Who's Ready for Summer?

I am so psyched that it is Memorial Day weekend ... it has always marked the start of summer for me. As a kid, school would be ending soon and that would mean staying up later, spending more time with family and friends ... and being from Maryland ... crab season ... YUM!! Okay, so it is with these fond memories that I made this card. Love this little Penguin Girl stamp. I got some images through the PIF Image Swap, but then when I saw how adorable she was ... I had to buy her. And for .99, I decided to buy a few extra to give to the Penguin lovers I know. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, full of good food and good times.


I also wanted to share a RAK I got from sf9erfan over at SCS. It was a complete and total surprise. Thanks so much Michelle!! What a nice variety of goodies!! And I learned a little something by admiring the card she sent. Using SU Dimensionals where your brads are located is a great way to make sure they stay adhered properly to the card. I've had trouble in the past with wonky bumps between the layer with the brad and the next layer of the card. And yup ... it worked like a charm on the card I made in this post.

Oh, and for the David Cook fans out there ... here's a link to his Guitar Hero commercial. To me, this is Super Bowl level advertising ... LOVED it.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I haven't been in a position to post lately so I guess I had a lot to say. *grin*

RAK from Alison

I've been wanting to share this gorgeous card that Alison sent me, but I couldn't seem to get a good enough picture to show all of the details on the card (click on the picture to see for yourself). Well it dawned on me that I hadn't tried laying the card down flat. This card has so many special touches: the cut out bee has dazzling diamonds on it, the CB pieces have been sponged with ink and my favorite part ... the microbeaded sunflower centers.

It is such a beautiful card and was a sweet gesture. She just sent it to me because she thought I needed a little sunshine. Thanks again Alison, I love it.

My Blogger Pay It Forward is Full

I have my 3 bloggers and one is even international ... kind of cool.

Ladies I will get my envelopes together and they will go postal some time this week. Once you receive them, it's your turn to post it on your blog. I hope you enjoy your goodies. I would appreciate it if you post here to let me know you received them if you can.

Mother's Day Bucket of Daisies

Here's the card I gave my mom for Mother's Day yesterday. I absolutely love this image, which I got from Michelle (JustPaintingAround) on the PIF thread. Now I want to buy it because it would be so much fun paper piecing the cute little bucket. Plus the daisy images are precious. There are other flowers in the set, a butterfly and a vase.

Supplies: Posies for You from Whipper Snapper, sentiment by Stampin Up, Polka Dots and Paisleys DSP, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise CS from SU, ribbon, yellow stickles, Copic markers.

Congrats Brianne

My daughter graduates from the local community college this afternoon, so I made her a card with her school colors (royal blue and light blue). It's hard to put into words just how proud I am of not only what she has accomplished (she finished with a 3.86 GPA), but the wonderful young lady she has become. Raising children these days is not easy and there were some bumps along the way, but I feel so very lucky to have raised such a wonderful kid (although she's 20 now ... so technically not a kid anymore).

Supplies: Diplomabella, Mixed Messages from PTI, Jersey Shore DSP, Bashful Blue Prints, Basic Black and Whisper White papers all from SU, dotted ribbon from Michael's

Technique Tuesday

I just wanted to share a card I did with my Stampin Up Hostess Club last night. We normally meet on Tuesdays once a month or so and I try to show them a new technique when I can. This month they wanted to learn the cracked glass technique, which is a lot of fun. I just want to mention that using just clear embossing powder did not work for me even when I put on 6 coats of it. Just 3 coats of the ultra-thick embossing enamel worked like a charm though ... all you have to do is barely even bend the cardstock and it cracks.

Supplies: Summer by the Sea set, Jersey Shore DSP, Wild Wasabi, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White, UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel), SU Dimensional, Wild Wasabi striped grosgrain ribbon

Blogger Pay It Forward (** Now Full)

I just passed 1,000 hits on my blog and the timing couldn't be better because it's my time to "pay it forward". Over the weekend, I received a huge stack of Riley images from Kathy over at Jellychick's Adventures ... thanks Kathy!! Why did she send them to me? Well, because I was lucky enough to be 1 of the first 3 bloggers to enter her pay it forward offering. And now it's my turn to Pay it Forward. All you have to do to "win" is leave me a comment telling me that you want to participate and the first 3 people will receive an envelope packed with goodies. The only limitation is you must have a blog and be willing to play along by offering up some type of fun give-away to 3 bloggers. Sound like fun?? Well, sign up now!!