Thank You Berry Much!

Ming gave me some fabulous PaperTrey Ink items for my birthday and this is part of their Green Thumb set. In her goody bag of items to me she also bought their new coordinating papers, ink and ribbon. I will be posting a card I made with that tomorrow. Gee, wonder who's getting this thank you card. Haha!

Oh, and this card was definitely cased.

Birthday Greetings from Ming!

I just love the card Ming made me for my birthday and wanted to share it with everyone. It's the Birthday Whimsey set from SU.

3rd Bloom Card!

So this is the third card we made in class Monday night. I love it except I didn't do such a great job of the placement of the stems. They should all be crossing each other for a more unified look.

Bloom!

I think this has got to be my favorite from the cards we made Monday night. I ordered this set and think it will be used for many types of cards. Mother's day will be upon us before you know it and I think I'll be doing much with the set for that. You can probably tell I put this in the light kit for the picture.

The Kit!

And, here it is. It's absolutely huge and takes up a bit of space in my studio. But thank goodness it's collapsible. You can put small dogs in there (:D) and children too and probably take some very professional pictures. Ming, get ready to bring some way cute clothes and Emily over for a photo shoot!

The light kit difference!

Monday night for my birthday I decided I wanted to attend a Stamp Class that one of my SU Demonstrator Colleagues held. She is phenominal and has numerous classes each month. She does this full time, but mostly to support her habit not necessarily for income. You should see the huge room she added to her house for her stamping stuff. One day I'll take a picture and post. Anyway, we made three awesome cards using the watercolor technique. I'm hooked on that now by the way. And, this is one of the cards we made. One taken in day light on my kitchen island and one taken last night in the light kit. See the amazing difference. I'll post a picture of the whole kit after this post.

Birthday Present!

So Brian got me the light kit I so badly wanted for my birthday. I was able to work on it just a bit tonight and of course the puppies had to check it out. I think they think it's a new crate for them to sleep in and they didn't want to get out of it, especially Bella. When I put the white back drop in I'll take some pictures of them and post. I truly think it will help me with some better looking pictures.

Birthday Flowers!

Yesterday was my birthday and what an awesome day it was too. As I get older I find that presents are not foremost in my mind on my birthday. It's just being remembered and thought of by phone calls and emails by friends/family and their wanting to spend time with me. And, when this beautiful bouquet of flowers showed up at work yesterday I was so surprised. My dearest and most long term friend, Tami, sent them to me. Aren't they just beautiful? She and I have been the closest of friends since we were 10. And, that is a most priceless gift as well. I am a very fortunate person to be surrounded and loved by so many wonder people. Thank you everyone for making my birthday so special.

Emily's Card

So here is the one I made for sweet little Emily. In person it's so much prettier. And, like I said, under the vellum piece is a Nestability cut piece that I ran through my Big Shot in the Cuttlebug Birds and Vine folder. Happy Easter everyone. And, to my dear friend Gloria, Happy Birthday!

Mario Inspired!

Remember I'd written about hopefully making some cards to get a little green back? Well, I'd discussed the matter briefly with the owner of the hair salon where I get my hair done and he seemed interested and noted he needed birthday cards. He's fabulous by the way. He owns Salon 5:01 in Richmond. Well, this card I made with him in mind. I'm not sure if this is the style he's looking for, but to me it seemed it would work. I'll have to see what he thinks. As usual, it's much better in person. Of course, when I get my PhotoShop Elements up and running I hope to be able to post pictures that are more true to life.

Spring Cards!

So these are the cards I ultimately made to send to my niece and nephew and friends daughter for Easter. I realized after I'd made them that not a one had been made with any stamp or ink. I did not set out to do that and thought it was kind of cool it ended up that way. And, I'm not going to post the card I made for Emily just yet cause I know Ming will see it and I'm going to see her tonight when a group of us meets for dinner and I'll let her see it first hand then. The picture really doesn't show the embossing under the vellum that well, so it's much prettier in person.

Sweet Dreams!

I truly think this is such a nice Hostess Set from SU and I had much fun creating this card. It was time consuming but worth it.

I did manage to crank out 4 Easter cards last night and I'll post those soon. I tried to keep them simple due to time constraints. Which brings to mind. I'm trying to get some of my cards out there with hopes of reaping a little green back and am hopeful that I can get that done soon. I've discussed it with some business owners around and there seems to be an interest. But I may need to create some very simply stated yet impacting designs for their specific needs, so I'll be doing that very soon and posting.

Charlotte's Webb!

So today is my friend Charlotte's birthday and since I have two friends with that name the title of my post today clearly denotes which one I'm referring to. (wink). And, I sent her one of these cards for her birthday; hopefully she'll get it today in the mail. But I hope she doesn't see this post first. The big round brad I got from All That Scraps from the Queen and Company line.

Birthday Whimsy!

This is my first use of this SU set and I love it. But I did case this card mostly.

Big Blossom!

I cannot understand why SU would have retired this stamp and not have replaced it with something similar. I absolutely love it and need to give it back to my colleague as it is hers. So, I guess I'll be looking on eBay for one because I just have to have it.

Happy St. Patricks Day Birthday's!

I'm a little under the weather and stayed home today. I had a small outpatient procedure on Friday and somehow managed to get sick while in there. I had thoughts while in there Friday that isn't the hospital where all the germs are but put the thought aside because I've been so healthy. Maybe I jinxed myself. Anyway, I did manage to muster up some energy and make some cards this weekend, but just haven't posted them yet. I will later today though. But I wanted to send birthday greetings to my friend Dave in Richmond and my friend Amber. She's in Spain so I'm not sure she'll get this today as they are about 6 hours ahead of us. TTFN!

Card for Katie!

Brian called me the other day to ask if Katie liked flowers and I told him she did. So he decided he wanted to buy her some flowers and take them to her the next day; which I thought was so sweet. She is a CPA and is working crazy hours right now and has a cold too. She just go over one she got while we were in Costa Rica too. Anywho, you just can't give someone flowers and no card. So I made this card to go with her flowers. Green is her favorite color, so I kept that in mind. Everything but the cheeky clip, brads and bow are Stampin Up. And, yes, my sentiment is crooked. Oh, well!

Katie's Morkie Puppies Growing Up!

Can you believe how much Katie's puppies have grown? And, OMG they are absolutely too adorable. I've put the picture from the day we got them in September 2007 and this recent one taken on March 5 up for comparison.

They used to be smaller than the tissue box and now look at them. And, they are such good puppies. They now can go up and down her deck steps and the stairs inside her house all by themselves. And, they love the big dog next door; Hannah.

Stormy Saturday!

This past Saturday was so unbelievably windy and the skies looked very threatening. This is the view from my front porch and although the picture doesn't do justice, it's quite a beautiful view. La Bella Vista!! Hopefully if I get Photoshop Elements for my birthday coming up in 13 days (wink) I can adjust the pictures to look more like they do in person.

Embossed Birthday!

When I set out to make this card I had hoped it would be masculine enough; haha! I just have the hardest time making cards for guys. I'm just going to have to break down and buy a few sets from SU; they have some great masculine themed ones.

Yoga Monday!

Good morning to all. So DST began this weekend and while it's nice, I'm tired this morning. It was a very nice weekend. Dinner at the new seafood restaurant in the county with Ming, Ray and Emily Saturday night. I did some pre-Spring Cleaning in my house as well. Sunday Brian and I had a nice visit with Bob and Terry. Bob's birthday was Sunday and I wanted to get his birthday card to him. Seems like he was having a good day as friends and relatives were there too. And, I think he liked the chef card I made. Anyway, I love the yoga stamp set from My Favorite Things and here is the other part of the set. All paper and inks are from SU and I used my Spellbinders Nestabilities. Since I purchased the spacers for my Big Shot these work like a charm.

Button Birthday!

I'm so enamored with SU's Ruby Red paper. It matches so well with so many colors. Everything is SU except the sentiment (PaperTrey Ink) and the flower and button.

Voila Chef!

For over a year now I have been jonesing over the Voila stamp set from SU and I finally got it. I know it may not be too popular, but it really captures my attention big time. This is my first attempt with it, and I hope I get better or come up with something even more creative. A dear friend of mine has a birthday this Sunday (wink) and I think I'll make a card using the chef for him.

Big Bloom Spots!

The Big Bloom is a retired stamp from SU and I can't see why; it's ginormous and great! And, I used the Seeing Spots set for the background on the paper. I love how the Signo Gel pen works on this. The flowers are from PaperTrey Ink from the Eat Cake set; love that one too.

Namaste!

So I take yoga each week and absolutely have fallen in love with it. It's such a great exercise and makes me energized after each class. Plus the stretches are phenomenal. When I saw this Yoga stamp set at My Favorite Things I just knew I had to have it. This is the first one I made. Love it! You can also buy MFT stamps at All That Scraps as well. And, if you order at least $10 there is no shipping.

Flip Flop Birthday!

So I tried another project last week called a Flip Flop Card. This is my first one and I'm okay with it. Actually, I gave it to Brian to send to his dad because his birthday is March 6th! Happy Birthday Tom! Oh, and Emily is 3 today! Hard to believe; Happy Birthday Honey!

Morning Glory's!

Yep, you guessed it my babies are my morning glory's. This was Sunday morning while I was drinking my coffee and looking at the SU Catalog; can never get enough of it and wishing or dreaming of all the fabulous items in it. Anyway, Bella insisted on looking at it too! Haha! I think she really wanted my coffee. And, of course, Rikka has to be doing what her sister is doing.