We have a family birthday coming up - and since this young man is turning into quite the baseball player (summer sport - he plays ice hockey in the winter!) I made this card using the retired baseball elements.  This is all CTMH except the ribbon with the words SLUGGER.  I picked that up "somewhere" for my scrapbook stash!  I have so much ribbon, my husband tells people I have more ribbon than JoAnns.  How embarrassing - but it might be true.

I mentioned I love sunflowers?  I also love cone flowers, daisy, and "aster".  I'm not sure which this image represents, but I do love the flowers!  I colored them with the Zig Clean Color markers that my friend Karen Baker sent to me.  (I still can't believe she did that!).  

The ends of the little sentiment tag were punched from a long scallop punch - doesn't that look cool?!

Cool breezes, partly sunny, and the lilacs are in full bloom!  I'll have to grab some photos today, before they are gone!  I can hear a chickadee calling from somewhere in the neighborhood - "teacher, teacher".    

Hugs!!

The flower and sentiment are in the same small stamp set from Unity Stamp Company.  I love anything that reminds me of a sunflower!  My Beloved recently brought home "miniature sunflowers" for our garden!  They are only supposed to get two feet tall!  How delightful!  I've seen bees attracted to them already (didn't know bees like sunflowers!).  

The sentiment on this second card is a Verve set I've had for a long time called "Carpe Diem" I believe.  I bought that one for two stamps that say "Be You" (my daughter graduated from BU in 2007).  "You Matter" is a pretty good sentiment, too!  Serendipity struck on this card - I messed up the sentiment (over-inked!) and so, decided I could cover it up and add something different.  I'm so glad I did, actually I like the 2nd card better than the first one!

So, the garden is looking absolutely gorgeous!  We have tulips up, Steve has added hanging flowers (about 8 of them!) and the grape vines are taking off!  We have grackles, robins, blue jays, and thrashers in the bird feeder and chipmunks and squirrels in them too!  LOL  Life is Good!

Another JOFY stamp card

So, when I went to purchase the Fuchsia stamp (last post) this little gem fell into my shopping cart also!  Might as well get your money's worth on the postage, right?!  I stamped the image several times and the straight line of circles into a frame.  The little green ribbon is from my huge stash.  The cardstock and design papers are all CTMH.  I colored the images with Derwent Inktense pencils (still crazy-in-love with these pencils!).  I improvised on the left border where the stamp had been masked to not overflow the border - and I really like how well that turned out.

So, real life?  Back in Minnesota now, trying to get into some kind of schedule to give my life structure!  But, I did finally get to the library and they allowed me a probationary card!  I've downloaded my first library-loan e-book!  That was so easy - why did I wait SO LONG!?!?!  

Hope your lives are going great!

Hugs!!

Fuchsia - JOFY stamp

Hello friends!  I bought a delightful little stamp from a company affectionately known as JOFY (I believe it stands for Jo Firth-Young.  I got it specifically so I could copy a card that I found on Pinterest.  The stamp is called JOFY JM21 Mini.  It is just three Fuschia's (like the three on the left).  The card I was trying to copy had them aligned better than I did - but otherwise, it looked very much like this one!  

Fuchsia is very special to us - We get one in MN to enjoy every summer!  When we travelled to the Isle of Mann (Steve's heritage) we found them growing EVERYWHERE!  I've made several birthday cards for Steve using Fuchsia images.  Hope you like this one!

A BABY card!

OMGSH, I made a card!!  It has been so long, and in a different studio where I had to search for everything!  I felt so clumsy!  Friends of ours had a baby girl (Olivia - isn't that pretty?!) and so as I rifled through my things, I fell on a stencil of hearts and thought it would make a lovely piece of design paper!  Then I added the Welcome Baby and stamped a pink giraffe with a frame around it's head!  LOL  Very silly, but cute anyway.  The cardstock for the base was store-bought, but the front was CTMH and I used Pixie and Pomegranate inks.  I highlighted the spots with the white gel pen, and put a teeny-tiny pearl for the eye.  A ribbon at the neck, and then - the inside:

I'd like to say there will be more soon, but truthfully - not sure!   We leave for another week of travel (NC and then NH).  My daughter is getting her Masters in Math Education from UNC-Charlotte this weekend, with honors!  I will be there to see her walk!  Then we get to spend Mother's Day together.  The first one in awhile - so I am thrilled about that, too.  Hugs!!

Easter card type #2

This sweet little bunny stole my heart! (Unity Stamps) She is really what made me break down and purchase some supplies to make Easter cards.  I thought, hmmm, a few pencils, black ink pad, one pack of CTMH paper and some cardstock . . . well, you get the picture!  I made 35 Easter cards and still have some paper left over!  

We leave Friday for Minnesota.  This "move" I'll take my computer with me (it's a Mac Mini) so I'll be up and running right away.  With any luck I'll be getting creative, too, so I'll have some things to share again!  Hugs!

It's still Easter, right?

Add caption

We are in Mesa for 3 days to pick up my kitty, and replace our roof!  Wow!  I finally can post something - it was impossible from my i-pad.

Since Easter is 40 days (in the Episcopal Church anyway) I am sharing one of the type of Easter cards I made and sent this year.  The lamb is from SU.  It's retired, but I found one on Etsy.  The cardstock and design paper, and twine, are all CTMH. I had fun mixing the colors up a bit (there were numerous variations!).  It was awesome to be able to stamp and watercolor a little - I thought I could go 2 months without my artwork, but honestly, it was only 2 weeks and I felt pretty desperate.  LOL  Thank goodness for on-line ordering!