window. I'm not sure where her sister (Rikka) was at the time, but I thought this was cute and was post worthy.

A card in the making!

This may not look like much right now, but this is a card in the making. I started this card tonight and ran out of time to finish it. So, I thought it'd be interesting to show one in the making. I have absolutely no idea where it will go from here or what I will stamp on it. So, I'll hopefully finish it tomorrow night after Yoga and you'll see. And, hopefully it will turn out okay.

Flowers for Jilly Bean!

So Jilly Bean's birthday was last week and she and a few of our other friends went to New York to celebrate. Katie and I opted not to go since our Costa Rica trip is only three weeks from the time they went. This is the birthday card I made for her. Which I haven't given to her yet, because I will be seeing her probably this week to give it to her along with her gift. So, I hope she doesn't look at my blog before then. The DP is one I ordered online but is from the Three Bugs In A Rug line. The flower which I cut out and layered is from PaperTrey Ink and is a part of the Beautiful Blooms set. The sentiment is one I got from various ones I've had and was put on a die cut flower I ran through my Big Shot. The ribbon is from Ben Franklin. And, the CS is from SU; Pretty Pink, Whisper White and Rose Red. The ink is Purely Pomegranate from SU as well. Oh, and I used one of my Prismacolor markers for the dots on the white CS.

Home for the Holidays!

I'm not quite sure I'm in the holiday mood thus far. Meaning, it was 77 degrees in Virginia today and that was at 5:20 p.m. Not something we are used to. But don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it! I wish it could be like this all winter. Even though I don't subscribe to gift giving during this holiday, I still like decorating in the traditional manner. Sort of like a lot of us do for Halloween. So I took a few pictures of the new tree Brian and I bought. It's prelit and what a great way to go. Oh, I haven't put my star on the tree yet. And, I'll try tomorrow to get a picture of the outside of my house as I think it's quite beautiful with the lights in the windows. And, Brian bought a 60 inch pre-lit wreath which centers the window on the turrett on my house. I've also included a picture of my kitchen as well, because I absolutely love my kitchen and my 1940's Okeefe & Merritt Stove.

Pick A Petal-Better Get Better!

A very dear friend has been in the hospital a couple of weeks and I made this for him. Of course, I've seen this layout before and think it's quite cute. Everything used is Stampin Up. Oh, and the good news is that he got out of the hospital today!! Hopefully being home will help him recover even faster!

Vespa Holiday!

This stamp I got from Inky Antics sometime last year. A very dear friend of mine asked if I'd make a holiday card for her to give to her former boss who recently was laid off after 35 years with the company. And, she wanted the card to be sort of glamy and fashionable. Well, this is probably the closest thing I have that comes any where near those criteria. I stamped her in Versamark and them put white embossing powder on the stamped image. Coloring it with my Copic Markers was a little difficult around the heated embossed image and it's a little cuter in person. The background stamp is from Rubber Romance. Of course, I masked her in order to get it to look like it does. The paper is just various ones I have in my studio and the brads and ribbon came from Michael's. I did use my Crop A Dile to get the raised dots on the white and photo corners. Which I cut using my Stampin Up Corner Punch. Not much of a Holiday looking card though hunh? I'm not sure I'll give this one to her as I'm not quite sure it grabs me all that much.

Santa's Laundry!

I love this new stamp I got from DRS Designs. The sentiment came from there too. The Real Red and Very Vanilla card stock is from Stampin Up as is the ribbon. I used my copic markers to color and embellished with SU Dazzling Diamonds. The green card stock came from paper that my friend Gloria gave to me. And, I used my SU Mat Pack to make the holes in the corners.

First Holiday Party of 2007!

Make a slide show, scrapbook, or ecard

Tom & Claudia had their Holiday Party Saturday night and what a great party it was. Here are some pictures from their house. Gee, seems like I'm in a lot of them. What can I say, I love my friends!

SU SAS!

Finally, after almost two days I've gotten a good signal enough to post something. Friday I attended my Upline's annual Stamp A Stack night. And, OMG, was it fun and did we make some great cards. I've posted them here. All items used to make the cards were Stampin Up.

Trip-Grand Turk 12/22/04-12/29/04

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On December 26, 2003 I experienced a life changing event that pretty much devastated me and changed me in so many ways. It also made me realize that life was too short to continue living it the way I had been; suffocated and repressed. So I vowed that I would never be in the United States ever again on December 25. And, that I would travel to some place beautiful and tropical over the week of the holidays. So my first trip was to the island of Grand Turk which is part of Turks and Caicos Islands, 500 miles South East of Miami. Some place I'd longed to go since I was 17. I planned to make a dream come true after all those years. Actually, I planned to make many dreams come true with regard to seeing this huge, beautiful world. So I sent a broadcast email to my girlfriends and let them know what I'd planned and if anyone wanted to go they could, if not, I was going alone. I'd reserved my flight and a bed and breakfast, ocean front room in April 2004. No one took me up on the offer. Until I met Katie in May of 2004. I'd been talking about my trip and she inquired about it and told me to send her some information about it. So I did. And, I think in July she made her reservations to go too. It was without a doubt an awesome vacation and she and I have travelled each year over the holidays to some fabulous places. This year is our 4th trip; we're going to Costa Rica. Of course, now she and I each have puppies and it's hard to leave them, but I have someone who stays at my house with them the whole time and she will too this year, so it's a little easier. Actually Brian will be with the babies until he will join us on the 29th. Then my pet sitter will be there with them day and night for the last 4 nights, so that's not too bad. So these are a few pictures from the Grand Turk trip.

Is it Knot?

This is sort of an inside post. But I had to take a picture of this and post it with hopes that a certain person will see it. This person and another friend went along with Brian and me in October to Old Town Alexandria for the day. When we got to the marina, he proceeded to tie the ropes in this fashion. Which Brian and I thought was really neat. So when Brian and I went the day before Thanksgiving to Old Town on his boat, I thought I'd try my hand at what our friend did on the earlier trip. And, I got it on the first try. Brian said he was impressed and even he doesn't know how to do it. I guess you could say I was a little proud of my attempt too. And, I've got a feeling Brian will want me to tie his ropes like that on future boat trips with friends.

And, another Holiday Card.

All the items used to make this card are from Stampin Up except the designer paper which I bought last year at Michael's.

Bowling with Friends!

Make a slide show, scrapbook, or ecard A fun night of bowling with the greatest friends!

Make a slide show, scrapbook, or ecard First of all, when opened this says from the Jones, which of course is not correct. I had it saying from the Gal Stamper, but don't know what happened. Anyway... Here are a few pictures of me with my family over the Thanksgiving Holiday. Of course it all started Wednesday when Brian and I took a wonderful boat ride to Old Town Alexandria, Virginia via the Potomac River. We had a nice intimate lunch at Wharf Restaurant. Thursday evening we had a nice time with Ming, Ray, Emily and Ming's sister and husband eating Ray's homemade apple pie, cappuccino and watching a very funny movie. Friday night Brian and I had dinner with my mom, her husband, my sister, her boyfriend and my niece; which was so nice. Afterwards we met friends downtown for a cocktail. Saturday evening we met up with friends for some great bowling. All in all, I could not have asked for a better holiday.

Seeing Red!

This card is more or less a different variation of the card in the previous post. But I truly love the stamp. So everything is mostly the same except I used SU Real Red Paper.

Holiday Serenity!

I recently joined the Rubber Mania (DRS Designs)Monthly stamp program and I'm loving what I've ordered and received so far. This card was made using silver ink and silver embossing powder and winter wonderland embossing powder. The only brand paper I used was the SU Whisper White. The rest is just a mix I had laying around. And, of course the ribbon is from Michael's. I also used my SU Signo pen to put some white dots between the big snowflakes which came from my SU Cold Play set.

Let it Snow!

I actually made this card way before Halloween and really didn't think it was all that great. But a few folks have said they actually like it a fair amount. When I asked why they said because the colors were different than what they usually see and it caught their eye. In other words, it wasn't a traditional holiday card. Gee, and I thought folks were more apt to like the traditional versus one like this. So, I decided to take a picture of it and post it here. I had already put in on Splitcoast Stampers in my gallery and not here. So here it is! Everything is from SU except for the PaperTrey Ink White paper, the ribbon and the eyelets.

Fall at the Office!

I'm not sure how this picture will look to most of you, but the other night leaving the office I took more notice of this tree. Although, I must say I'm really noticing all the trees in our area are especially spectacular right now. It just makes me want to stop the car and take tons of pictures of them. But the parking lot light had come on and seemed to illuminate this one even more. So I thought I'd take a picture of it and post it.

I hope to get lots of cards made this weekend as I got some new stamps in yesterday, but I must say my time is going to be limited to a degree. The first day of hunting with shot guns is tomorrow which is followed by a gathering of folks and good food, I have got to get some furniture moved around and very dear friends are coming in for a visit from Spain tonight. They just temporarily moved there from Richmond a few months back and are here getting a visa straightened out. They plan to be in Spain for about 2 years and then who knows where. I plan to visit them in the Spring of next year for sure and maybe in the Summer as well. Which brings to mind traveling. I think next week I'll start my travel posts. The first one will be on Grand Turk where Katie and I went in December 2004. An awesome place for sure! And, one where I will definitely re-visit; maybe a Thanksgiving trip.

Chilly Penguins!

I bought this stamp from Michael's just before Halloween. I like penguins a lot and like the chilly blue of winter that most usually associate with them. The cardstock is PaperTrey Ink white, and a DP slab I got from Michael's as well. The deep blue is left over from old stationary from work that we no longer use. The ribbon is new from Michael's as well. The brad I got from Queen and Company and the sentiment is a sticker from a UK stockist. And, I used my SU Ticket Corner Punch. Oh, and the color on the penguins is from a case of gel pens that I have had for a while and it has an awesome assortment of glitter pens. ** So it looks like I may need to edit the card some. When I made it I could not recall the color of a penguins beak. Apparently they are supposed to be black as are their heads I think. But I think I'll leave them (head) white on the card.

Noel!

I've never been more excited about holiday cards as I have been this year. And, I must say I was doing them in October as a result. Probably because I have such a nice assortment to pick from and SU being one of my favorites. The card above was made using the SU Wondrous Gift and Many Merry Messages sets. I used my PaperTrey Ink white card stock, SU Handsome Hunter CS and the SU Handsome Hunter and Gold Metallic Ink. I also used the SU gold embossing powder for the stars and the sentiment. The red round stickers I got from Michael's. I like them SO much as they really save time over using glue and SU Red Dazzling Diamonds. Not that I don't like that, I really do, but I'm all about efficiency. And, last but not least; the ribbon!! Love it and I got it at Michael's the other night at 50% off.

Happy Birthday Terry!

Tuesday, the 13th, is my dear friend Terry's birthday! I bought this stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs this summer and with her in mind. Because she absolutely is crazy about pigs and has many in various forms in her house. So I knew I had to purchase it! I used SU Purely Pomegranate and Green Galore CS as well as the PP coordinating ink for the sentiment. The coloring on the pigs was used with my various Copic Markers. The brads and eyelet are from Michael's as is the ribbon. I'm hoping she won't see this until later this evening as I haven't given it to her yet. Happy Birthday Terry!! I love you dearly!

Good Job Jess!

My dear friend Terry asked me Saturday if I'd make Jess (her ex-husbands daughter) a card because she got all A's on her report card. And, she's in advanced math as well. She turned 11 on July 31 and is without a doubt the smartest 11 year old I've ever known. So the above card is what I quickly made. I made it keeping in mind that a child would receive it, so it's a bit bizzy! :D I used my Big Shot and die cut letters to make the sentiment. And, I used SU Doodle This stamp set and Green Galore , Close to Cocoa, Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink CS. I also used SU Chocolate Chip Ink and the Signo Gel Pen for the white dots. The ribbon is May Arts from Ben Franklin and the flower brads are from Michael's. Oh, and the paper flowers I made using my flower die cut and snipped to make the petals. The DP I ordered online some time ago.

Traditional Red/Green Christmas!

I don't know why this card has me somewhat excited, but I think it's because I learned a new technique with one of my SU punches. The Round Tab punch is what made the circle in the white card stock that I stamped with my Background Basics Holly stamp using SU Handsome Hunter Ink. I colored the berries with my red Copic Marker. Other paper is SU White, Handsome Hunter, and Real Red. The red ribbon is also from SU. The brads are from Queen and Company. The other circle items are a variety of circle punches to include SU Circle Scallop. The sentiment was taken from my SU Party Punch set. The DP is from a slab I got from Michael's.

Ornament Cover!

Some time ago my dear friend Myna gave me the gift noted in the above picture. Well, she made the cover for the holiday ball. It is without a doubt one of the most beautiful ornaments I have for my tree. I just love it. I've got the pattern to make my own, but have never found the time to finish it. She says it takes on average 8 hours to make one. This summer she had some surgery and was out for quite a few weeks from work recovering and she made I think over twenty something of them. Who knows I may get a wild hair and try to finish the one I started quite some time ago.

Cake for Beulah!

Wednesday, the 7th is my dearest friend Beulah's birthday. She is such a special person to me and we used to work together for quite a number of years before I left the bank 5 years ago. I'm remiss that we don't get to see each other or talk all that often, but she's always in my heart. And, when we do talk we just carry on for the longest kind of time. Last year I made her a birthday card and am not sure I can top that one. But I've tried with the one above. I used my Paper Trey Ink Eat Cake stamp set. Love that set. And, some retired SU Designer Paper. The ink is current of SU though; Chocolate Chip. As is the Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla CS. The pink is Color Box Pixie Pink from Michael's along with the brads. Oh, and, the ribbon and Dazzling Diamonds sparkle is from SU as well. I also used my Spellbinders Nestabilities for the scalloped rectangles. The sentiment oval I made with my Big Shot and Ellison die cut. The Close to Cocoa outer oval was done by hand, which you can probably determine. I hope she'll like it. Happy Birthday Beulah honey!! Mmmmmwwwuuuaahhhhhh!! I love you dearly!

Holiday Bella!

It's been a full weekend. Brian and I and several friends went to the Urbanna Oyster Festival for a great part of Saturday and then some errands afterwards. Today, I got up early and did some much needed cleaning and because I wanted to make sure it was ready for company I was having at 1:00 p.m. Oh, and I was expecting my electrician at 9; but he wasn't able to arrive until 2. But the good news is that he fixed the satellite connection to my studio and now I've got all the Dish channels in my studio. Of course, it will most likely stay on HGTV; love that channel. After my dear friend Myna left, I went to Ming's house to visit for a bit. I really thought I'd have to give up hope on getting a card made this weekend, but because of the time change I was still able to get one made. And, using one of my favorite brand of stamps; Stamping Bellas. This one had never been inked and I'd been longing to do so. I used my Fiskars Snowflake Embossing plate on the white cardstock.

Items used:

SU Real Red, Ticket Corner Punch, Slit Punch, Chocolate Chip Ink and Dazzling Diamonds.

She and the tree were colored using Copic Markers. The white paper is from PaperTrey Ink. The DP and ribbon came from Michael's. The brads are from Queen & Company. Oh, and I used my rectangle Nestabilities from Spellbinders.

U2 Cover Band @ Taod's Place Halloween 2007!

Make your own slide shows and scrapbooks

Halloween Night, Brian and I decided to head downtown to Toad's Place to listen to a U2 cover band. In the last minute I was able to get 7 friends together to go and hear them play. And, OMG, did they ever exceed our expectations. They were great! We all had such a great time! Didn't even get home until 1:00 a.m. I'll post pictures of my friends that went on another post. In the meantime, I'm tired and am ready to hit the hay! Enjoy!

Snow Day!

I have this need to try and make a card each night so I can have something to post each day. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to make, most times I don't. This was one of those times when I didn't. But I decided I wanted to use my embossing folders for snow flakes and snow day. Both are from the Ellison line of die cuts. The paper is Stampin Up Purely Pomegranate and Pretty in Pink. The white card stock is from Paper Trey Ink. And, the brads are from Queen & Co. The ribbon is May Arts that I got from Ben Franklin. And, of course Purely Pomegranate Ink from SU.

Storage Idea #1

I thought I'd start a storage idea post. Starting with what I use to store my brads, beads, snaps, cheeky flats, and other adornments I use on my cards. Thanks to Ming, I use the boxes pictured above. They are great for such items and the compartments can be made to accommodate different size items. As you can see I keep skeins of thread in them too. You may not be able to tell from the picture, but each one has a lid that locks so you don't lose your items when moving it around. And, where you may ask did I get them? None other than Target! And, you can find them for less than $5.00 each along with the sewing items.

Something Old, Nothing New!

So time got away from me last tonight and I didn't get anything new made. However, I do have something old I made to share. In looking at it I can see I've evolved somewhat; well at least I hope I have. :D And, even so, I still like it for the most part. When I first started making cards, I used almost all stickers, punches, textured card stock, and rub ons. And, I found the best stickers and rub ons and even some envelopes and premade cards were on the internet from companies in the U.K. Specifically, I like http://www.docrafts.co.uk/ a lot. From there I found a great number of stockists; the U.S. equivalent of online craft suppliers. Not all will sell or ship to the United States, but some good ones do. Anyway, the card above is made mostly from stockists products except for the shoe punch and the brads.

Golden Pumpkin!

I've had this pumpkin stamp for sometime now and have wanted to use it, but have been stumped as to how. I labored over this card for some time and even did the pumpkin on orange paper with the gold embossing powder but just didn't like it at all. So I redid the pumpkin on black paper with the gold embossing and like it so much better. The picture was hard to get considering I wanted to get the effects of the embossing powder in the picture. I wish I could remember where I got the un-mounted stamp from, but have not been able to. If I do, I'll go back and add it. In the meantime the supplies are very simple. SU-Black CS, Gold Metallic Ink and Embossing Powder, and Word Window Punch. Other items are from Michael's.

2007 Powhatan Festival of the Grape!

Saturday was the annual Powhatan Festival of the Grape and my first time to attend. My dearest friends Terry, Katie and Carol & I went together. Even though the weather for the previous days had been nothing but "much needed" rain it cleared up to an absolutely beautiful day for the festival. And, oh gosh did we have such a great time. I'm fairly certain this will be an annual event for us and we'll most likely get more girl friends to join us next time. We also met our friend Pam out there as well. The music by Steve Bassett was great too! And, of course, the wine was smooth! Gotta thank Katie for being our DD and getting us there and back safely.

Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival!

Each year Smith Mountain Lake has a wine festival in September at Bernard's Landing Resort; usually the last weekend. And, each year we make sure we don't miss it. It is truly a great time and we have so many friends in the community that it just makes it even better. Rich and Jen, Maw (Linda) and Buster live at Bernard's Landing and they always have a crowd and welcome all with open arms and lots of food and beverage! And, my dear friend Charlotte has a beautiful house on the lake as well; which is where we stayed this year. The weather could not have been more cooperative and the ride over to Bernard's on Brian's boat was awesome as well. I've posted a picture of Bobbi and me (on the left) at the festival and one of the full moon from Charlotte's balcony that Brian took with his camera.

Friday Frustration!

So my new camera takes awesome pictures and very briefly I got a look at them on the computer using the card reader. When I was doing so and trying to rotate one, the program locked up and I had to shut it down. I then went to the scanner/printer to download that way and nothing. Tried to download them using a card reader again and nothing. Put the card back in the camera and I got "card error." Which meant the card had to be reformatted and I lost all pictures I took. I got some good ones of Bella and Rikka with Brian holding them too. But I can take more. And, the card pictures actually turned out great too. Oh, well. I'll make some cards this weekend and post when I can. In the meantime I thought this picture of Amber, me, Bobbi and Jill on our May Myrtle Beach trip was very nice. It's an annual thing we do and what a great time. As long as no one does anything to get hurt!! Little inside joke for my peeps!

Office Thanks!

I made this card to give to a colleague and his wife. They were so kind and thoughtful while Bella and Rikka were sick and she sent him to work with 4 doggie cookbooks to let me look over. I kept them longer than I should have though. But everyday he'd ask me how they were, and even now he'll ask how the babies are doing. But his wife was apparently worried about them a lot.

I know it resembles the other Thanks card, but I got new May Arts ribbon from Ben Franklin and wanted to show it off. I love the colors. I used a part of my SU Delight in Life set and a Hero Arts Stamp from Memories Galore. The paper is SU Close to Cocoa, Purely Pomegranate CS & Ink and PaperTrey Ink white CS. The pink brads are from Michael's.

Oh, and I bought a new digital camera but don't have a memory card for it yet. The one I bought for it doesn't work in it like it indicated it would. So the picture is still from my original digital. But I think the lighting is better, but not perfect.

Boston Legal Bummed!

So, I was in my studio last night frantically trying to make as many cards as possible before 10:00 p.m. (when Boston Legal starts) and was in the house in time. However, Boston Legal would not be shown due to special coverage on the SoCal fires. So a mad dash back out to the studio to crank out a few more! These two were made using Ming's SU Season of Joy Stamp set. I've got to give that back to her on Friday so I'm trying to get as many made with it as possible.

Still working on my lighting! Took the picture this morning before I left the house. Put the cards on the trunk of Barby!

Items used:

SU-Season of Joy, Purely Pomegranate CS & Ink, Mellow Moss Ink, Very Vanilla CS, Handsome Hunter CS & Ink, and Circle Scallop Punch. Other: Misc. Paper and brads from Michael's, Ribbon from May Arts at Ben Franklin,

Purely Pomegranate Birthday Wishes!

My mom called me Sunday and asked if I'd make 2 birthday cards for friends of hers celebrating their birthday's on November 4. One I already had in stock, but this one I made last night. I recently bought the stamp from Michael's and wanted to use it. It's a lot like the Thanks So Much stamp that I did earlier in my postings. But it's made by Inkadinkado. And, I worked on numerous settings with my camera last night and I think I may be getting better. Of course, I took so many and don't recall what setting I used for this picture. Isn't that just smart? And, of course one part of the ribbon is not facing the right direction in the photo. I'm blonde what can I say.

Items used:

SU-Purely Pomegranate CS & Ink, Pretty in Pink CS and Close to Cocoa CS.

Other: PaperTrey Ink white card stock. Ribbon, stamp and brads from Michael's.