Miss me??? :)

Hi all....sorry for my recent MIA. Life just gets busy ya know.....while I would love to have the time to blog daily, somedays it just doesn't fit into my schedule.....so here we are. My thought right now is that you should be seeing a lot more from me in the coming weeks. I've got a lot of stuff that I've been working on and would love to show you. So, sit back and enjoy the show!

First off -


I am on Day 2 of my Summer Card Camp. Didn't you just love going to camp as a kid. I can't really say that I did. I never really went to camp. But I did do some summer classes. One I remember was a sewing class at our local sewing store. I can't really remember the name of the store but it was something like Vanhorst's. Maybe my mom will comment and let us all know? It was run by a foreign lady with a great accent. And I'm pretty sure that me and another little gal drove her crazy. I recall that I sewed a shirt complete with pockets and it was adorned with pearliscent snaps. That's right = SNAPS! It even had some white piping I believe. Think semi western style shirt. Hey - I was like 12....and it was 1980something.
So, wouldn't YOU love to relive some summer camp life? Guess what? You can. You have until June 29th to sign up for this Card Camp. They send daily PDF's with great info. And videos. And the designers involved? To DIE FOR!!! Many, Many of my all time faves. Go check it out!

So, here is my first card with this week's color combo.

I used the sketch from this weeks CPS Card Sketches. All in all, it's pretty clean and simple. Would I have it any other way? I used some retiring SU DSP paper - along with some new SU paper. The card base is Pool Party. I was going to go with Baja Breeze, but these colors seemed to melt with the Pool Party much better.

And, check out this embossing:

I tell you what. My poor heat gun has seen so much action in the last few weeks, it's about to overheat! These new embossing powders from SU are wonderful. I held back for quite a bit before ordering them. I don't know why. This is Tangerine Tango on Rose Red cardstock. Stunning. I really could have gone without the purple on this card, but I think it ended up working okay. I'm not a fan of purple....I don't know if anyone can get me to sway on that one.

BTW - it is a Top Ten day here in Iowa today. OMG! It's rare when we can have windows open in the house at the end of June. There is NO humidity, the sky is a beautiful blue, and a mild breeze with a temp of 75. THIS is what I could go for all year!!! Helps too that I can sit out on the patio with my 'puter and look out over the gorgeous Iowa countryside and take it all in too. (and the wrens beside me singing so pretty...make my day!) This is the life!

TTFN people......

More flowers....

So. Another card. With Fabulous Florets again. I don't know if you should be more surprised about that or the fact that I've blogged 3 days in a row for once. I created this card with two challenges in mind. The Clean and Simple Sketch Challenge and Embellish's Tag and Color Challenge.

I did tweak the sketch in a couple of ways. One, I didn't want to "over do" my card with the piece of scallop paper. So I skipped it. And, obviously I switched out the circle for a tag shape. I also frumped up my card with and actual bow. Let me just go on the record as saying, it wasn't pretty. I think I retied it 4 times. Then I biffed the sentiment when I stamped it. So, because I didn't want to retie that ribbon AGAIN, I slipped it off. Fixed the sentiment piece, then slipped the ribbon back on.

How did I biff the sentiment. Well, sometimes when you stamp with die ink onto DSP, it really doesn't take. Mine was real faint, and didn't seem to want to soak in. SO. Plan B:

I grabbed my versamark. I inked up my stamp in Versamark, then in Basic Grey, then stamped it and Clear Embossed. And actually, when I used the Versamark with the Basic Grey, it was fine. It stamped much better. But, might as well as some punch with the EP.

While that embossing powder is out....

Emboss that flower. Packs a punch.

So, that's it tonight. Gotta hit the sack.

Here's another card with Fabulous Florets. Again, pretty clean and simple. (would I have it any other way?) I do feel like it's missing, I don't know some buttons??? What do YOU think?

And yes, it took me a bit to cut those flowers out, but don't they just look smashing? I find something a little bit soothing about fussy cutting. Those of you who know me, know that I like to cut! I like to cut little difficult things. I would of course prefer a die, but I'll cut away!

Would you like to play with this stamp set too? Head on over to my website and order yourself one!

Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Thank You Kindly
Paper: Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla, Newsprint DSP
Ink: Poppy Parade, Early Espresso
Accessories: Edgers Die (PTI), Early Espresso Tafetta Ribbon

Fab Florets

I am in love with these little flowers in the Fabulous Florets set. I need to get out some Poppy Parade and color them - wouldn't they make the most darling Poppies??

For this one, I didn't take much care to perfect coloring. *gasp* I KNOW! So unlike me. For one, I used Basic Gray as my ink, and it's not a waterproof ink, so when I used my blender pen, I didn't want it to smear something horrible. See, method to my madness.

The card pretty well speaks for itself, clean, elegant, simple. Ah, bliss!

FYI - If you've been thinking about hosting a Stampin' Up! workshop - you need to get on my calendar! June is filling up, and I will be offering a little extra bonus to all of my June hostesses. AND - the retiring product list will be out June 1 !!! Get your hand on those items that will be gone for good! Contact me today to book your workshop.

Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Basic Grey, Very Vanilla
Ink: Basic Gray,
Accessories: Black Satin Ribbon, designer button, watercolor crayon, Elegant Lines EF