Yeah...the sun is finally shining!

Well it's finally looking and feeling, like spring. I have the windows open and it's even sounding like spring, love to hear the birds....makes me happy.

What a lovely day for the St. Patrick's Day parade, that's where most of my family is today. I decided not to go as I still have some prep work to do for my WOW Wednesday class. It was so nice to have my "green" mojo kick in and I finished that St. Patrick's Day card and got them mailed away, I used the new lovely Everyday Elegance paper and some of the Lucky Limeade ribbon from Stampin' Up. (both of which you can still get free from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue click on the catalogues tab to see details)  To make the shamrock I punched 3 hearts, using the small heart punch, out of some of the silver glimmer paper which I first coloured green, and then hand cut the little stem. I mounted it on some ovals in Whisper white and Lucky Limeade then popped that up on a layer of Whisper white I ran through the dotted embossing folder. 

It seems so simple now, but this was my 4th design for this card.

While I had that mojo captive I whipped up a belated Birthday card for my sister (her birthday was in January, bad me, but she still loves me anyway). Maybe I should start working on her next birthday card now! LOL. I used a base of Perfect Plum and this was a stretch for me I almost always start with a white base, ran a layer of Whisper White through the dotted embossing folder, sponged the edges lightly with Wisteria Wonder. Using the Greenhouse Garden set (which is a two-step stamp) I stamped the large flower twice using Perfect Plum and Concord Crush, ran some Old Olive through the Little Leaves sizzlet and some scraps were used in the Beautiful Wings sizzlet for the butterfly. Some pearls for bling and some ribbon from my stash and Voila!! done. 

Now what took me so long? 




Thanks for stopping by and check back in a few days to see what we did on WOW Wednesday.

Hugs,
   Deb

It's not easy being green

This post is kinda out of desperation.....my St. Patrick's Day mojo has finally left the house! I have been trying to come up with a simple but not too simple design for mass production. I send out 12 cards to family and they look forward to them each year, so it is a challenge to out do my previous year card. Anyway since I have discarded 3 different designs so far I'm hoping that this 4th one is the keeper. I guess it better be time is a-runnin' out.

So for today's cards one is for a birthday and one is a pick-me-up for someone special who is going through a tough time right now. I do have to give Kari Metzger my sincere thanks for the idea of using SU Framelits in 3D. I don't have the Framelits so I used my nesties, which look very much like the Framelits, anyway you'll get the idea when you see them.  

I had a devil of a time photographing these. It's very hard to see the 3d effect of the frames in these pics, so I took a few close up shots. Here's one.

Well now, off to finish those "green" cards LOL!!

Hugs,
   Deb

Where does the time go..

Oh my goodness, it has been a while since I last posted. Please forgive me, but I have been having too much fun organizing my new area, and have been super busy making cards and planning my new WOW Wednesday classes. On the 2nd Wednesday of every month some super ladies join me for WOW Wednesdays, we learn some new techniques and make a project or two. Last month I had the ladies recreate one of my Christmas cards to learn the reverse masking technique.We changed it up so they could use it for any occasion they wished. Here is my Christmas example. Quite a few of the ladies said they would use this for a masculine card, and I do agree, SU's Lovely as a Tree set is so versatile.

Then for the really fun part.....a Valentine shaker card. How cute is this. It is a small 4x4 card and we made an envelope for it as well. Don't you just love those little hearts, we used three different SU tools to make them, the larger heart on the bottom right is a QuicKutz I've had for ages but it seemed to fit right in. I do wish I had used a lighter backing on the shaker part so the glittery hearts showed up better, oooh well next time.

If you want any further info about these cards, leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

Well I have another few cards ready to post for another day, so stay tuned.

Hugs
    Deb

New Craft Space

Two trips to Ikea, one large delivery, three days of assembly (read sore feet and backs) and organization (although I can guarantee I'll fiddle with the organization forever)   It's finally finished!!!  I just love it, and don't think I can thank DH enough for all his help, not to mention his patience while I made up my mind what and where I wanted things. So here is the big reveal.......

This is the space empty...

This is where everything went to....

The delivery...

This is where my old desk was with the bicycle picture on the wall (see previous post for reference). I will be painting my sewing table white to match the rest of the furniture. It holds my scanner and Silhouette machine right now. You can also see part of DH's surprise for me there in the middle  

Here is the empty space (from above pic) filled. And that lovely new desk can raise and lower on both ends and has a light box built in too! DH also surprised me with those colourful puzzle mats, to use as another place to pin up "stuff" which I call art LOL.

The view looking out from the above pic.

And the last pic is of the whole space or as much as I could fit in the frame.

Oooh goodness, it looks like my little grandson left some stickers up for me, hehe I didn't see them 'til now.

I truly look forward to many happy hours of crafting here, and I am always happy to have friends join me, the more the merrier and if anyone wants to know more about the furniture or what I keep where let me know and I'll be happy to share with you.

Hugs,

    Deb

A Card and a mess

First the Card....

Well it's been a few days since my last post, but you will forgive me when I tell you why.  My darling husband said to me "What would you need (I heard "want") to get your "stuff" (I may have taken offence to that word hehehe) organized, and tidied up?? Now understand that my craft space is in our finished basement, where we do most of our entertaining, and it seems when I start a project it grows and grows and grows until it seems I have something on every flat surface in the whole Rec room. DH says give me a flat surface and I'll cover it!! He is right, but then I always set things to right.........eventually. So to make a short story long, I have been carting up all my "stuff" (can you tell that still bugs me!) into some lovely IKEA containers, and the large units should arrive sometime before Saturday. I am so excited, it's just like waiting for the UPS girl to deliver my orders. In amongst all this upheaval I had to make DD her birthday card, and I have also been working on an ATC swap, but that is on hold 'til the weekend. So here are some pics, and don't forget to stop back to see the final reveal.

And now the mess!!

The file cabinet on the right is where I keep my 8 1/2 x 11 card stock, along with our business and personal files. I have also taken over 2 1/2 shelves in the bookcase, which I will be returning to the Rec room. There is also a nice big (well huge actually) bulletin board to be put up. Soon we will be able to use the exercise station, which is that large circular monstrosity, actually I like it because it has doors to keep it neat.

This is the built in bookcase, which holds my 12" papers on the right, and the bottom 2 shelves in the middle  have taken over too.  My hope is to clear it all off and paint it white like I wanted to when it was built 12 years ago, no hurry!!! 

This is my main work area, there are bright halogen lights overhead. To the back left are all my supplies, ink, embellies, more punches etc. This area will be one of the three big changes.

Well enough for today, I will return with more soon.

Hugs,

    Deb

A Dog and a Swap

Well, it's five days into the new year, all the excitement has settled and it seems really quiet around here!  Of course I do have my fabulous Finn to keep me hoping.  This morning he helped himself to the bananas (left over from Christmas Stockings) I had ripening on the kitchen counter for some banana bread.  He only got half of one before I caught him, let's just say he hates being ignored (I was on the phone)!!!  For those of you who haven't been introduced to Finn here he is. 

Who could get angry at that face??  So now instead of banana bread I'll make some Egg Nog Bread I found a recipe for.  I'll let you know how it turns out. 

 So on to the crafty part of this post.  A while back, actually some time in November I was in a swap and this was my swap. The swap was a Canadian (so like those for the postage) swap and the challenge was to use something new from the Holiday Mini (the Spice Cake DSP) and something from the new IB&C (Faith in Nature stamp set).  Love that Spice Cake paper. There is a little bling on this card, but not so much that you could still classify this as a masculine card.

Hope this inspires you!

Hugs,

    Deb

Happy New Blog!!

I decided that I wanted a change of name for my blog (I was never really happy with the original) and in the process DH taught me many new things, and opened up a whole new world of "googleness". I know that's not a real word but I like it!

So for all of you faithful (and patient) followers, Welcome back, and welcome to any new friends who happen by. Keep coming back to see more changes, I'm on a roll.

Hugs, 
     Deb